Trust Building, Economics, and the Darknet | Julia Norgaard | TEDxPepperdineUniversity

Trust is an essential component to any kind of human interaction, may it be social, political, or economic. But when it comes to trust generation, researchers have a tough time pinpointing what brings about trust in the first place. Dr. Julia Norgaard, Assistant Professor of Economics at Pepperdine University, set out to discover what environments best generate and foster the key economic ingredient of trust. She ended up finding the answer in the most unlikely of places, the underground marketplaces of the internet called the darknet. This environment pushes the human capacity to trust to its limits, thus revealing some key insights about incentives and human nature. Julia Norgaard is an Assistant Professor of Economics at Pepperdine University where she runs a faculty research seminar and an economics reading group. Her research interests include the internet darknet and judicial institutional interventions in developing nations. Julia is passionate about teaching her students to view the world through an economic lens and researching forms of private governance. She enjoys spending time exploring outdoors, adventuring to different parts of the world, and brewing beer. Julia is an avid rock climber and beach volleyball player. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx