On Commons Theory
In Germany, I was at special conference on commons theory for young scholars.
Despite my relative lack of years, I was actually not one of the young scholars. Instead a co-host with Larry Lessig; our job was to give feedback on papers on commons theory.
Commons theory, while not really new, is surely one of the most interesting areas of research, period. What makes a commons work? When do they fail? What are the merits of property systems?
Some great presentations on such questions from Brett Frischmann (from who I borrow alot from; he is really, really sharp), Stefan Bechtold, a promising young German theorist who organized the conference, plus his co-authors,, James Grimmelman, interested in moderation, Filomena Chirico, who spoke on Net Neutrality in Europe, Guy Pessach, on cultural preservation, David Schorr, Rosa Castro, Clara Sattler, and many commentators.
Larry is working on new and interesting things which he may not want divulged; in addition to being a genius, his presentation abilities are so unusual in academia (if not to say journalism and politics) and remain unequaled among academics I’ve seen.