Ask LW: What are some well-designed institutions?

post by Will_Newsome · 2011-09-12T05:48:53.992Z · LW · GW · Legacy · 4 comments

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4 comments

I've been reading "Microeconomics: Behavior, Institutions, and Evolution" and it's awesome. It's inspired me to ask LW:

Can you give me an example of a good institution? Why is it a good institution? What caused it to become a good institution?

It can be an institution at any level of organization. If you'd like to talk about why your brain is a good institution I'd like to hear about that. Or the country of Burma. Or the free market. Or the Catholic memeplex. Whatever you wish.

4 comments

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comment by lessdazed · 2011-09-13T05:43:36.080Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

(This space unintentionally left blank.)

Sincerely,

Humanity

comment by jhuffman · 2011-09-13T17:01:21.408Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

If we define "good" as "better than nothing" then I think we have something to talk about. For example, I think the FCC does a pretty decent job of fairly allocating radio bandwidth and even protecting important "rights" to broadcast and receive radio traffic. The only country in the world that does not do this is North Korea.

Replies from: Will_Newsome
↑ comment by Will_Newsome · 2011-09-14T02:47:43.369Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

Interestingly Coase came up with his eponymous theorem after contemplating radio bandwidth rights allocations.

comment by Morendil · 2011-10-16T22:34:18.871Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

Interesting that this post was met with such resounding silence.

Given where this conversation is happening, I'd have to say the Web is a pretty good institution.