Pushing for the Platform Economy with Michael C. Munger

Director of Undergraduate Studies in the Department of Political Science at Duke University, Michael C. Munger, joins the show to discuss what he believes is the way forward for addressing poverty and more efficiently using resources.

Tune in to learn:

• How the “sharing” economy differs from the “platform” economy  
• Why it is important to understand the distinction between equality and poverty in the context of economics 
• In what ways regulation is designed to make sure that certain types of social transformation don’t occur and that the existing system remains locked in place

Interested in woodworking but nowhere near financially prepared to purchase everything you’d need for a workshop? Wishing you could put your money toward a particular project in your community? Wondering what you’d do with your time if you just…didn’t have to work anymore? 

These questions may seem entirely unrelated to each other, but according to Munger and many others, they’re not. In fact, each one of these questions is raised and discussed in this episode on what it would mean to have a “platform” economy—a voluntary, private space where people use smart contracts and apps to coordinate the sharing of resources rather than the purchasing and owning of resources.

“Until fairly recently, most of us thought that we needed jobs because we needed money so that we could go buy stuff and own it and pay to store it; platforms allow us to share things in a way that reduces our footprint on the environment...and make much more efficient use of the stuff we have," says Munger.

He explains all the details of how this system would work, how it would solve the problem of triangulation, and the main challenges that must be overcome.

Available on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/2Os0myK