Naval rejects conventional economic thinking. Most economists assume scarcity. Naval sees abundance through creation. “I believe everybody can be wealthy. Everybody. It’s not a zero sum game. It is a positive sum game”. Traditional zero-sum thinking creates economic anxiety. Positive-sum creation creates lasting wealth.
Naval “studied computers and economics”. He applied ruthless selection. Microeconomics stayed useful because it provides testable principles. Macroeconomics became useless because it lacks mathematical precision. “I would say that microeconomics was incredibly useful. Macroeconomics was mostly useless”. This reflects his first principles approach: keep what works, reject the rest.
“I gave up macro and I embraced micro. I would say that’s not just true in macroeconomics, that true in everything”. Economics works when applied to systems you can control. Personal agency beats political theory. Focus on aligned incentives. Focus on strategic relationships. Focus on rapid iteration over abstract models.
“Most of the wealth in civilization, in fact all of it, has been created”
Traditional economists fight over resource distribution. Naval focuses on value expansion. Creating something new beats redistributing old wealth. Build through infinite leverage, rare expertise, and compound returns. This connects to his evolutionary worldview: economic systems that reward builders outcompete those that reward status games.
“The internet has massively broadened the possible space of careers”. You can turn any obsession into income by finding your tribe. Digital tools democratize economic leverage. Economics becomes personal sovereignty: owning your economic destiny instead of selling your time to others.