Plans for 2008

I haven't posted anything to this blog for several months, and one of my New Year's Resolutions is to blog more often, so this is a good time to start. I have embarked on my PhD dissertation at Osgoode Hall Law School of York University. Originally, I had planned on doing it on the topic of futarchy, which is a proposal by Robin Hanson for a system of government based on prediction markets, but there is almost no literature on the topic, and a whole chapter of the thesis should be devoted to a literature review. While attending Peer Zumbansen's Study Group on Law and Economic Relations, I became interested in the topic of Law and Development and have decided to apply this analysis to the study of Virtual Worlds. Specifically, my dissertation will examine the notion of legal transplants (i.e. evaluating the chances of success of adapting a 1st World legal regime to a developing country) with the twist that I will treat Virtual Worlds as a form of developing nation(s). Although economist Ted Castronova first compared Virtual Worlds to developing nations as far back as 2001, the legal transplants analysis has not yet been applied to these worlds. Writing this dissertation promises to be a fascinating and fun experience. I will periodically blog about my progress. Feel free to share thoughts, observations and comments if you'd like.