62. Cryptocurrencies: Computing Foundations, Risks, and Socioeconomic Impacts

Mr. Van Gorder is an independent scholar and cofounder of the Greshm Institute. The Greshm Institute is a non-profit organization that fosters dialogue around Universal Basic Income (UBI). Derek is also working on a series of essays on the dynamics of UBI and how it is economically viable. In addition to his work with the Greshm Institute, Mr. Van Gorder is also a filmmaker and videographer for documentaries, indie films, and music videos. He received his bachelor’s degree from Bard College at Simon’s Rock. We were joined by Mr. Van Gorder to discuss the dynamics of UBI, how it can be used for monetary policy, and why a universal basic income is the most efficient policy tool for macroeconomic management. To check out more of our content, including our research and policy tools, visit our website: https://www.hgsss.org/  --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/smart-talk-hgsss/support

Dr. Perry received his bachelor’s degree from Columbia University in Ancient Greek Language and Literature, and his Ph.D. in Classical Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics from Trinity College in Dublin. He has conducted extensive research on the Money Supply and recent trends in Monetary Policy. He is also the Managing Director of Fiduciary Automation, a company that helps businesses check if their financial ideas meet legal requirements and identify areas of ambiguity. In addition to Fiduciary Automation, Dr. Perry is also the founder of XML Special Interest Group, a platform for professionals who use Extensible Markup Language (XML), a coding language. We were joined by Dr. Perry to discuss his analysis on recent macroeconomic trends, how asset bubbles are formed, and why the Fed always miscalculates unemployment.  To check out more of our content, including our research and policy tools, visit our website: https://www.hgsss.org/  --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/smart-talk-hgsss/support

Today’s discussion was recorded in January of 2024, where we were joined by our guest, Dr. Walter E. Perry. Dr. Perry received his bachelor’s degree from Columbia University in Ancient Greek Language and Literature, and his Ph.D. in Classical Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics from Trinity College in Dublin. He has conducted extensive research on Money Supply and recent trends in Monetary Policy. He is also the Managing Director of Fiduciary Automation, a company that helps businesses check if their financial ideas meet legal requirements and identify areas of ambiguity. In addition to Fiduciary Automation, Dr. Perry is also the founder of XML Special Interest Group, a platform for professionals who use Extensible Markup Language (XML), a coding language.  We were joined by Dr. Perry to discuss why the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy has been ineffective, how AI and computer science can be used to understand why monetary policy is failing, and a brief history of modern monetary history. To check out more of our content, including our research and policy tools, visit our website: https://www.hgsss.org/  --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/smart-talk-hgsss/support

Today’s discussion was recorded in October of 2023, where we were joined by our returning guest, Dr. Aleksandr Gevorkyan Dr. Gevorkyan received his bachelor’s degree in International Trade and Finance from Louisiana State University, two master's in Economics from The New School and Louisiana State University, and his Ph.D. in economics from New School. He is an expert on Central Eastern Europe and Former Soviet Union economies. He is the author of numerous journal articles, as well as two books: Transition Economies and Financial Deepening and Post-Crisis Development in Emerging Markets. He is a professor and Henry George Chair in Economics at St. John’s University, as well as a member here at the Henry George School. Today we will explore Diaspora Bonds and how they can impact development. Many underdeveloped nations don’t have the financial capacity to pursue transformative projects like building hospitals or infrastructure. Diaspora Bonds help fund these projects from expatriates who want to help their home country. Dr. Gevorkyan also explores how other nations have successfully used their diaspora to spur growth. To check out more of our content, including our research and policy tools, visit our website: https://www.hgsss.org/ --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/smart-talk-hgsss/support

