Eric Maskin: Our Voting System Is Broken, Here’s the Fix

Eric Maskin: Our Voting System Is Broken, Here’s the Fix

From Endgame with Gita Wirjawan by Endgame Podcast

March 7, 2026 · 55 min · Season 1 · Episode 256

About this episode

Eric Maskin discusses the flaws in current voting systems and proposes solutions to improve democratic processes.

Get your copy of Gita Wirjawan’s book, “What It Takes: Southeast Asia”, NOW: https://sgpp.me/what-it-takes-ytAnd leave your review here:https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/241922036-what-it-takes ------------------------ Many of us have, at one time or another, questioned the real impact of a public policy. But Eric Maskin encourages us to shift the focus: instead of asking only what policies do, we should ask how the rules behind them are designed in the first place.A Nobel Prize–winning economist, Maskin is best known for developing the foundations of mechanism design theory. This branch of microeconomics—closely linked to game theory and information economics—examines how to structure rules and incentives so that socially desirable outcomes emerge, even when individuals act rationally and hold private information.In addition to his theoretical work, Maskin has proposed true-majority voting rules as a way to strengthen democratic systems. His approach addresses weaknesses in conventional electoral frameworks, which can be susceptible to elite capture, and aims to ensure that election outcomes more accurately reflect the will of the majority. #Endgame #GitaWirjawan #EricMaskin…

People in this episode

Host: Gita Wirjawan

Guest: Eric Maskin

Topics covered

  • voting systems
  • democracy
  • mechanism design
  • public policy
  • economics

Keywords

  • voting
  • democracy
  • mechanism design
  • public policy
  • Nobel Prize

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Goodreads

Books & works: What It Takes: Southeast Asia

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