Paul Romer: Why the world needs charter cities

www.ted.com How can a struggling country break out of poverty if it's trapped in a system of bad rules? Economist Paul Romer unveils a bold idea: "charter cities," city-scale administrative zones governed by a coalition of nations. (Could Guantánamo Bay become the next Hong Kong?)
TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes. Featured speakers have included Al Gore on climate change, Philippe Starck on design, Jill Bolte Taylor on observing her own stroke, Nicholas Negroponte on One Laptop per Child, Jane Goodall on chimpanzees, Bill Gates on malaria and mosquitoes, Pattie Maes on the "Sixth Sense" wearable tech, and "Lost" producer JJ Abrams on the allure of mystery. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design, and TEDTalks cover these topics as well as science, business, development and the arts. Closed captions and translated subtitles in a variety of languages are now available on TED.com, at www.ted.com/translate. Watch a highlight reel of the Top 10 TEDTalks at www.ted.com/index.php/talks/top10

[@trevidog]

The interesting thing I find about the comments is how knee jerk they are. It seems more like 90% of the commentators have preconceived ways the world runs and should run and seem incapable of displaying the imagination to explore new ideas, which makes me question why they watched the video in the first place. While I personally think the idea is unworkable because strongman nations won't want the loss of legitimacy of having a more successful city run by someone else in their country, countries with poor rule of law are too susceptible to changes in governance and corruption and finally no developed country will want to be involved for fears of colonialism and general bad press. I still am willing and interested to at least see a new perspective on how to deal with an important issue.

[@atlas42185]

I disagree. 1) there are already examples of this, it's just not exactly as Romer describes. I believe all of the UAE's 7 Emirates have organized special commercial jurisdictions which to varying degrees have their own set of laws, making commerce easier. As Romer just mentioned, Chinese cities in the HK-Zuhai-Macau metropolis have adopted such practices. Macau is basically a smaller Hong Kong, but with slightly less economic freedom, and a more tourism centered economy. Macau itself has leased parts of Hengqin island from Guangdong effectively as a real estate charter. Labuan Island off the coast of Malaysian Borneo is another example. 2) strong men governments do not behave the same because they are not all subject to the same circumstances and the incentives those entail. The UAE is a federation of absolute monarchies, yet it is an a golden example of what Romer describes. Many dictatorships suffer from failures to foster real economic development. These kinds of jurisdictions can give such regimes the best of both worlds. They can protect the legal institutions that special interest groups love while circumventing those institutions so they can actually reap the benefits of real economic development. Without legit efforts like this dictators are often stuck digging themselves into holes (Putin for example).

[@stensoft]

So, just like real-world Sim City?

[@MrBlitsBlits]

Rapture in Bioshock anyone? : "I am Andrew Ryan, and I'm here to ask you a question. Is a man not entitled to the sweat of his brow? 'No!' says the man in Washington, 'It belongs to the poor.' 'No!' says the man in the Vatican, 'It belongs to God.' 'No!' says the man in Moscow, 'It belongs to everyone.' I rejected those answers; instead, I chose something different. I chose the impossible. I chose... Rapture, a city where the artist would not fear the censor, where the scientist would not be bound by petty morality, Where the great would not be constrained by the small! And with the sweat of your brow, Rapture can become your city as well."

[@ezratyson8544]

Which book is this passage from? I loved it.

[@GSXR750wx]

Bullshit. Chartered Cities will be tax-havens for the rich, specially in England (as UK will be destroyed for this purpose).

[@arkology_city]

​@@GSXR750wxwhat if they had direct democracy and ubi instead?

[@DixyRae]

You're correct. But capitalism is an idea with a PR problem. When you use the old language, you preach to the choir and alienate everyone else. I like what Romer is doing here, providing new ways to think about older ideas that are actually good, but people are afraid to to return to with a fresh perspective. The opt-in model is good, because it doesn't force anything on anyone. A socialist model has more problems because it DOES require compliance from those who may not agree with it.

