The Trust Revolution: How the Digitization of Trust Will Revolutionize Business and Government

by M. Todd Henderson, Salen Churi

While conventional wisdom dictates that people's trust – in the government, in corporations, in each other - is at a historic low, the rise of the Internet is offering new ways to rehabilitate and strengthen trust. Uber is probably the best example of a new company that, on the surface, allows individuals with smartphones to get rides with strangers, but at a deeper level is in the business of trust. In The Trust Revolution, M. Todd Henderson and Salen Churi trace the history of innovation and trust, linking companies such as Uber with medieval guilds, early corporations, self-regulatory organizations, and New-Deal era administrative agencies. This book should be read by anyone who wants to understand how trust - and its means of creation - has the potential not only to expand opportunities for human cooperation, but also to reduce the size and scope of government and corporate control over our lives.

Genres: Technology, Nonfiction

232 pages, Hardcover

Published August 15, 2019

Reviews

[UChicagoLaw]

I’m currently reading a new book, The Trust Revolution: How the Digitization of Trust Will Revolutionize Business and Government, written by our colleagues Todd Henderson and Sal Churi. The book argues that many government regulations exist to create the trust necessary to cooperate with people we don’t know. For instance, getting in a car with a stranger is a risky proposition if you don’t know the driver can be trusted. To solve this problem, the government established licensing regimes to help assure consumers that they can be safe riding in a cab. But technology has upended the government’s position in the market for creating trust. Thanks to apps like Lyft and Uber, we can get trust getting into strangers’ cars without needing as much government regulation. The book will challenge the way you think about regulation, technology, and the potential for people to cooperate in a modern economy. —Adam Chilton, Professor of Law, Walter Mander Research Scholar

The Trust Revolution is an engaging read that analyzes how different sources of regulation throughout history have addressed a lack of trust between buyers and sellers that have no personal relationship with one another. Its discussion of how household names in the tech industry have successfully provided consumers with the trust that we once only trusted regulators to provide is not to be missed for any aspiring regulatory or venture capital lawyer! —Emily Underwood, Assistant Clinical Professor of Law, Bluhm-Helfand Director of the Innovation Clinic