RxC Ideas and Research

Call for Papers

Researchers, academicians, social workers, policy makers and other stakeholders are welcome to submit a brief abstract of no more than 300 words, showcasing original research related to one or more of the following core ideas.

1. Economy: Markets and private property are often conflated in modern discourse. However, disaggregating the two concepts, as many nineteenth-century economists and thinkers did, reveals that private property in fact distorts free markets, while providing the basis for corporate monopolies, with pernicious effects for democracy. Replacing certain forms of private property may lead to greater allocative efficiency and more equitable social outcomes. Furthermore, modifications to corporate structure and better antitrust regulation to disrupt corporate monopolies can promote wage growth, lower prices and create better standards of living for workers. Papers related to this core idea might explore novel solutions such as self-assessed property taxes; explore the historical development of private property and/or its relationship to corporate monopoly; demonstrate the effects of private property on particular markets and democracies from a variety of disciplinary perspectives; explore antitrust practices in various contexts and/or propose best practices in anti-trust regulation.

2. Collective Action and Identity: What might collective action look like in the twenty-first century digital economy? What kind of egalitarian, decentralized social movements can we imagine for such a world? What does the notion of personal data do for our intuitions about identity? Imagine a world in which your personal data, currently hoovered up by tech companies and repurposed for their profit, were honored as your dignified work and compensated as such. Treating data as labor, and building a labor movement for the twenty-first century digital economy, will not only build a fairer and more equal society but spur growth and innovation in technology and development. Papers related to this core idea might explore: how forms of work in the past came to be recognized as labor by society and by law; propose novel technological or economic means by which data can be assessed as labor or explore legal ramifications of treating data as labor; explore budding social and artistic movements emerging in response to the digital economy; and explore the socioeconomic and political consequences of the digital economy.

3. Space: The current system of nation-states prevents the free movement of labor, creating distortions in the global market but worse, leading to inhumane treatment of immigrants. Given the increasingly fractious nature of political debates surrounding immigration, the need to find humane mechanisms for allowing worker mobility is urgent. Furthermore, we are interested in exploring new ways of imagining human settlements, including smart and charter cities, and exploring the political and economic consequences of such ideas. Papers related to this core idea might compare different immigration regimes and their socio-economic effects, including the relationship between migration and development, and legal and democratic frameworks for immigration reform; propose novel mechanisms for migrant sponsorship; trace the history of current immigration regimes and discourses surrounding immigration; analyze emerging forms of human settlements such as smart and charter cities, particularly with regard to distributive outcomes.

4. Politics: As observers of political gerrymandering in the US know, the principle of one-person, one-vote does not necessarily lead to democratic outcomes. Imagine a world where political minorities could protect their most cherished interests at the ballot box without relying on the whims of judges, and compromises on sensitive issue could be hammered out transparently in the public square. If citizens were able to trade influence on issues they don’t care or know about for influence on the issues most important to them, the voting process itself could help create reasoned compromises among citizens. Imagine too new forms of political community that do not conform to the stale divisions of “right” and “left” that are contributing to the current polarization and radicalization of politics everywhere. Papers related to this core idea may propose novel electoral designs, such as quadratic voting; assess the effects on societies and cities that have adopted such novel voting systems; explore the intellectual history of voting; invoke forgotten thinkers and philosophical traditions that may help revitalize our intuitions about democratic institutions and democracy in general today.

These ideas are inspired in part by Eric Posner and Glen Weyl, Radical Markets (Princeton University Press, 2018). To learn more, please visit their website.

 Abstract Template

1. We encourage you to send an informative summary of a paper’s substance including its background, purpose, methodology, results, and conclusion.

2. Please indicate which of the core ideas your paper relates to and include a maximum of five keywords.

3. The maximum word limit for the abstract is 300 words.

4. Your submission must be in English.

5. Please include a brief biography, alongside your abstract, including your full name, your current professional affiliation and position (if any), your contact details, including mailing and email address.

6. Please submit your abstract on our application form by February 1, 2019. https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdoPi2jRIVr1upUprKv5qE-WQLarHf_...

For further information, contact info@radicalxchange.org.