[@gabrielsantiago3016]

I kinda heard an ancap, when Paul talks about welfare programs as coercion, while market economies as choice. But yeah, the more autonomous regions, the better! Want to work in a liberal market economy? there's a city close by. Wanna try out an anarchist collective? We've got you covered. Most people would be happier if they could easily live somewhere that genuinely shares their own values, I guess.

[@gabrielsantiago3016]

@@varvarvarvarvarvar I am being serious. My main point isn't about anarchists themselves, it's about people being allowed to easily live somewhere that is aligned with their beliefs. Don't like anarchists? Go live in another town close by that isn't. It should promote cooperation with other cities and citizens, under the threat they leave your town empty, for better offers. But since you've brought them up, have you ever truly, without letting preconceptions guide you, read about any anarchist society (Paris Commune, Andaluzia and Catalonia, Neozapatistas) or book, like "Bread and Conquest"? You'd realize they truly aren't as "Dangerous and chaotic" as you're painting them to be, and that's mostly pop culture's fault. For some wide standardisation, most anarchist stuff somewhat fits into "libertarian socialists" instead of "No Rulez hier! ONLY MAd mAX!".

[@TheYahn]

I really liked the visuals at the end. They represent these ideas perfectly

[@guanabaradebonechefedomorr7318]

And we have today a charter city in honduras, the name is Próspera :D prospera.hn

[@onbrowserapp7186]

How's that going? What's the status?

[@martymcfly5423]

i cant find "Prospera" on google maps. Also that website has practically no informations. It looks like every Company can create one of those Special Zones" everywhere in Honduras if the location is accepted by the government. "Cities will be created with the intention of attracting investment and generating employment in currently uninhabited parts of the country, or in municipalities that agree to be converted into ZEDE zones." - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zone_for_Employment_and_Economic_Development_(Honduras)

[@kexclusive4875]

Can someone please explain to me what is chartered city?

[@reichhopprivatwatch1406]

@@kexclusive4875 in this case total domination of capital

[@izdatsumcp]

@@kexclusive4875 It's a city that is administered under a different set of laws than the host nation.

[@AxleCarp]

This man's proposal was the blueprint for a new kind of colonialism in Honduras: newrepublic.com/article/120559/ive-seen-sorts-horrific-things-time-none-detrimental-country-this Given the literal migrant caravan en route from Honduras as I'm writing this, I think we can see how well this "charter city" idea is playing out.

[@ouss]

The English word for “charter city” is colony. As La Wik puts it: A ‘colony’ is a territory which is mostly ruled by another state or can be run independently. A colony differs from a puppet state or satellite state in that a colony has no independent international representation, and the top-level administration of a colony is under direct control of the metropolitan state.

[@louisng114]

CGPGrey sent me here

[@briangamboa2310]

what video was it?

[@kittylover3597]

Q&A with Grey #2 One Million Subscribers

[@asandysoldier3164]

also grays favorites volume 2.

[@jzk2020]

Rules for Rulers.

[@DarkEnjinu]

This was a great presentation and I liked the information that was given. I have been looking into what Charter Cities are for a short while and they seem very close to colonies for sure despite what is mentioned in the video, especially since colonies do still exist today under the name of territories. Though they are called territories the rules of a colony still apply and the first example that comes to mind is Puerto Rico. The major difference though is instead of creating a new judicial zone within the new Charter City, the current one is bribed or coerced. This is an amazing idea and I do hope to see some real good come from it for those who need it because I see so much potential, but currently it seems the one who have the means to move forward with such an idea are those that have benefited from the previous system that cause this idea to come about in the first place.

[@orfeasmusic]

Vere Very nice video! I really enjoy the way you present it!

[@KnThSelf2ThSelfBTrue]

I think he knows that there will be opposition to it at first... That's the point of a charter city right? To try things out? Anyways, I dig it.

[@ouss]

The English word for “charter city” is colony. As La Wik puts it: A ‘colony’ is a territory which is mostly ruled by another state or can be run independently. A colony differs from a puppet state or satellite state in that a colony has no independent international representation, and the top-level administration of a colony is under direct control of the metropolitan state.

[@JoeKnowlesy]

This is pretty inspiring. I just wish he would tell us something we could do about it. Like maybe he could sell posters and bracelets to us that have a cool slogan on. I think that would solve everything instantly...

