Understanding Crypto 14: Prof. John Cochrane: Money, (Fiscal) Inflation, and Political Freedom

<p>Welcome to our limited edition crypto series. In this episode, we welcome back Professor John Cochrane, who was a guest on the Rational Reminder series, to talk everything money. Professor Cochrane has immense experience on the topic and is a Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford, as well as Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research. He is also a Research Associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research, an adjunct scholar at the Cato Institute, and was a professor of finance at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. He is also the author of several books and writes a popular blog called <em>The Grumpy Economist. </em>In this episode, we take a deep dive into the concept of money. We learn what numeraire is, how a numeraire is defined, and explore some of the intricacies of money. We also discuss and unpack the differences between fiscal theory and monetary theory, along with other ideas regarding the value of money. We then delve into how all this relates to cryptocurrencies, what future he sees for crypto, and much more. Tuning into this episode, listeners will challenge their thinking about the economy and how economic relations work.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Key Points From This Episode:</strong></p> <p> </p> <ul> <li>Professor John Cochrane explains to us the short version of fiscal theory. <strong>[0:04:35]</strong></li> <li>Find out the definition of numeraire and how it is determined within an economy. <strong>[0:05:21]</strong></li> <li>Learn whether government backing is required to define a numeraire. <strong>[0:07:05]</strong></li> <li>What Professor John Cochrane thinks is the primary function of money. <strong>[0:08:55]</strong></li> <li>Whether money needs to be a medium of exchange that stores value. <strong>[0:09:45]</strong></li> <li>He explains why money is valuable according to fiscal theory. <strong>[0:11:22]</strong></li> <li>The role of taxes in adding to the value of money according to fiscal theory. <strong>[0:12:59]</strong></li> <li>How fiscal the