Jointly authored by Divya Siddarth, Matthew Prewitt,and Glen Weyl, this paper provides a framework for thinking beyond the traditional economic approach of public vs private goods. The paper argues for funding mechanisms that take into account “supermodular” goods, which encompass everything under the familiar umbrella of “public goods”, but also include private or excludable systems that become more effective when provided to more people.

Existing financialization models have trapped us into only funding certain technologies, with a constrained set of stakeholders, outcomes, and possibilities. We need a better container in which to build the future of technology, be it satellites or space travel or AI research. Other approaches are necessary to build towards a future of collective flourishing: approaches that intentionally incorporate the public good, that factor in exponential returns from advances in AI, that build shared infrastructure, that prioritize steady returns over massive growth.