[@Sondre7]

Excellent talk. Truly gets at what really matters, rather than the "sunshine stories".

[@benlock1134]

"the company Nelson purchases his telephony from"

[@cockroach2]

My guess is that its for the same reason we dont have just one huge power plant that supplies power to everywhere in the country: It's more efficient to distribute the plants (or cities) into subsections where a bureaucracy can more easily oversee them.

[@luedriver]

why wont this video load on my pc?!

[@NickGreyden]

I like the idea. However I can see huge holes in the project that can lead from anything from civil war to hostile economic takeovers of countries. Good idea, but so many holes would have to be patched before even attempting the project.

[@ouss]

The English word for “charter city” is colony. As La Wik puts it: A ‘colony’ is a territory which is mostly ruled by another state or can be run independently. A colony differs from a puppet state or satellite state in that a colony has no independent international representation, and the top-level administration of a colony is under direct control of the metropolitan state.

[@platano214]

City-States have been experimented with and I think we should look to the Ancient Greece city state model and the autonomous communities of Spain as influences.

[@itziandrade]

this was amazing!

[@osvansalinas1141]

I support this idea. Where do I sign up?

[@Ayo22210]

I think money supply increases should fund a charter city and it could be a new stable digital currency.

[@JBrazosCole]

I'd love to live in a "free zone". Where do I sign up?

[@theyreheretokillus]

man oh man does this guy need to advice the president on a few things...

[@Salem309Y]

the using of "Earth at night" NASA pic to demonstrate the difference between nations is very brilliant!!!

[@notbobby125]

Hundorus amended it's constitution so a city could be built that is free from basically all local and federal laws, and construction of the city is expected to start this year. Guantanamo Bay may happen later, but it looks like it will be more likely for the next Hong Kong to be in Hundorus instead.

[@osvansalinas1141]

notbobby125 Honduras

[@WJF1]

I liked it except for the end. I don't understand what that was about and why it was necessary. However a really good economic model/proposal brought to our attention in understandable language to most everyone.

[@ErichoTTA]

Truthfully wonderful stuff.

[@ncooty]

All in all, I think this idea needs a little more time in the oven. The idea of "better rules" is too vague to be actionable. "Better" in which ways? As has been noted here, step 3 seems quite problematic. E.g., if Denmark is invited to run a small chunk of Angola, who will choose how that chunk is governed--the Danes, the Angolans, the citizens of the new city, or someone else? Could it be turned over to a private company? Who will choose the leaders of the new city? How much latitude will the city's "leaders" have? (Is "leader" a euphemism for "owner" or "ruler"?) Which currency will they use? (A new currency, as in Hong Kong? What country would want to invest in a currency with sky-rocketing inflation?) How will the fiscal policies of Angola interact with those of the new city? Can the new city sign international agreements? How binding would they be? Can Angola dissolve the agreement? Is the establishment of the new city a diminution of Angolan sovereignty? What court would arbitrate disputes? What will the foreign country get out of it? Cheap labor? Open access to natural resources?

[@iyobosajoshuaowiejosh900]

ncooty the idea of a charter city is a test run of new ideas, like he already mentioned, the only impediment would be lack of imagination. The point is giving freedom to enter or not enter the city therefore only those who are okay with the laws would go in the first place and it dissatisfied can always leave, besides the rules which you ask about he already stated would be mirrored from already developed countries, like how capitalism gave us choices between what product of cell phones we want, the point of a charter city is to give the new inhabitants choices of what system of laws they would rather abide to.

[@Trazynn]

There's also an environmental version of this curve. Mr.Romer's idea is essentially meant to flatten this curve. He wants to reduce the footprint of developing countries before they start industrialising. If you can introduce cities that already have all the right policies in place, you can prevent environmental nightmares that are a result of unchecked industrial growth.

[@igorkrupitsky]

"This American Life" made a segment about this talk called "Some like it dot".

[@EVROPAEAESTHETICA]

This blew my mind. I can't stop thinking about how amazing this would be. So many people could be helped.

