Thread by @KaiGehring1

Thoughtful podcast on what was probably the most promising experiment for #communism to ever work.
Many important insights:
1.) If you want an egalitarian society, politics need to be decentralized & units restricted <= ~150 families.
Interesting @nntaleb?
econtalk.org/ran-abramitzky…

2.) Kibbutz were really very close to communist ideals. NO(!) private property, children were largely raised by the community to instill the right spirit, exactly #equal salary for everyone. At their peak, more than 5% of the Israeli population lived in one.

3.) From what Ran Abramitzky explains, they were in many regard great places. Good public good provision, little conflict and very safe for children, &being in the community is good insurance against bad events happening to you. Also most places were rather well off economically

4.) Even in Kibbutz this is costly. Little to no privacy as group member need to monitor each other for not shirking. Kids taken away from parents. Education partly ideological to instill necessary group spirit. #racist selection of members to maintain necessary homogeneity.

5.) Maintaining communist ideal is easier withan agragrian/otherwise one-sided industrial structure. Modern economy with many options & jobs for individuals to self-develop clashes with aim to remain part of that local society. Today more people leave Kibbutz or work outside

6.) Even at its peak, less than 10% of Israelis were part of these societies and many of them received government subsidies for a long time. Hence, the experiment was strongly biased towards working well because people with like-minded preferences selected into or were chosen.

Many trade-offs necessary for achieving more equal society.
E.g., trade-off between
more #equity vs. world government to solve e.g. problems with global public goods like #climate @UNFCCC .
Or
#diversity vs. #homogeneity necessary to accept #redistribution

@valentin_lang