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Peter Leeson

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  1. a16z28 min

    a16z Podcast | The Why Behind the Weird

    Peter Leeson, Hanne Tidnam, Hannah

    Economist Peter Leeson analyzes historical phenomena ranging from ecclesiastic pest trials and judicial ordeals to pirate constitutions as rational "technologies" designed to solve social coordination problems under specific environmental constraints. These institutions manipulated beliefs and physical outcomes to enforce tithe compliance, extract confessions without witnesses, or secure democratic cooperation among stateless groups by aligning individual incentives with collective stability. Ultimately, Leeson argues that practices often dismissed as mere superstition functioned as effective economic mechanisms for governance and conflict resolution in pre-modern societies.

Peter Leeson: Interviews, Talks and Panel Discussions