[@kexclusive4875]

Can you please explain to me what chartered city means?

[@diegocarcamo2123]

I discovered the darkest think

[@diegocarcamo2123]

He proposed a strange model to my country which consist on building cities from other countries that will work as an individual state each one the main problem is that they removing peoples choice and evolution the main is that he is treathing with a criminal state and they will use his mldle for their own benefit if some one knows these please help to stop him from destroying my country

[@EVROPAEAESTHETICA]

The idea of charter cities is to start brand new cities in an area with special economic rules (i.e.laissez faire capitalism). The special zone will become wealthy through this process and be an example to the host nation and also be a stimulus to the rest of the local economy. The country would then begin to transition to this economic policy on the whole. That is the explanation of the charter cities idea, steel-manned (represented well). My view on this idea has changed drastically since 10 years ago when I made the original comment. *I oppose charter cities.*

[@diegocarcamo2123]

@@EVROPAEAESTHETICA thanks for info it looks to be a pretty but what if the actual politicam parties are completely related to criminal activities what will happen?

[@vladsinger]

What's with the thing at the end of some of the TED lectures? Is it a metaphor Nokia uses for "connecting people" or something?

[@kaunas888]

The autonomous communities in Spain are not city-states. They are at the smallest provinces. Normally they collections of several provinces which contain many cities and even more towns.

[@TakeTheGreenPill]

This is similar to the idea I have for a global community. CALL THEM "AREA CODES" CITIES! Each one has a maskot, no countries just cities!

[@MrT0777]

I love your idea! I never really considered rules only tech. Also I was intrigued about your insight on Haiti.

[@kexclusive4875]

Can you please explain to me what chartered city means?

[@totoroben]

I see what this guy is talking about. If I were to design a special zone it would be a car-free city with locally produced food and solar electricity and local production of goods. That is what Americans need as a model.

[@Floccini]

We should lead by example and make Brownsville or Detroit charter cities. Current residents keep US citizenship. Newcomers need a Passport and VISA to get into the rest of the USA.

[@ouss]

The English word for “charter city” is colony. As La Wik puts it: A ‘colony’ is a territory which is mostly ruled by another state or can be run independently. A colony differs from a puppet state or satellite state in that a colony has no independent international representation, and the top-level administration of a colony is under direct control of the metropolitan state.

[@534seeds]

wtf?, it just so happened to be nighttime everywhere on earth at the same time when they took this picture?

[@OrkGold1]

@dsm1891 How does he surf the internet? or even access it?

[@MrLesWhite]

Yeah didn't realize you were refering to me when I saw your post earlier, looked it up on wiki...what are you asserting exactly? It is an economic theory that expresses the relationship with disparity and productivity, however this is in the context of a specific socio-political economic environment/system

[@CezarCazan_evx]

in my opinion his generalizations are a call out for action and thought from us. which is nice. I liek this idea and i dont find it a bad idea in any way.

[@frankstrawnation]

Why?

[@DesireSpasm]

A market economy as a whole doesn't fail as long as institutes that make bad decisions are allowed to fail.

[@1t2t3t4t5t6t7]

@jzmanconnect well let me tell you its one of the best videos ive ever seen, really eye opening. You mad bro? :D

[@kexclusive4875]

Can you please explain to me what chartered city means?

[@businessphile6723]

This is inspiring.

[@EvilOrangeK]

Where does "Nelson" charge his phone?

[@robertolaiz]

I would love to hear him telling some Chinese people that those "charter cities" have helped erase their poverty. I would really love it. "Slavery" is something that is ringing in my ears, but slaves usually got food and housing, and this is not even the case. And he mentions that is not colonialism because it's a matter of choice... I can imagine how much of a matter of choice is for all the people working miserable jobs to have those jobs...

[@jonnyaxelsson9940]

Adrián Magro You spend some time in the Chinese countryside. Then you spend some time in Shenzhen. Then you can come back to talk about "slavery". It is way too easy to say "1. SEZ 2. ??? 3. Profit", but the policies around the SEZ have made China, and the Chinese, richer, stronger, and more successful.

