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Real-time analysis of charter cities and related topics

Latest Posts

Charter Cities Conference Call for Papers

November 12, 2019

November 12, 2019

A call for academic papers ahead of the inaugural Charter Cities Conference on March 17-18, 2020.

Kurtis Lockhart

Charter Cities Business Plan Contest: Announcing the Winners

October 29, 2019

October 24, 2019

Tamara Winter

The Case for Charter Cities Within the Effective Altruist Framework

September 24, 2019

September 23, 2019

Sustained economic growth is the world’s best poverty reduction tool. In this paper, Research Associate Jeffrey Mason argues that charter cities are a highly cost-effective way to ignite long-run growth.

Jeffrey Mason

The Importance of Agglomeration Effects in Urban Planning

September 23, 2019

September 20, 2019

Paul Romer went to Burning Man.

Dr. Mark Lutter

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The Case for Charter Cities Within the Effective Altruist Framework

Sustained economic growth is the world’s best poverty reduction tool. In this paper, Research Associate Jeffrey Mason argues that charter cities are a highly cost-effective way to ignite long-run growth.

Staff Picks

Make Honduras Great

February 4, 2019

We have a new working paper by Jorge Colindres and myself (Mark Lutter) on how charter cities can make Honduras great.

Dr. Mark Lutter

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More on the ZEDE

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Towards a New Regulatory Framework

September 5, 2019

Events

Dr. Mark Lutter

We are happy to announced the 1st and 2nd prize winners of our Technology Zone White Paper Contest: Ross Marchand and Ryan Hagemann.

Notes on Singapore: Embedding Long-Term Thinking in Institutions

July 31, 2019

Blog Posts

Tamara Winter

As the Center has grown and developed, so has the substance of our internal conversations.

Charter Cities: A New Cause Area in Effective Altruism?

July 1, 2019

Blog Posts

Jeffrey Mason

On the connection between charter cities and effective altruism.

Video: Reboot American Innovation

June 3, 2019

Events

Tamara Winter

On May 2nd, Executive Director Mark Lutter and Communications Lead Tamara Winter spoke at the Lincoln Network’s Reboot American Innovation Conference.

Business Plan Contest

May 13, 2019

Contests

Dr. Mark Lutter

The Charter Cities Institute is pleased to announce our Charter Cities Business Plan Contest. First-place prize is $25,000 and second place receives $10,000.

Charter Cities vs Millennium Villages: What’s the Difference?

May 7, 2019

Blog Posts

Dr. Mark Lutter

Noah Smith recently asked me on Twitter to compare charter cities to Millennium Villages.

Charter Cities in a Box

April 23, 2019

Blog Posts

Dr. Mark Lutter

I recently tweeted that the Charter Cities Institute is “Gonna make charter cities replicable. Charter cities in a box.” I’d like to unpack what I mean by that.

Frequently Asked Questions

April 4, 2019

Blog Posts

Dr. Mark Lutter

Some answers to frequently asked questions about charter cities.

What is a Charter City?

March 26, 2019

Blog Posts

Dr. Mark Lutter

A charter city is a city given a special jurisdiction to create a new governance system.

Building the Future of Governance: Brochure

March 20, 2019

Presentations

Tamara Winter

We’re pleased to share our new brochure, “Building the Future of Governance.”

Reddit AMA (3/5/19)

March 6, 2019

Blog Posts

Dr. Mark Lutter

Inspired by these questions and others we’ve received, we’ll also be posting an FAQ on the website in the coming days.

Make Honduras Great

February 4, 2019

Research

Dr. Mark Lutter

We have a new working paper by Jorge Colindres and myself (Mark Lutter) on how charter cities can make Honduras great.

Technology Zone White Paper Contest

January 17, 2019

Contests

Dr. Mark Lutter

The Charter Cities Institute is pleased to announce our Technology Zones White Paper Competition: “Towards a New Regulatory Framework”.

Podcast 11: Santiago Gangotena

January 15, 2019

Podcast

Dr. Mark Lutter

This week’s guest on the Charter Cities Podcast is Santiago Gangotena.

Charter cities syllabus

December 10, 2018

Blog Posts

Dr. Mark Lutter

I’m interested in teaching a charter cities course next year so I wrote up this draft syllabus.

Charter cities questions

October 30, 2018

Blog Posts

Dr. Mark Lutter

These questions are focused around charter cities and innovative governance.

Book Review: Artemis

October 9, 2018

Book Reviews

Dr. Mark Lutter

A review of Artemis by Andy Weir

Paul Romer on charter cities and what we’ve learned since

October 8, 2018

Blog Posts

Dr. Mark Lutter

Paul Romer, along with William Nordhaus, just won the Nobel Prize in economics for his work on endogenous growth theory.

