Radically Normal
A polemic on honesty, responsibility, and justice
Imagine you live alone in a desert oasis — and suddenly nine exhausted strangers appear in front of your porch. What do you do?
That question opens Radically Normal: a polemic in seven chapters about the extreme gap between those who have and those who don’t — and the responsibility all of us carry for it. I write it not as an economist, but as someone who sits in the well-stocked oasis house himself. It ends with a proposal that sounds radical today and should one day sound simply normal: the 10x principle — no one has more than ten times as much as anyone else.
The chapters build on one another; it’s best to start at the beginning. Short on time? Chapter 1 tells the parable, Chapter 4 makes the proposal.
Chapter 1: The oasis dilemma → A parable about the moment someone in need shows up at your door.
Chapter 2: Why is extreme inequality harmful? → The facts on extreme poverty and extreme wealth — and the damage both do.
Chapter 3: A brief history of thinking about inequality → From Plato’s 4:1 to Robeyns’ limitarianism.
Chapter 4: The 10x principle → The proposal: no one has more than ten times as much as anyone else — and what that world would look like.
Chapter 5: What drives us in a 10x world? → Why innovation doesn’t depend on a billionaire lottery: rethinking risk instead of reward.
Chapter 6: How do we get to a fairer world? → The tools already exist: wealth and inheritance taxes, information exchange, enforcement.
Chapter 7: Conclusion — coming on 8 July, 2026.