[@brolixPD]

As of 2021 these concepts did not age well for Hong Kong and its relationship to mainland China. The problem with economists is their obliviousness towards moral-political premises, i.e., the ethical view of either man's life as an end in itself or of man's life as a means to the ends of others. You cannot - and must not - compromise on that. This is the essential foundation and bridge form ethics to politics and then to economics, not the other way around, which is the central flaw in Mr. Romer's proposal and of most economists in general; to confuse causes with consequences and divorce economic freedom from its necessary antecedent: political freedom. If you cannot fight for both, you end up with a mirage called charter city.

[@tukkek]

He actually defined "good rules" as being those that give people and leaders (both of them) more choices... But hey, I'm with you - that is as vague as it gets.

[@Ayo22210]

Whidbey Island by Seattle would be a good candidate

[@Trazynn]

I guess you missed the environmental kuznets curve bit. You´re basically agreeing with me.

[@MiranUT]

Good quesiton. I'd speculate that they have public cell phone chargers. They are all over the place where I live. Internet cafes probably have them too. For a small fee you can recharge your battery.

[@treymedley]

@dsm1891, there are recharge stations, but often they charge their phones at school (if they go to one) some churches (if they go to one with electricity) or, often in the slums, there is a neighbor here or there who has "tapped in" to the power grid. It's not easy or safe (fire hazard) but fairly common. The fact of people have cell phones and internet access, but not having power in their homes is all too common in subsaharan Africa (at least in my experience in Kenya).

[@DrSpooglemon]

@DesignPunkStudios On economics; the idea is that the land is sold to developers. As much as I am warey of such parties this is the structure that we have and the one that most people are accustomed to and it is important that we get the best we can from it. Hence; rules. I just looked at your channel and I can't help thinking that people like you that need to be involved in this. Creative people. I will be following this idea with great interest. I think others should too. It is our future...

[@Trazynn]

Ever heard about the Kuznets curve?

[@DrSpooglemon]

@jrlmenezes1 I meant that the general principle of what he said did not rule out that possibility. Montana may not want to play the game, and therein lies the obstacle.

[@jamie-sims]

I really like the idea if it could be used to provide semi-sovereign areas to try out new models of government or economics. However, I worry that it will follow the process of neo-liberal globalisation which has destroyed social democracy - an emphasis on cutting taxes and regulation to compete with other jurisdictions.

[@Azureim]

He is the real Sylar :D

[@abhinashkumar9429]

after Nobel prize

[@tarikabaraka2251]

Paul Michael Romer es un economista, empresario y activista estadounidense. Fue economista jefe y vicepresidente sénior del Banco Mundial​​hasta el 24 de enero de 2018, cargo que ocupó desde junio de 2016.​ Fue galardonado en 2018 con Premio del Banco de Suecia en Ciencias Económicas en memoria de Alfred Nobel.

[@Wolcik3000]

Globalisation through fractioning nations? The emotional appeal to Kali at the begining was just..

[@theWriterofLove]

It has sort of stalled due to litigation around the whole situation, but they are trying. And the land for the city exists and is set up, but hasn't been moving forward.

[@schok51]

@dsm1891 There is an electric grid they can use,but it isn't enough to power lights in every house and building.

[@sigmundklaus]

if nelson has no electricity at home...but has got a cellphone... where does he recharge it ? :))

[@cockroach2]

I cant find any statistics on the profit rates of countries (if you have a source handy I'd like to see it). I can tell you that according to the CIA world factbook, India has a real GDP growth rate of 6.6% and that according. From 1991 to 1995 investment in India grew from $132 million to $5.3 billion. Cities like Bombay, Hyderabad, and Bangalore are flourishing from the computer industry. I don't mean to be rude, but I'm not quite sure how you could not know about all of this.

[@r.b.4611]

Better rules. That would be great.

[@aussie_anarchist]

I disagree about the choices for leaders. A leader is the leader of a State. A State is an organisation which holds an effective monopoly on offensive violence. In these charter cities the leaders should be limited and confined to the protection of the people of the city and their property, which means only a police force and a justice system, and an international military force to protect from foreign invaders. This is essentially why Hong Kong is so successful. It is the most Capitalist place on Earth.

