The Paradox of Civic Capacity
CHANGE OF VENUE: This seminar will now take place in Seminar room D
Institutions help to build and extend civic capacity: the common knowledge, behaviors, networks, and norms that define a society. Some institutions promote a civic capacity that supports other kinds of institutions—-they create positive spillovers. We explore the interplay between three types of institutions: democracies, hierarchies, and markets, and in so doing, expose the downside of generating positive spillovers: it makes the externality-generating institution less likely to survive. We demonstrate that under plausible assumptions characterizing each, democracy is imperiled as its contribution to civic capacity grows. The model provides a fresh perspective on the cause of democratic decline, where democracy is threatened not by forces acting within the institution, but because of its contribution to other institutions that organize society.
Date: 7 October 2019, 16:30 (Monday, 0th week, Michaelmas 2019)
Venue: Manor Road Building, Manor Road OX1 3UQ
Venue Details: Seminar Room D
Speakers: Prof Jenna Bednar (University of Michigan), Prof Scott Page (University of Michigan)
Organising department: Institute for New Economic Thinking
Organiser contact email address: info@inet.ox.ac.uk
Host: Prof Eric Beinhocker (INET Oxford Executive Director)
Booking required?: Required
Booking email: info@inet.ox.ac.uk
Audience: Members of the University only
Editor: Susan Mousley