The International Monetary Fund refers to cryptocurrency only once in its 215-page World Economic Outlook for October 2018, but that reference is telling: “Continued rapid growth of crypto assets could create new vulnerabilities in the international financial system.”
Tag: markets
Political Boycotts with Taxpayer Money? Just Don’t Do It
All well and good. One nice thing about markets is that they’re hyper-democracies in which we all get to vote with our patronage, every day and with every purchase. Unfortunately, some people think they’re entitled to vote with other people’s dollars. Marshall Fisher, head of Mississippi’s Department of Public Safety, is one such.
The Good Place
This morning I was listening to an older but still excellent iTunes University segment from Robert Higgs. It got me to think about markets versus government. Perhaps we think too often of these as mutually exclusive spheres. But what if Murphy’s Law is true — that if things can go wrong, they will?
On Poverty
Is poverty the default state of mankind? In one sense, yes, but in another sense, no. Yes, everyone is born naked and penniless. Then, through gift, trade, and production we build wealth. Some build a lot, others a little.
Why Entrepreneurs Should Be Studying Anthropology
Farmer’s markets are back in vogue. Airbnb is connecting us to people and places outside of generic hotels. And paleo people all over the world are ditching industrialized carbs and sitting desks for alternative products grounded (supposedly) in the healthier lifestyles of earlier humans. It does seem like some things we left behind are coming back around. And there’s a reason for that.
On Selfishness II
I recently listened to the Soho Forum debate on the virtues of selfishness between libertarian Gene Epstein and Randian objectivist Yaron Brook. It was my impression that Epstein believes the word “selfishness” is too morally tainted in both historical and contemporary usage to be useful to free market enthusiasts, while Brook believes the word can and must be redeemed as a counter to the morally bankrupt idea of “selflessness”. I believe that both debaters were correct.
The Voluntaryist Premise
Once a person adopts the label of voluntaryist (or the like) for their political identity, they assume, with good reason, the following premise: human suffering is terrible and should be prevented; aggression and coercion necessarily create human suffering. This premise leads the voluntaryist to hold a number of hypotheses with varying degrees of accuracy in some form or fashion within their minds at all times. Here are several of those hypotheses.
Scarcity
It seems to me that there are 3 kinds of scarcity: 1) natural, 2) monopolistic, and 3) creative. The first and third are conducive to free markets. The second can produce horrors.
Economic Systems Transform Culture, Not Vice-Versa
I think capitalism is purely an accident, usually it doesn’t start. There have been several point in history where centralized control collapsed but markets still operated. In that period of time, no one was able to grab the reigns of power but peaceful transactions were highly profitable. Later, philosophers came in and acted like they were leading the parade. In short, I think the enlightenment explanation is wrong.
Don’t Hate Market Signals; Use Them
I saw some guy on Twitter complaining about “capitalism” because he can’t get paid for his labor unless it’s valued by someone else. He picked the wrong culprit.