It is hard to think of another term that is as hyped right now as “blockchain”. It is a new fad that has taken the financial world by storm. Everyone is talking about blockchain, firms are rushing out press releases announcing their interest and countless new proposals appear every day claiming they will revolutionise pretty much every industry. Even people uninterested in Bitcoin are taking a look at blockchain, in fact because so few people actually use the cryptocurrency to buy anything, the shift has focused instead to the technology aspect of Bitcoin. The situation resembles the Emperor’s New Clothes, with no one wishing to admit they don’t see any use to blockchain for fear of seeming behind with the … Continue reading “The Blockchain Is A Solution In Search Of A Problem”
Category: Economics
What Went Wrong With The Gentlemen Bastard Series?
When The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch was released in 2006 it was a massive hit. Not only did it become a bestseller, but it is also considered something of a modern classic. It won high praise and Lynch was counted among the most promising writers in the fantasy field, standing shoulder to shoulder with the likes of Brandon Sanderson, Patrick Rothfuss and Joe Abercrombie. This was an amazing achievement for a first novel, so expectations were high for the rest of the series. Did we have a new classic before us? Yet, the follow-up books were something of a disappointment. Instead of soaring high, the rest of the series went downhill. Complaints began to pile up about … Continue reading “What Went Wrong With The Gentlemen Bastard Series?”
The End Of Bitcoin
For the last two years, I have been following the rocky road of Bitcoin, as it soared on the promise of revolutionary change and collapsed in a fog of fraud and bad economics. After losing almost 85% of its value in the last twelve months, plunging from $1,200 to $200, has bitcoin finally reached the end of the road? Does it have any chance of recovering or is it destined to simply fade away? Now some people claim that the price of bitcoin doesn’t really matter. These people either have no clue what they are talking about or are trying to downplay the damage. The price is extremely important. The reason is simple, bitcoin has no internal economy. For example, … Continue reading “The End Of Bitcoin”
Why Taxation Is Not Theft
Just as all political debates inevitably end with someone making a Hitler comparison, all debates with libertarians sooner or later involve the claim that taxation is theft. It doesn’t matter whether you are discussing the welfare state, universal healthcare or a TV licence, at some point a libertarian will accuse the government of acting like the mafia and stealing people’s money (just the last day a commenter asked me to “stop promoting the use of force against me or my family“, by which he meant don’t regulate bitcoin). Of course we all know this argument is melodramatic hyperbole, but it would be useful to spell out why. Let me use an analogy that I think will best get the point … Continue reading “Why Taxation Is Not Theft”
Why Do We Print Money?
Printing money seems like a no-brainer. Surely it’s extremely obvious that printing money is a recipe for disaster that will result in hyperinflation. Surely the obvious action is to not print money and therefore avoid inflation. Yet every year, every country prints money. Why? Surely the money supply should be fixed. What possible reason could central banks have for risking massive inflation? Why do we print money? The first and most obvious reason for printing money is to replace old notes in the system. Notes get worn down through use, so it’s necessary to print new ones to replace them. Take a moment to think through why we do this and what would happen if we didn’t. Businesses would start … Continue reading “Why Do We Print Money?”
Predictably Irrational Chapters 9 & 10 – The Effect Of Expectation & The Power Of Price
In Chapter 9 and 10 (I combined them as they’re quite similar) of “Predictably Irrational” by Dan Ariely, the concept of how are expectations affect our decision making is discussed. We are not rational actors making choices in a vacuum but rather we are deeply affected by our expectations. If we expect a movie to be good, then it often is. This placebo effect is always to be found with prices. If we pay more for something, we value it more and get more from it. This creates serious problems for those who claim that market distortions will be corrected by market forces pushing a return to equilibrium. Ariely conducted an experiment involving free beer (I knew that would get … Continue reading “Predictably Irrational Chapters 9 & 10 – The Effect Of Expectation & The Power Of Price”