[@TheLegendsNeverDie]

Same kind of idea that was responsible for the whole economical turmoil... The idea of insuring mortgage bonds and the idea of betting on them.

[@wtfnuoob]

@PoppyYoung2497 my name is Nelson, and he called me Wilson :(

[@EazyAdland]

Can someone explain to me what a "hur..hur..huearhquake" is?

[@sandrohelal2820]

Gostei de mais !

[@LordRelvenous]

Holy shit that bit with the balls at the end fucked with me. That's what I get for watching TED videos stoned.

[@theWriterofLove]

It has sort of stalled due to litigation around the whole situation, but they are trying. And the land for the city exists and is set up, but hasn't been moving forward. It wasn't shut down permanently it is basically suspended for the time being.

[@phoenixelixir]

@HaploidCell Ideally, then you can choose to walk another path. I know many people, some young and some old, who have switched careers. It's both exciting and scary, but if you have a system that supports you in a pursuit of your passion, then it is easier.

[@tarohoa]

Yeah he didn't specifically say how it'll reduce carbon emissions but i think he may have meant that if everyone is going to be provided for, having cities would reduce the CO2 emissions because they're more efficient as the guy above said.

[@DesignPunkStudios]

This is a brilliant economic system but it leaves behind the problem of food production. We don't have enough land to feed the 7 billion people that are on earth today. If we take up uninhabited land then we're going to likely take up farm land. That means more food shortages, more starvation, fewer people which means less demand which means less money for the production side which means a crippled economy. Less land means higher food prices. Take current cities and transform them into charter.

[@baronmorris]

it's a mixed bag... enticing, but... sometimes choices are false dualites. sometimes choices corrupt, especially when the chooser is in desperate straits. but hell, everything is dangerous, right?

[@svd348]

I think it's more that he finds Cities to be the right size for the experiment, and if those work then it can be expanded outward, as with his example in China. Even if they did create the charter laws for a rural area, if the rules were good it would attract enough people to be considered a city I would think.

[@cockroach2]

1. That we only need one model can be argued, but I'll give you the point because more importantly... 2. The model is not the issue here. Unless I'm misunderstanding you, your improvement on Romer's idea would be to just have all the poor people in the world who wanted come to Hong Kong and the like, to which I say you can't function like that. A distribution of such cities all over the world (especially in needed areas) would be neccesary.

[@bkjbs762]

Let's get to work.

[@Zetimenvec]

and talking of arable land at the end. It's not about how much land you can build large buildings on, it's about how much farmland you have that can support the big cities.

[@phantomofoaktown]

choices for people? now just what kind of people will be chosen?

[@j44mac]

In 1790 in the US, farmers made up 90% of the workforce. Now, farmers make up less than 3%. By your logic, we had more food and more food choice in 1790 than now. You're forgetting that better technology and better rules make it so a single person can be far more productive.

[@Trazynn]

Earht's population will urbanise whether you want it or not. There's no stopping it. Though if the growth goes naturally, it be much more polluting and resource demanding then if you use the policies he proposes. Look how the western world developped, it went trough a resource inefficient peak before we had the technology (and ideas, like he said) to make us more inefficient. Growth is unstoppable, we better have a framework in place to let it grow the right way.

[@SeraphimKnight]

@dsm1891 there is such a thing as "recharge stations" in africa where you can pay to get your phone charged up.

[@MrSyzygyG]

"you could use the gains in the value of the land to pay for things like..." - Paul Romer when discussing how to finance these charter cities. Hahahaha, I wouldn't count on this.

[@j3ffn4v4rr0]

He showed 14:00 a shot from his airplane window of the "immense stretches of land where 100s of millions of people could live" on the coast of Africa. There's a very good (and very obvious) reason nobody lives there right now. It's endless barren desert with ZERO value. Any value these people would hope for would be completely artificial, a bubble created by their investment plan and some prayers (probably to Satan).

[@claudiosantana2019]

he calls him nelson then Wilson, ooops

[@j3ffn4v4rr0]

Nowhere did I hear precisely how Nelson would have electricity in his home. Only a plan to further corporatize the lives of regular people...how often has that gone well? Not to mention, this basically abolishes representative democracy, under the guise of "choice".

