Regulating the Digital Economy

What is the role of government in the age of Uber, Airbnb, and the app economy? The purpose of regulation is simple: to protect consumers and to ensure fair competition. But as the economy has become increasingly powered by innovations that seem to pop up by the day, government—a perpetual laggard when it comes to technology—has failed to keep up. How can regulators protect the values of fairness, competition, and consumer protection without impeding innovation?

• Jessica Rosenworcel: Sandbox Thinking
• Larry Downes: Managing the Big Bang: The Regulator’s Dilemma
• John W. Mayo: Beyond Ideology: A Results-Based Approach
• Karen Kornbluh: Beyond Borders: Fighting Data Protectionism
• Beth Simone Noveck: Bridging the Knowledge Gap: In Search of Expertise
• Cass R. Sunstein: Democratizing Regulation, Digitally

Democracy and the Donor Class

Gara LaMarche: Foundations and philanthropists do much good, but these unelected actors have acquired enormous power to shape policy. Should they be reined in?

The Overpaid CEO

Susan Holmberg & Mark Schmitt: There have been many attempts to curb exorbitant executive pay. But we won’t fix the problem until we address the nature of the corporation.

Genetic Code

Ben Merriman: Our regulatory regime for genetic research is a confusing thicket of rulings and guidelines. But there’s an elegant solution to the problem: copyright law.

A Bridge Too Far

Jacob Weisberg: Rick Perlstein’s account of Ronald Reagan’s rise acknowledges his popularity, but doesn’t take the reasons behind it seriously enough.

The Pups of Wall Street

Karen Ho: Greed is still good, it turns out—and not just on the Street, but in the elite schools that send young people there. Can this ever change?

Enter the Dragon

Dayo Olopade: China has been making huge investments in Africa—and Africans have welcomed it. It’s productive for China, but what about Africa?

Stonewalled

David France: Recent accounts of gay marriage’s march to legalization conspicuously leave out a key player: the movement that made it happen.

Editor’s Note

Michael Tomasky: Michael Tomasky introduces Issue #34

Race and the Reformicons

Joy-Ann Reid: The reform conservatives are tackling a number of issues that could change their movement. But there’s one matter on which their silence is notable. A response to E.J. Dionne Jr.

Letters to the Editor

Democracy Readers: Letters from our readers

Self-Made in America

Elbert Ventura: Self-reliance is a good thing—but its fetishization has created an elite oblivious to the role luck and privilege play in people’s lives.