For most groups, the obligations are not written nor legally binding. They’re implied and illegible, and VERY hard to change, or even talk rationally about.
In fact, most contracts you can imagine are un-enforceable—only some narrow topics are in the overton window of contracts that can be discussed, and only some of those are in realms that many courts will enforce.
For your specific (group agrees to share 10% of individual wealth after 20 years), it would be tricky to adjust for expected net worth (why would someone with better prospects agree?), and you’d need some way to handle entry and exit (or just decide not to have any new social contacts, I guess).
I don’t see a solution here, other than secrecy, at least among those who aren’t very-well-trusted rational individuals in pretty close relationships. Which describes vanishingly small groups.
OR maybe we bite the bullet. Take the Scandinavian approach, and publish tax returns, or further—publish all wealth and income worldwide. Get through the strife and pain that would happen in many regions and in many groups, and those who survive can learn to stop worrying about it. A guy can dream, huh?
For most groups, the obligations are not written nor legally binding. They’re implied and illegible, and VERY hard to change, or even talk rationally about.
In fact, most contracts you can imagine are un-enforceable—only some narrow topics are in the overton window of contracts that can be discussed, and only some of those are in realms that many courts will enforce.
For your specific (group agrees to share 10% of individual wealth after 20 years), it would be tricky to adjust for expected net worth (why would someone with better prospects agree?), and you’d need some way to handle entry and exit (or just decide not to have any new social contacts, I guess).
I don’t see a solution here, other than secrecy, at least among those who aren’t very-well-trusted rational individuals in pretty close relationships. Which describes vanishingly small groups.
OR maybe we bite the bullet. Take the Scandinavian approach, and publish tax returns, or further—publish all wealth and income worldwide. Get through the strife and pain that would happen in many regions and in many groups, and those who survive can learn to stop worrying about it. A guy can dream, huh?