Jeff Saviano's guest appearances

Jeff Saviano

Better Innovation

Say It Skillfully®

CoinDesk Reports

Money Reimagined

Steve Sasson

Tomicah Tillemann

Tom Emmer

Jeff Dorman

Craig Wright

Jameson Lopp

Ken Blanchard

Patrick Brown

Phil Snyder

Edward Snowden

Chris Yeh

Priya Parker

Wendy Suzuki

Glen Weyl

Nic Carter

OwlTail

In our weekly Money Reimagined podcast, Sheila Warren and I talked to two outside-the-box thinkers on their ideas for improving governance. Quadratic Voting and Open AuctionsOne of our guests was Glen Weyl, the political economist and Principal Researcher at Microsoft Research New England, who co-authored the book “Radical Markets” with University of Chicago Law School professor Eric Posner. We chose to focus on just two of the many ideas that that book puts forward. One is quadratic voting, which allows people not only to vote for or against a particular issue but to express how strongly they hold that view by buying extra votes – up to a certain limit of assigned credits. The cost in credits of each additional vote increases by a quadratic formula. It’s designed to help small groups of voters who care deeply about particular issues while still constraining them from overly skewing results.Weyl has also worked on a variation of the concept with Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin called quadratic funding, which in theory could diminish the influence of wealthy “whales” in voting systems that are based on financial holdings or contributions.  The second big idea we explored is that of perpetual open auctions. Here, every bit of property, including what we might otherwise think of as public property, is owned by private entities with the proviso that it is always up for auction and that the majority of the value created from it is shared equally among citizens as a social dividend. Weyl and Posner argue that such an arrangement would incentivize owners to manage the property well, and that the wider distribution of wealth creation would give a greater number of people the wherewithal to start businesses. It would also be easier to develop land for infrastructure, such as high-speed rail lines, because the developer could easily acquire it. Both of these ideas are rooted more in legal and process innovation than in software and distributed computing per se. But they intersect nicely with concepts associated with the crypto and blockchain space. One is the potential for self-sovereign identity models to prevent people from gaming quadratic voting. Another is the potential enhancements that smart contracts, non-fungible token-based property, and decentralized finance (DeFi) concepts such as automated market-making might bring to open auctions. Also, quadratic funding might fix free-rider problems in blockchain projects, Buterin believes. Smart taxationOur other guest was Jeff Saviano, the global lead of tax innovation at EY. He is a member of the Prosperity Collaborative, within which organizations such as the World Bank, MIT Media Lab’s Connection Sciences lab and the New America Foundation are working with governments to improve transparency and efficiency in the collection and distribution of taxes.  Saviano talks of how blockchain-based tracing systems might not only give taxpayers a transparent view of how their taxes are being spent but also incorporate programmability. For example, the actual, uniquely identified dollars that you contribute could be channeled directly and transparently into identifiable services that immediately benefit you and your community. Or, governments could use smart contracts to put hard constraints on those dollars, so only certain categories of expenditure, and not others, are enabled. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In our weekly Money Reimagined podcast, Sheila Warren and I talked to two outside-the-box thinkers on their ideas for improving governance. Quadratic Voting and Open AuctionsOne of our guests was Glen Weyl, the political economist and Principal Researcher at Microsoft Research New England, who co-authored the book “<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Radical-Markets-Uprooting-Capitalism-Democracy/dp/0691177503" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Radical Markets</a>” with University of Chicago Law School professor Eric Posner. We chose to focus on just two of the many ideas that that book puts forward. One is <a href="https://towardsdatascience.com/what-is-quadratic-voting-4f81805d5a06" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">quadratic voting</a>, which allows people not only to vote for or against a particular issue but to express how strongly they hold that view by buying extra votes – up to a certain limit of assigned credits. The cost in credits of each additional vote increases by a quadratic formula. It’s designed to help small groups of voters who care deeply about particular issues while still constraining them from overly skewing results.Weyl has also worked on a variation of the concept with Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin called <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/video/social-vitalik-buterin-request-by-zack" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">quadratic funding</a>, which in theory could diminish the influence of wealthy “whales” in voting systems that are based on financial holdings or contributions.  The second big idea we explored is that of perpetual open auctions. Here, every bit of property, including what we might otherwise think of as public property, is owned by private entities with the proviso that it is always up for auction and that the majority of the value created from it is shared equally among citizens as a social dividend. Weyl and Posner argue that such an arrangement would incentivize owners to manage the property well, and that the wider distribution of wealth creation would give a greater number of people the wherewithal to start businesses. It would also be easier to develop land for infrastructure, such as high-speed rail lines, because the developer could easily acquire it. Both of these ideas are rooted more in legal and process innovation than in software and distributed computing per se. But they intersect nicely with concepts associated with the crypto and blockchain space. One is the potential for <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/money-reimagined-fixing-internet-big-flaw" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">self-sovereign identity</a> models to prevent people from gaming quadratic voting. Another is the potential enhancements that smart contracts, non-fungible token-based property, and decentralized finance (DeFi) concepts such as automated market-making might bring to open auctions. Also, <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/theres-a-problem-with-crypto-funding-and-vitalik-might-have-a-solution" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">quadratic funding might fix free-rider problems in blockchain projects</a>, Buterin believes. Smart taxationOur other guest was Jeff Saviano, the global lead of tax innovation at EY. He is a member of the <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/taxes-and-government-revenue/brief/prosperity-collaborative" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Prosperity Collaborative</a>, within which organizations such as the World Bank, MIT Media Lab’s Connection Sciences lab and the New America Foundation are working with governments to improve transparency and efficiency in the collection and distribution of taxes.  Saviano talks of how blockchain-based tracing systems might not only give taxpayers a transparent view of how their taxes are being spent but also incorporate programmability. For example, the actual, uniquely identified dollars that you contribute could be channeled directly and transparently into identifiable services that immediately benefit you and your community. Or, governments could use smart contracts to put hard constraints on those dollars, so only certain categories of expenditure, and not others, are enabled. See Privacy Policy at <a href="https://art19.com/privacy" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">https://art19.com/privacy</a> and California Privacy Notice at <a href="https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info</a>.

