What social policies are low-hanging fruit in the U.S.?

March 13, 2021

As far as I can tell, there are some policies that could be implemented in the U.S. that would very likely improve society according to both the values of the left and the right. So why don't these policies get implemented? If I'm right, these represent massive wasted opportunities. I think there are a number of possible reasons why even good, bipartisan policies don't get put into practice: A. Political battles prevent useful things from getting done (e.g., if a policy sounds t...

Many global challenges arise due to collective action problems or incentive misalignment

November 16, 2020

Many of the biggest challenges that we face in society are due to one or both of these types of problems: (A) Collective Action Problems, where many individuals or groups are currently better off taking action X, even though they'd be better off in the long-term if everyone agreed not to take action X. Some of the big challenges with Collective Actions Problems are (i) getting people or groups to agree to stop the behavior in the first place, and then (ii) creating a v...