Distribution is important enough to the social good that the United Nations World Food Programme has won the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize. WFP provides food aid distribution and other services for 100 million people across 88 countries every day to combat world hunger. They often work inside war zones and epidemics and famines.
Times are tough because of the coronavirus pandemic. Many people are unemployed but in need of help. They are long on time, skills, and experience, but short on cash. Could we fashion a social answer to this tough nut? Time banking facilitates donating your time to others and receiving assistance you need in return.
The spread of infectious diseases in the era of globalization means that public health is a global shared resource. A brand-new, infectious disease with no known cure or vaccine—call it Disease X—puts us all at risk. Unfortunately, designing new vaccines for unknown viruses isn’t enough to motivate the private sector to invest the time and...Continue reading
During the coronavirus pandemic, public officials have promoted social distancing and strongly encouraged us to stay home. But aside from promoting this behavior through traditional and social media, what else could these officials have done to increase the likelihood of compliance? Distributing coronavirus supplies could also help, and South Korea has been held up as...Continue reading
Doing something good once can be easy, spontaneous, energizing. But doing good repeatedly, at scale, is crucial to creating meaningful impact.
I live in the greater San Francisco Bay Area, where we have 27 transit agencies and yet the 8th worst traffic in the US. What gives?
Once it was not unusual for a community to have shared land that everyone owned and everyone could benefit from.
A recent experiment about basic income in Finland has all sides of the movement debating the results.
The effectiveness of social goods often comes down to distribution. Can you put social goods in the hand of the people who need and want them? This is a huge challenge in the informal settlements in the world’s urban areas. A team of university researchers, government agencies, and software companies are showing how AI improves...Continue reading
Someone once asked business strategist and lapsed biologist Martin Reeves a simple question: How can I build a business that lasts 100 years?