MONEY REIMAGINED: Government Reimagined, with Jeff Saviano and Glen Weyl

Say It Skillfully® is a show that helps you to benefit from Molly Tschang’s expert guidance on the best possible ways to speak your mind at work in a positive and productive manner. In Episode 41, Jeff Saviano—EY Global Tax Innovation Leader &amp; host of podcast Better Innovation—shares how sport was a grounding force in his youth and college choice. He also reveals how overcoming a setback early in his career makes his taking the stage at TEDx and the Davos World Economic Forum even more meaningful. Those who struggle some with public speaking, keep the faith! Jeff talks about areas he’s keen to grow as he pursues innovations that help business &amp; society. Next retiree John talks about friction with those at opposite ends of the political spectrum &amp; deciding it’s time to move on. Seth raises how 2 peers on his team  “confidentially” confide in him that the other is the problem (44:45). Tune in for her conversations as you learn to navigate work while being invaluable and true to yourself.

Say It Skillfully® – Jeff Saviano on Better Innovation, sharing "confidential" info, and more...

We’ve all heard of the so-called “sin taxes” on items like cigarettes and soda. When these harmful products become more expensive, consumption naturally decreases. What if we tried the same approach with fossil fuel consumption producing carbon emissions?    This special throwback episode features Jeff’s 2016 TEDx talk that was the impetus for Better Innovation, focused on citizen activism and the impact of a carbon tax in British Columbia. The province adopted a carbon tax that cut fossil fuel consumption by 16% without stifling economic growth — and since revenues were given back to the people by cutting other taxes, it enjoyed public support. In 2019, the carbon tax was extended throughout Canada.   While partisan gridlock may hinder a national carbon tax in the U.S., Jeff argues we could adopt it at the state level using ballot initiatives; and, perhaps extend this idea across the globe! Tune in to see how we can leverage taxes as a powerful tool for social change.

We’ve all heard of the so-called “sin taxes” on items like cigarettes and soda. When these harmful products become more expensive, consumption naturally decreases. What if we tried the same approach with fossil fuel consumption producing carbon emissions?  This special throwback episode features Jeff’s 2016 TEDx talk that was the impetus for Better Innovation, focused on citizen activism and the impact of a carbon tax in British Columbia. The province adopted a carbon tax that cut fossil fuel consumption by 16% without stifling economic growth — and since revenues were given back to the people by cutting other taxes, it enjoyed public support. In 2019, the carbon tax was extended throughout Canada. While partisan gridlock may hinder a national carbon tax in the U.S., Jeff argues we could adopt it at the state level using ballot initiatives; and, perhaps extend this idea across the globe! Tune in to see how we can leverage taxes as a powerful tool for social change.

Season 3, Ep.11: The Davos Talks, 2020- Jeff Saviano: How can we fight climate change with better taxation? | TEDxBeaconStreet