Ulex: A Legal Framework

October 8, 2018

Guest Posts

Mischa Spiegelmock

A guest post by Mischa Spiegelmock.

Charter Cities: Possible locations and embryonic growth issues: Alain Bertaud

October 2, 2018

Presentations

Dr. Alain Bertaud

Video lecture on charter cities locations.

Ulex: An Open Source Legal System

October 1, 2018

Presentations

Tom W Bell

A presentation overview of Ulex.

September Commentary

September 12, 2018

Updates

Dr. Mark Lutter

A summary of events in the charter cities space in September.

Podcast 10: Devon Zuegel

August 13, 2018

Podcast

Dr. Mark Lutter

Devon Zuegel is a writer and software engineer living in San Francisco.

Organizational lessons from the conservative legal movement

August 1, 2018

Blog Posts

Dr. Mark Lutter

The nomination of Brett Kavanuagh to the Supreme Court has ignited an interesting discussion about the rise of the conservative legal movement.

Seasteading

July 23, 2018

Interviews

Dr. Mark Lutter

An interview with Joe Quirk, President of the Seasteading Institute.

Podcast 9: Lotta Moberg

July 17, 2018

Podcast

Dr. Mark Lutter

A conversation with Lotta Moberg.

Politas Consulting

July 9, 2018

Interviews

Dr. Mark Lutter

A conversation with Michael Castle Miller, the Founder and CEO of Politas Consulting.

Podcast 8: Mwiya Musokotwane

July 2, 2018

Podcast

Dr. Mark Lutter

Mwiya Musokotwane is building a new city in Zambia, and raising capital to expand the model throughout Africa.

Where to locate a charter city

June 21, 2018

Blog Posts

Dr. Mark Lutter

One of the most important considerations in building a charter city is location.

Podcast 7: Paul Collier

June 13, 2018

Podcast

Dr. Mark Lutter

Paul Collier is a professor of economics and public policy in the Blavatnik School of Government at the University of Oxford.

Podcast 6: Patrik Schumacher

June 4, 2018

Podcast

Dr. Mark Lutter

The sixth guest for the Charter Cities Podcast is Patrik Schumacher. Patrik is the Principal at Zaha Hadid Architects.

New city categorization

May 31, 2018

Blog Posts

Dr. Mark Lutter

Wade Shepard, a journalist who writes on new cities has an in Forbes which describes some of the challenges in categorizing new city projects.

Podcast 5: Glen Weyl

May 15, 2018

Podcast

Dr. Mark Lutter

Our fifth guest for the Charter Cities Podcast is Glen Weyl.

World Free Zone Organization Conference

May 7, 2018

Blog Posts

Dr. Mark Lutter

Last week I attended the World Free Zone Organization’s annual conference in Dubai.

Podcast 4: Alexander Salter

April 30, 2018

Podcast

Dr. Mark Lutter

In this podcast we have a wide ranging discussion about private governance, liberalism, the origin of the state, and the future of governance.

State capacity and charter cities

April 22, 2018

Blog Posts

Dr. Mark Lutter

The development community is shifting their focus to fragile states. The World Bank doubled their fund for fragile states.

Podcast 3: Patri Friedman

April 19, 2018

Podcast

Dr. Mark Lutter

An interview with Patri Friedman.

Hong Kong redux? The Sri Lankan port controlled by China

April 9, 2018

Blog Posts

Dr. Mark Lutter

Hambantota is a port in Southern Sri Lanka of which control was ceded to China in a 99 year lease.

Building state capacity: lessons From ISIS

April 7, 2018

Blog Posts

Dr. Mark Lutter

The New York Times has a very interesting article on ISIS and how they created a bureaucracy to administer their territory and collect taxes.

Rendeavour

March 22, 2018

Interviews

Dr. Mark Lutter

An interview with Preston Mendenhall, the Head of Corporate Affairs for Rendeavour.

Podcast 2: Kilian Kleinschmidt

April 4, 2018

Podcast

Dr. Mark Lutter

Kilian Kleinschmidt is a humanitarian and entrepreneur.

Democratic Compliance: A Charter City’s Obligations Under International Law

April 11, 2018

Research

Jorge Colindres

The Case of the Honduran ZEDE Regime

Podcast 1: Tyler Cowen

March 24, 2018

Podcast

Dr. Mark Lutter

Mark interviews Tyler Cowen, a Professor of Economics at George Mason University.