If you want to have public goods funded by the users, why not ask them explicitly before you build the public good? This is usually called “crowdfunding”. It works pretty well on relatively small scale projects already, and should really be scaled up.
I agree, I want to see a lot more crowdfunding projects for global problems especially. I think things like crowdfunding are great, and if a public good can be provided this way, its usually easier/simpler than retroactive funding.
That being said, I still think there are a few cases where retroactive funding and prizes can be useful. For example, these mechanisms can allow people to finance the creation of music they like before hearing the song itself!
I talk about this in more depth here and it seems that Vitalik Buterin is working on an implementation of something similar.
I don’t expect retroactive funding/prizes to be as important as crowdfunding, but I think having a diverse set of goods-funding mechanisms is important.
If you want to have public goods funded by the users, why not ask them explicitly before you build the public good? This is usually called “crowdfunding”. It works pretty well on relatively small scale projects already, and should really be scaled up.
I agree, I want to see a lot more crowdfunding projects for global problems especially. I think things like crowdfunding are great, and if a public good can be provided this way, its usually easier/simpler than retroactive funding.
That being said, I still think there are a few cases where retroactive funding and prizes can be useful. For example, these mechanisms can allow people to finance the creation of music they like before hearing the song itself!
I talk about this in more depth here and it seems that Vitalik Buterin is working on an implementation of something similar.
I don’t expect retroactive funding/prizes to be as important as crowdfunding, but I think having a diverse set of goods-funding mechanisms is important.