Today’s discussion was recorded in September of 2021, where we were joined by our returning guest, and long-time faculty member of the school, Ed Dodson. Mr. Dodson attended Shippensburg University and Temple University where he received an economics degree. Ed worked for Fannie Mae, a public-private partnership to help distribute home mortgage loans. During his time at Fannie Mae, Mr. Dodson held numerous management and analyst positions within the Housing & Community Development group, helping to revitalize neighborhoods and local communities. This gives him an interesting perspective on land use and reform, and how it can reduce inequality. He also has extensive experience as a history lecturer at the Osher Life Long Learning Institute and the Learning is For Everyone program at Burlington County College. Edward has written many papers on history and the political economy and is the author of a three-volume book series titled The Discovery of First Principles. Today, Mr. Dodson explains the impact of the American Rescue plan, and why it may not have helped the people it was most intended to. Ed helps break down a Georgist analysis of the macroenvironment pre-Covid, and how the American Rescue Plan fails to address its vulnerabilities.  To check out more of our content, including our research and policy tools, visit our website: https://www.hgsss.org/ --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/smart-talk-hgsss/support

Snapshot is a more brief format for introducing listeners to complex concepts they may not be familiar with. We take big ideas and distill them into a bite-sized format so you can get an understanding of these ideas through a particular lens. We’ll explore ideas like moneterism, historical materialism, or opportunity cost, and how they are relevant to the real world. You don’t have to be an expert on economics, we’ll explain it to you. For our discussion today, we will be talking to our returning guest, Mr. Tom Rossman. Mr. Rossman is a financier and investor, who specializes in developing nations and emerging markets. After the fall of the Soviet Union, Mr. Rossman helped establish investment institutions in Turkey, former Soviet Union states, and North Africa. Throughout his career, Tom has helped nations democratize and sustainably develop to bring new opportunities to these regions. He has spoken at conferences across the world from Baku to London to Houston. He received his bachelor’s degree in history and religious studies from Nyack College and earned his master’s from Tufts in international relations. Currently, he is an advisor to the Telosa Community Foundation; a group hoping to build a futuristic from-scratch city that will revolutionize urban living. Mr. Rossman introduces us to the concept of equitism. When most social scientists discuss fairness, they usually mention equality or equity. Equitism takes these ideas a step further. Equitism is a system in which city people own or have a stake in the land. In theory, this should give them more power to determine their socioeconomic outcomes. Together we discussed a brief history of economic thought, how equitism reconfigures capitalism, and how a more even distribution of land can improve environmental outcomes. To check out more of our content, including our research and policy tools, visit our website: https://www.hgsss.org/  --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/smart-talk-hgsss/support

Rethinking Economics is all about questioning the core foundations of economics. This series questions economic orthodoxy to better understand the forces and shifts shaping our society and the world. Together, we’ll interrogate things like the efficacy of economic models, if mainstream assumptions are always correct, and why the ideas and concepts you learn about in textbooks may lead you astray. For our inaugural discussion of the series, we will be talking to our returning guest, and one of my favorite economists, Dr. Steve Keen. Our talk was recorded in March of 2024, and is hosted by me, Nathan Greene, a researcher here at the Henry George School. Many people, including myself, don’t fully understand monetary theory or monetary economics. Admittedly, it’s quite confusing. There are a lot of dynamics at play from banks, to households, money, and central banks, just to name a few. If you ever learned the terms money multiplier, monetary base, or reserve requirement ratio, but are not really sure what it means, you’re not alone.  Dr. Keen is an expert on the dynamics of monetary economics and macroeconomics. We’ll explore his critiques of the efficient market hypothesis to his more recent analyses of debt dynamics and financial instability. Together, we talked about the shortcomings of conventional economic thinking, and why it’s so damaging not just to the economy, but the planet as well. By questioning fundamental assumptions, he invites us to reconsider our approach to economic policy and reshape our vision of a more equitable and sustainable future. At a time when the world is largely ignoring calls to abandon fossil fuels and the green transition feels painstakingly slow, his ideas and critiques feel more important now than ever before.  Dr. Keen received his bachelor's degree from the University of Sydney and went on to complete his master's and Ph.D. in Economics and Economic History from the University of New South Wales. He is the author of several books on economics, of which the two most famous are "Debunking Economics" and "The New Economics: A Manifesto." Both critique conventional economic theory. We were even lucky enough to hear about his upcoming book, "Rebuilding Economics from the Top Down." Dr. Keen has taught at the University of Western Sydney and Kingston University in London. He is currently leading the development of a software package called Minsky, a dynamics-based visualization tool for macroeconomic modeling. To check out more of our content, including our research and policy tools, visit our website: https://www.hgsss.org/ --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/smart-talk-hgsss/support

