Hi, I'm Mark. I run a nonprofit, the Charter Cities Institute, which is building the ecosystem for charter cities. Before this I worked as Lead Economist for a fund investing in early stage charter cities. I have a PhD in economics from George Mason University and a BS in Math from the University of Maryland, College Park.
I think charter cities are underrated. They 1) spread good institutions which cause economic growth to help alleviate global poverty 2) provide a regulatory sandbox for technological innovation 3) demonstrate the power of cosmopolitan liberalism. As such, I spent most of my time thinking about charter cities.
Building the ecosystem for charter cities requires a wide range of knowledge, interests include economic development, geopolitics, history, political theory, innovation, and business. Most of my blogging is done at CharterCitiesInstitute.org. I use this website for my thoughts that are unrelated to charter cities.
My other interests revolve around building better institutions for the 21st century. The computer age, just like the industrial revolution, requires new institutions. A key task of the 21st century is to build those institutions.
I live in Washington DC. Follow me @MarkLutter on Twitter.
Inspired by Patrick Collison's Fast page, I thought it worthwhile to build a list of examples of social change. One of they key challenges of the 21st century is rebuilding our institutions for the digital age. Examples of past successes of social change can help inform that approach.
Read It Here
CharterCitiesInstitute.org: I founded the Charter Cities Institute to build the ecosystem for charter cities. The Institute brings together charter cities stakeholders, entrepreneurs, investors, real estate developers, policy experts, and government officials to develop a shared understanding of charter cities and foster relationships which lead to charter cities being built.
Victoria Harbor Group: I am a Strategic Advisor to the Victoria Harbor Group. We are building a new city for the Hong Kong people. The coming Hong Kong migration is the first migration of high skilled workers in 40 years. We're taking advantage of this opportunity to build new cities, integrating cutting edge urban planning with an openness to new technology.
New Science: I'm on the Board of Directors of New Science, a nonprofit that is rebuilding institutions and funding mechanisms for science. The goal is to create a an alternative path to academia with different norms and funding models that allow for more low probability, high potential research to be done. If successful, New Science will identify and empower researchers who are limited by existing norms and funding mechanisms, help reform current scientific institutions, and accelerate the development of basic science.
RadicalxChange: I am a former member of the Board of Directors of RadicalxChange, the movement that grew out of Glen Weyl and Eric Posner’s book, Radical Markets. I organized the Activism and Government Track for their inaugural conference in March 2019. I find the RadicalxChange movement exciting as it has brought together a wide variety of people who wouldn’t normally work together. I’m most interested in the Harberger tax as it has the most potential to rethink property rights and improve society.
I use speaking opportunities to build the ecosystem for charter cities. If you would like me to speak at your event please contact me at Mark at cci.city with a brief description of the event and how it relates to charter cities.
Podcasts: Neoliberal podcast, Venture Stories, 80000 Hours, Charter Cities Podcast
