It feels like there are two questions here, namely (1) do we need to commission research to carry this initiative forward, and (2) what level of ownership should Cosmos Labs and other Hub contributors take over the research and the ultimate direction the new tokenomics is headed.
For the first question, imo the answer is an unequivocal yes. There are components of this initiative that Labs (and the Hub community more broadly) simply doesn’t have the capacity or resources to handle well / in a timely manner. Particularly:
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Quantitative financial modeling of the flows for ATOM today. E.g., of tokens that are sold today, which user groups (stakers, long-term holders, traders, etc) do those tokens come from and in what proportion? How much ATOM inflation is actually sold vs held (for 3,6,12 months) or re-staked? How does the price of ATOM react to individual sales of X tokens? X*2? X*10? Where does most of the purchaser activity come from today? If you need a reference point for how we’re thinking about this, it’s very similar to what Osmosis originally retained Numia to do a couple of years ago before starting its most significant tokenomics changes
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Evaluating historical stakeholder impact and behavior after historical tokenomics changes (particularly Prop 848)
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Mapping out future change estimates for both of the above under various scenarios related to changes in inflation (both positive and negative), sources / amount of revenue accruing to the Hub, differing market scenarios, etc.
Mostly data modeling given various inputs, which leads me to the second question (how many of those inputs should come from us / community). I think it’s clear that the community is comfortable with Labs and other contributors having more ownership over what the ultimate model looks like. We’re actively discussing now what that might look like and adjusting the RFP accordingly, but my sense is that what we’ll likely do is make a more concrete suggestion as to the model itself, and have that model be informed by, and stress-tested by, the research firms before being submitted to governance for approval.
As to why previous research efforts on ATOM tokenomics failed, my understanding is that it wasn’t so much about the research itself, but rather about the inability of the AADAO to carry forward what was funded on a technical level. It was a product of the dysfunctional multi-contributor model that the Hub had in the past. We now have one team driving change and the roadmap, and that team is fully bought in on bringing the ultimate output of this initiative to fruition on the Hub.