Blockchain & Money Economics
Required Readings:
‘The Economics of Blockchain Economics’ MIT Cryptocurrency Online Short Course (as adapted,
August 2019)
‘Public and Private Currency Competition’ Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, James Bullard (July 19,
2019)
‘Transaction Costs and Tethers: Why I’m a Crypto Skeptic’ Krugman, New York Times (July 31, 2018)
‘The Big Blockchain Lie’ Nouriel Roubini (October 15, 2018)
‘Billionaire Bill Gates once got bitcoin as a birthday present – here’s what he did with it’ CNBC (May 8,
2018)
Optional Reading:
‘A Letter to Jamie Dimon’ Chain (October 16, 2017)
‘Some Simple Economics of the Blockchain’ Catalini and Glans (revised June 2019)
‘Bitcoin is an energy hog. Where is all that electricity coming from?’ Vox (June 18, 2019)
‘The Economic Limits of Bitcoin and the Blockchain’ Budish, University of Chicago (June 5, 2018)
‘Making Sense of Cryptoeconomics’ CoinDesk (August 19, 2017)
Study Questions/Issues to Prepare:
1) How does blockchain technology affect the cost of verification and the cost of networking? How
do blockchain applications affect market power?
2) What does the history and economics of money suggest for cryptocurrencies? What are its
benefits – as a form of money – compared with a locally dominant fiat currency?
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3) What lessons should be drawn from crypto skeptics – Krugman, Stiglitz, Roubini, Gates, Buffett,
Dimon, & others – about the economic potential for blockchain technology? What is an answer
to the oft stated query: ‘what problem do cryptocurrencies solve?’