Today’s episode our discussion came from our most recent seminar, McGirt v Oklahoma: Unraveling the Impact on Tribal Economics and Sovereignty. Our conversation was recorded in February of 2024 and is hosted by Ed Dodson, a long-time faculty member, who is joined by our guest, Dr. Brian Hosmer. Dr. Hosmer is the head of the History department at Oklahoma State University and previously held the H.G. Barnard Chair at the University of Tulsa. He has held numerous teaching positions at institutions such as the University of Delaware, University of Wyoming, and the University of Illinois Chicago. His research and teaching interests focus on indigenous history, environmental history, and the intersection of economics and indigenous nationhood. He is the author of several books including "American Indians and the Marketplace," "Tribal Worlds," "Native Americans and the Legacy of Harry S. Truman," and many more.  Since settlers arrived in North America, the history of native Americans and indigenous people in the US has always been dictated by its relationship with settlers and the governments they would go on to establish. This relationship has almost always been exploitive and led to a diminished wellbeing for indigenous people.  According to the Department of Health and Human Services, median per capita income for native Americans is $35,310 compared with the average of $51,371, and the poverty rate on reservations is almost double the national average. While some attempts have been made to correct the wrongs of history, like the Indian Self-Determination Act, these solutions ultimately had their shortcomings as well.  Our guest today helps us explore the current interaction between the US government and indigenous nations, how a recent Supreme Court Case impacts this interaction, and how this translates to economic outcomes. To check out more of our content, including our research and policy tools, visit our website: https://www.hgsss.org/ --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/smart-talk-hgsss/support

Today's discussion came from our most recent seminar and was recorded in January of 2024. Our talk is hosted by Ed Dodson, a long-time faculty member here at the Henry George School. To celebrate Black History Month, we wanted to pause our regular content and give our listeners a special series on the political economy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. This week’s talk will conclude our 3-part series exploring Dr. King’s intellectual evolution, and how it impacted his solutions to addressing poverty. Mr. Dodson attended Shippensburg University and Temple University where he received an economics degree. Ed worked for Fannie Mae, a public-private partnership to help distribute home mortgage loans. During his time at Fannie Mae, Mr. Dodson held numerous management and analyst positions within the Housing & Community Development group, helping revitalize neighborhoods and local communities. This gives him an interesting perspective on land use and reform, and how it can reduce inequality. He also has extensive experience as a history lecturer at the Osher Life Long Learning Institute and the Learning is For Everyone program at Burlington County College. Edward has written many papers on history and the political economy and is the author of a three-volume book series titled "The Discovery of First Principles." To check out more of our content, including our research and policy tools, visit our website: https://www.hgsss.org/ --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/smart-talk-hgsss/support

Today's discussion came from our archives and was recorded in January of 2023. Our talk is hosted by Ed Dodson, a long-time faculty member here at the Henry George School. To celebrate Black History Month, we wanted to pause our regular content and give our listeners a special series on the political economy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. For the next two episodes, we’ll continue our 3-part series exploring Dr. King’s intellectual evolution and how it impacted his solutions to addressing poverty. Mr. Dodson attended Shippensburg University and Temple University where he received an economics degree. Ed worked for Fannie Mae, a public-private partnership to help distribute home mortgage loans. During his time at Fannie Mae, Mr. Dodson held numerous management and analyst positions within the Housing & Community Development group, helping revitalize neighborhoods and local communities. This gives him an interesting perspective on land use and reform, and how it can reduce inequality. He also has extensive experience as a history lecturer at the Osher Life Long Learning Institute and the Learning is For Everyone program at Burlington County College. Edward has written many papers on history and the political economy and is the author of a three-volume book series titled The Discovery of First Principles. To check out more of our content, including our research and policy tools, visit our website: https://www.hgsss.org/ --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/smart-talk-hgsss/support