Tag Archives: trust

White Paper: Living at the Core or the Periphery: A Typology of Daily-Life Indicators of Centrality and Marginality

Executive Summary Core–periphery distinctions are often discussed in abstract economic or geopolitical terms. Yet for individuals and families, these structural realities are experienced daily, through mundane encounters with infrastructure, institutions, culture, authority, and opportunity. This white paper proposes a typology … Continue reading

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White Paper: The Implied Social Contracts People Live By—and the Consequences of Their Violation

Executive Summary Human societies function through a lattice of implied social contracts—unstated, often unexamined expectations governing everyday interactions, relationships, and institutions. These agreements are not formally codified, yet they powerfully shape behavior, trust, cooperation, and social stability. When these contracts … Continue reading

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White Paper: The Impact of Unexplained Automatic Payment Failures on Customer Satisfaction

Executive Summary Automatic payments—whether for utilities, subscriptions, insurance, or financial services—are designed to enhance convenience, reduce late payments, and streamline business operations. However, when these systems fail without clear explanation or timely communication, they generate disproportionate customer dissatisfaction relative to … Continue reading

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White Paper: The Problem of Shifting Delivery and Departure Time Estimates on Customer Satisfaction in Logistics and Transportation Companies

Executive Summary Accurate and stable delivery and departure time estimates have become a cornerstone of modern logistics, e-commerce, and mobility services. Customers increasingly expect real-time information, narrow arrival windows, and minimal disruptions to their schedules. However, many logistics and transportation … Continue reading

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White Paper: The Breakdown of the Monoculture and the Corporate Failure to Adapt

Executive Summary For much of the twentieth century, Western societies—particularly the United States—operated under a broad cultural monoculture. While diversity in ethnicity, religion, class, and ideology always existed, mass media and mass-market structures produced a shared cultural narrative that shaped … Continue reading

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White Paper: Gatekeepers of Innovation: The Historical Role of Those Who Normalize Outsider Genres and Groundbreaking Ideas

Abstract Throughout history, groundbreaking innovations and outsider genres have rarely been embraced directly by the mainstream. Instead, they first emerge in marginalized, experimental, or niche contexts. What determines whether such movements remain underground or become transformative is often the presence … Continue reading

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From My Heart And From My Hand, Why Don’t People Understand My Intention?

While the band Oingo Boingo was perhaps too strange to achieve pop superstardom, their song “Weird Science” remains one of the more prescient songs about the concerns of science over the past few decades. It is perhaps too easy to … Continue reading

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Book Review: The Great Degeneration

The Great Degeneration: How Institutions Decay And Economies Die, by Niall Ferguson This book deals with an issue that is very important but often overlooked and underrecognized when it comes to the health of societies and their economies, and that is … Continue reading

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Populism And The Agency Problem

The agency problem is a familiar one, even to many who do not know it by name. There is a cliche that many people live by, “If you want something done right, you need to do it yourself,” which is … Continue reading

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Unity And Division Without Limit

There is no nation, no matter how large, that does not have at least some desire to make itself larger through some form of union with others, and there is no community of people, no matter how small, that does … Continue reading

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