Sticking a pin in this article because I think it shouldbe marked as the beginning of a tide towards better engineered economic systems. The following is a great way to think about it:

“Designing a cryptoeconomic structure is like designing a robot that will be released into a large crowd of people with the goal of not only surviving, but also of herding the crowd to do something for it. The robot will be kicked, drenched in sulphuric acid, unplugged, and interacted with in a wide variety of unexpected ways. But what the robot needs is to be given electricity, repair, and other resources. Also it will need people to give it directions and information.”

As silly as the example may sound, the solution appears to come in part through decades of experience with control of robotic networks and the fields of mathematical psychology and decision science. The author of this post has been a key player in early work to bring these fields to bear in crypto-economics.

Thanks Alex!