Like it or not, firms like these already serve as the unofficial and unelected regulators of millions of lives. For this reason, platforms have much to learn from cities and states, which have had thousands of years to evolve principles of good governance. Like the platform businesses of today, cities and states have long had to wrestle with the question of how best to create wealth and distribute it fairly. Increasing evidence suggests that just governance is a crucially important factor in the ability of a state to create wealth—even more important than such obviously valuable assets as
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