Mechanism Design and Crowdfunding

This lecture covers mechanism design, focusing on collaborative mechanisms to incentivize cooperation, as well as crowdfunding platforms like Kickstarter. It delves into the basic ideas behind crowdfunding, the upsides and downsides, and the limited accountability for promises. The instructor also discusses prediction markets, where participants predict the future by putting money where they believe the truth lies. The lecture concludes with an exploration of quadratic voting, a method where individuals pay based on the square of the number of votes they cast, aiming to reveal the true strength of interest and potentially rewarding extremism.