Join the Network for a discussion with Dr. Nils Gilman, VP of Programs at the Berggruen Institute about his new model for political economy: The Mutualist Economy. Prof. Mark Brilliant (History, UC Berkeley) will moderate the discussion.
Please read the paper “The Mutualist Economy: A New Deal for Ownership” before the event in order to spur a more fruitful discussion.
Note: This event was originally scheduled for April 29th in the Social Science Matrix. It was rescheduled for Friday May 6th in Dwinelle 3401 (and through zoom)
About “The Mutualist Economy:” This essay proposes a new model of personal and public wealth-building that addresses the current crisis of inequality in the United States. We place contemporary American wealth inequality into its historical context by tracing how federal government policies have worked to support personal and public wealth building across three periods: the First Industrial Revolution of the mid-19th century, the Second Industrial Revolution of the early 20th century, and the Information and Communication Technology revolution of the late-20th century. We then suggest a series of potential governmental policies that can help to ensure a more equitable wealth distribution in the future. Our proposed “mutualist” model of political economy would allow for the large-scale diffusion of productivity gains that may follow the installation of deployment of the next wave of general-purpose technologies. This new social contract will move beyond the welfare state’s focus on insurance toward a more radical notion of shared ownership of returns on capital via universal individual capital endowments and new public investment channels that control shares in firms and intellectual property.
About Nils Gilman: Nils Gilman is the Vice President of Programs at the Berggruen Institute, in which capacity he leads the Institute’s research program, directs its fellowship program, and is also Deputy Editor of Noema Magazine. He has previously worked as Associate Chancellor at the University of California Berkeley, as Research Director and scenario planning consultant at the Monitor Group and Global Business Network, and at various enterprise software companies including Salesforce.com and BEA Systems. He is the author of Mandarins of the Future: Modernization Theory in Cold War America (2004) and Deviant Globalization: Black Market Economy in the 21st Century (2011) as well as numerous articles on intellectual history and political economy. He holds a B.A. M.A. and Ph.D. in History from U.C. Berkeley.
NOTE: This is a hybrid event and will be held in person in Dwinelle 3401 with an option to join by Zoom. In person attendance is warmly encouraged, but please be sure to familiarized yourself with campus COVID protocols.