John quiggin bitcoin
You really think the value of gold as an asset class derives primarily from its industrial uses or the desirability of shiny yellow jewellery?
Is this question even meaningful? But that just makes the argument stronger. I think the easiest way to understand Bitcoin and various other cryptocurrencies is by looking at it as, essentially, a fandom. Crypto is obviously parasitic on the existing economy and money system were it not, what would even be the point of citing conversion rates?
Nevermind that the vast bulk of the coins are held by the early adopters who got in when the mining was easy and that the rest of the mining is now helping to generate environmental catastrophes worldwide. But hey, it gives you the opportunity to cosplay the brave libertarian without getting off your couch. Dear John Quiggin, Thanks so much for that great article on bitcoins. I come to Crooked Timber to read discussions on classic literature and forgot that you are an economist — most of that has to do with your smooth style.
And thanks for those two nuggets: Anyone who thinks of bitcoions with these two notions in mind will certainly avoid them as they plunge into the depths of valuelessness. Bitcoins were fascinating as a concept as was the world of cryptocurrencies. How will we fare this time? People need to embrace economic solutions to inequality and bitcoins has all the worst characteristics of Capitalism whose ultimate motive is to promote and glorify inequality. Ten workers organized by complementary skills and abilities pool their borrowing power to finance the construction of a house.
They agree to a prearranged structure of pay so that creditors are rewarded and those devoting specialty work or longer hours are commensurately compensated. When the house is sold on the open market they, presumably receive a larger share of the profit and are given higher credit ratings to boot. That means wealth where it is needed most to prevent the conflagration associated with unequal economic growth pointed out by Piketty. Co-ops support co-ops, giving them better deals and top priority; with the understanding that they coordinate like a political party with open primary votes where Co-op candidates stack up against the others.
If they appear to give strength to a Republican or another whose politics are intolerable and the Socialist candidate is in the minority they drop out. But if they garner more votes than does the Democratic candidate we urge them to drop out.
This game of Primary Chicken gives the Party the opportunity to articulate the advantages of the co-op structure which is the real purpose of the party. The Republican Party is dead man walking — the Russia-gate scandal as well as the willingness of the Party to represent the interests of the. This seems like a curious statement, since it was literally the standard currency for most of civilization. It still would be if we wanted a deflationary currency like bitcoin.
It has no inherent usefulness except for negligible material costs. The US Government will always accept dollars for tax debts. Except that thousands of years of gold being used as both a means of exchange and a store of value kind of contradict that point.
If I have gold I can make and sell jewelry from it in pretty much any society. This gives it a base value as a commodity. Bitcoin has zero value as a commodity. There is literally nothing that I can make from it. Money is a system of transferable debt. How it is recorded clay tablet, metal, paper, computer is immaterial.
What counts is who owes it. The entire US community owes debts created by the issue of US notes or coins. It is not clear to me that the owners of Bitcoin debt have any substantial backing. Now if gold could be physically teleported by somebody sitting at a computer to anyone else on earth with a computer, then its usefulness as a means of exchange would more closely resemble that of bitcoin. As for people desiring gold because they know they can turn it into jewelry… you can turn a lot of things into jewelry.
What makes gold a significant asset class for investors? Not its convertibility into jewelry. The interesting question is what can be usefully done with the blockchain technology. Gee, the more comments that appear, the more confusing it is. January 25th, at This is a good article on the topic. This article is good too. January 26th, at The trouble with this plan is the first condition may never be met. January 27th, at May, apparently it happened in when the word billion was Yankafied: January 28th, at January 29th, at Roubini really puts the boot into the whole concept here: January 30th, at There are more important issues than … Sandpit.
ZombieBook Click to buy at Black Inc. Testimonials an economist who is good in theory but on the far left in practice Michael Stutchbury, The Australian "I do not know how he is a professor, but anyway he purports to be an economist" Senator Richard Alston, ex-Minister for Communications "One of the elder statesmen of the Oz blogosphere" - Age Media Blog "More intelligent than Britney Spears" Jason Soon "The great neo-classical iconoclast" Ross Gittins "A green activist with a totalitarian mindset", editorial, The Australian "would argue under a pile of wet statistics and produces more copy than Xerox".
Stephen Matchett in the Australian "the odd Quiggan sic is good mental exercise; all part of life's rich tapestry et al. Threads collapsed expanded unthreaded. John Cochrane has an interesting article on bitcoin:. Despite the huge increase in the market value of bitcoins, they seem further than ever from becoming an actual currency. Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics , 46 4: Options for Improved Risk Allocation.
In the early days of Bitcoin, the necessary computations could be performed on ordinary personal computers. In recent months, the Bitcoin bubble has got massively bigger and the associated waste of energy is now much more widely recognised.
Economics Letters , 86 3: Profits and the Public Benefit. We have quiggin a post-American world Too hasty to tell if the global order has been bitcoin Quiggin, John Demography and quiggin New Bitcoin. Furthermore, in the US a political party accepts contributions in this electronic currency. Environmentalists worry about another risk -- that it's seriously hurting efforts to john climate change.