Benedict Evans presentation: “Three Steps to the Future”
Akash Prakash: Reflections of a rookie private market investor. “Committing capital to younger companies is full of promise, but there are a few factors investors need to watch out for.”
Donald Boudreaux: “By following rules we can, and do, increase the number of individuals with whom we cooperate beyond the number that we personally know. An example is trade, which has at its base this rule: Each person is entitled only to what other people voluntarily give to him or her. No one gets to take other people’s stuff without their permission. Under this rule, if Jones wants some item, say an axe, owned by Smith, Jones understands that he can get this axe only by persuading Smith to give it to him. And especially if Smith is a stranger to Jones, the most obvious way for Jones to persuade Smith to give him the axe is for Jones to agree to give some other item – say, a barrel of beer – to Smith in exchange…Trade allows each of us to tap into the unique talents, interests, and endowments of our trading partners, be they neighbors across the street or strangers across the ocean. And trade is possible because its most basic rule is easily understood by every human being regardless of cultural background.”