[@dangerouslytalented]

haiti also is on the "rain shadow" of hispaniola. It is not just the weak government, but systematic diffuculties.

[@AdobadoFantastico]

LOL, I doubt any South American nations would have much interest in letting Spain establish charter cities. I gave him the benefit of the doubt for the first 15min. But his examples betray an ignorance of political/social issues. If he'd had suggestions of pairings where there aren't such obvious concerns, it wouldn't seem like he's suggesting these places should all go, "hey, you want to give that colony thing another shot? We want you back." There's just....so much about that that is....uncomfortable, to say the least. I get the concept, and it sounds vaguely plausible. But it assumes complete political cooperation.... which is the opposite of what you'd get. It would be a political nightmare. There's a reason no one ever ASKS for one of these places in their country. Again, I understand his thoughts/hopes. But this is one of those ideas that takes a lot of things for granted. It BEGS for Murphy's Law to get all up in there and start some wars. Speaking of which, anyone recall a place called Crimea?

[@osvansalinas1141]

Anguel Roumenov Bogoev where did he talk about Spain setting charter cities?

[@Doombug5000]

In reply to the currently 2 highest rated comments on this video, after the 'Opium Wars' Hong Kong was 'lent' to Britain, it then proceeded to flourish; by the mid 20th century, the average resident was ten times richer than their Chinese counterparts and 4/5ths as wealthy as the average British citizen. That's pretty phenomenal economic progress. In reply to the other, in poorer countries, people DO flock to cities, for whatever reasons (Dick Whittington ring any bells?) its an observable fact

[@Ah4b]

i was with him until he claimed that the human footprint and crime could be reduced by concentrating people to a city... That's just the opposite of what is happening...

[@osvansalinas1141]

Ah4b I guess he meant it will reduce the burden on other cities of the country.

[@pred09ale]

I was mainly thinking about economic development. And yes, I don´t want to believe in Porters "charter cities for dummies". This exemplary view suggests policy makers and/or RDA´s just have to follow the 15 or whatever steps of setting up a "charter city" and everything will be fine. No it won´t. Regional development depends highly from the specific setting of the region and its actors. example: many regions tried to just imitate the sillicon valley and ended up failing in a "sillicon nowhere".

[@infokemp]

There is a link on my channel to your channel - please accept my video response series. All the best David

[@JBrazosCole]

I wish Paul Romer would go a step further, and not rely so much on "better rules". State nullification will achieve all of these ends without bothering with trying to get the state to limit its self.

[@joselinbogarra]

Here I see two things: First, and not very related with the main point of the talk. Resources. It's very obvious today that space is not a problem. But what about resources? what about energetic resources? what about pollution? Of course, technology will have a lot to say about this. But I can't avoid being very worried about this. Second, how to guarantee the atractive of this? how to incentivate a company to get instalate at the middle of nowhere in Africa? .. I'm not very sure..

[@vikitheviki]

Best win-win situation is to make it all free and available to all without any cost. This is totally possible if we change the rules completely. The rules we have today is there coz we think they are necessary, but they are not. They exists for the sole purpose that there are a few people in this world that wants to own everything and charge the rest for it. We can build any society we want and so far we have done a pretty lame job.

[@DrSpooglemon]

@DesignPunkStudios I have heard of deforrestation and most deforrestation is land clearance for farming(usually livestock). A lot of it is also due to mining for gold, etc. I don't kow what dat you are basing your assertion on but just consider the logistics of importing timber from africa. The fact is that timber used in construction comes from sustainable forrestry. Why sustainble? Because it makes good business sense. Tropical timber for designer furniture, etc. may be a different matter...

[@ShakuShingan]

Essentially, China was a peasant based economy, whereas market based economies were industrialized, without socialist reforms, they would not have advanced fast enough to make the successful switch to market based economy. Take India for example, India was at the same economic level as China in 1950, similar population and so forth, but they directly inherited a market based economy. In comparison, China's policies caused a lead in literacy, innovation and equality.