Economic Rockstar

Connecting Brilliant Minds in Economics and Finance

162: Jennifer Burns on Ayn Rand: Goddess of the Market and Objectivism

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162: Jennifer Burns on Ayn Rand: Goddess of the Market and Objectivism

Writing Advice:

Be happy with incrementalism. Write everyday. I have a schedule on and I’m very strict about it. I don’t try to force it, I don’t try to push it. I just try and do a little bit every day and I find if I’ve written everyday for a month, I’ve done this incredible amount of work.

So I think consistency is very much a part of it. And then you have to find a way to connect into why you’re writing and to really sort of feed that inner goal. So having questions or problems that are really intriguing to you because as a writer you have this unstructured time to write and you’re not going to write unless you’re really passionate about it.

Part of my writing practice is I don’t check my email and I don’t check the internet for certain times until I’ve done the writing. For me it works in the morning. And I do it by time and not by output.

Books:

Goddess of the Market: Ayn Rand and the American Right by Jennifer Burns

Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand

The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand

We the Living by Ayn Rand

Patreon

If you’re a fan of the podcast and would like to show your support in anyway, please check out my Patreon page at www.patreon.com/economicrockstar where you can sign up for any of the awards for as little as $1 a month or you can simply follow me on Instagram, the Economic Rockstar Facebook page or on Twitter or simply recommend the show to a friend, especially if they have never had the opportunity to study economics.

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139: Loretta Napoleoni on North Korea The Country We Love to Hate

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Loretta Napoleoni on North Korea The Country We Love to Hate


Loretta Napoleoni returns to the Economic Rockstar podcast to talk about her work and recent book on North Korea.

Loretta is an expert on terrorist financing and money laundering, and advises several governments and international organizations on counter-terrorism.

Check out my previous conversation with Loretta in Episode 23 at www.economicrockstar.com/loretta where she discusses funding terrorists, ISIS and the Islamic State. Visit Loretta’s own site at www.lorettanapoleoni.net.

In this Episode Loretta discusses her latest book entitled North Korea: The Country We Love to Hate.

“Like China’s Mao Zedong, Kim Il-Sung – North Korea’s leader from its founding in 1948 until his death in 1996 – washed away the humiliation caused by Japanese colonisation and re-created an ancient nation. He consolidated and protected the country with strict principles of unity and isolation. His grandson Kim Jong-un is following in the footsteps of Chinese revolutionary politics by modernising the country using the economy as the main tool of transformation.

This short, informative book is an account of a country central to world politics and yet little understood. Further, it presents insider narratives of its people, whose self-image is radically different to the image we have of them.” 

A Selection of Books by Loretta Napoleoni:

Patreon

If you’re a fan of the podcast and would like to show your support in anyway, please check out my Patreon page at www.patreon.com/economicrockstar where you can sign up for any of the awards for as little as $1 a month or you can simply follow me on the Economic Rockstar Facebook page or on Twitter or simply recommend the show to a friend, especially if they have never had the opportunity to study economics.

If you listen to podcasts on Apple Podcasts, then I’d love if you would subscribe so that you’ll never miss an episode. Also, please leave an honest rating and review.

Check out the podcast on Spotify and Stitcher Radio too.

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127: Barry Eichengreen on the Importance of Economic History, the IMF and Reserve Currencies

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127: Barry Eichengreen on the Importance of Economic History, the IMF and Reserve Currencies

Barry Eichengreen is Professor of Economics and Professor of Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley, where he has taught since 1987, and Professor of American History and Institutions, University of Cambridge.

Professor Eichengreen is a Research Associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research and Research Fellow of the Centre for Economic Policy Research.

Professor Eichengreen has been a fellow of the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (Palo Alto) and the Institute for Advanced Study (Berlin). He is a regular monthly columnist for Project Syndicate.

His most recent books are How Global Currencies Work: Past, Present, and Future with Livia Chitu and Arnaud Mehl, The Korean Economy: From a Miraculous Past to a Sustainable Future with Wonhyuk Lim, Yung Chul Park and Dwight H. Perkins and Exorbitant Privilege: The Rise and Fall of the Dollar and the Future of the International Monetary System (2011) (shortlisted for the Financial Times and Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year Award in 2011).

Professor Eichengreen is the recipient of a doctor honoris causa from the American University in Paris, and the 2010 recipient of the Schumpeter Prize from the International Schumpeter Society.

Importance of Economic History

“One of my motivations for studying economic history is the belief that the past can inform the present” Professor Eichengreen

In this episode you will learn:

  • Whether we can learn from economic history and whether history can repeat itself.
  • The importance of history in institutions.
  • Why the economics discipline suffers from “academic schizophrenia”.
  • The problems of the IMF as an organisation today. 
  • How the IMF can change for the better.
  • The IMF letters to Ireland regarding its bailout.
  • The tensions regarding the rise of China  and the isolation of the United States.
  • Is there room for only one reserve currency or can we have more than one?
  • Advice Professor Eichengreen would give to the Chinese if they wish to establish the Renminbi as a reserve currency. 
  • Does Bitcoin meet the criteria to be regarded as money?
  • About Clarence Hatry and how he contributed to the stock market crash of 1929.

Economists:

In this episode, Professor Eichengreen mentions: Charles Kindleberger (MIT), John Maynard Keynes, Benjamin Strong and Montagu Strong.

Economics:

In this episode, Professor Eichengreen mentions: economic history, financial markets, institutional framework, monetary policy, central banks, cryptocurrencies, blockchain, function of money, central banks, King’s College, Cambridge

Writing Tips:

1) Read critically. Find someone whose writing you admire and try to figure out what makes it work.

2) Keep it simple. Shorter declarative sentences are better and you can always make them shorter and more declarative.

3) Revise. No sentence or paragraph is perfect or even adequate the first, second, third, fourth or fifth. Go around.

4) Practice. One’s writing tends to get better the more that you do.

Work Habits:

“I do better when it’s quiet and when there are fewer distractions. So I tend to work at home early on the morning and try to avoid my email until I’ve spent some time writing. I can only do serious writing at my desk in my study at home.” Professor Eichengreen

Movie:

  • It’s a Wonderful Life

Books:

  • Hall of Mirrors by Barry Eichengreen
  • How Global Currencies Work: Past, Present, and Future by Barry Eichengreen, Livia Chitu and Arnaud Mehl.
  • The Korean Economy: From a Miraculous Past to a Sustainable Future by Barry Eichengreen, Wonhyuk Lim, Yung Chul Park and Dwight H. Perkins.
  • Exorbitant Privilege: The Rise and Fall of the Dollar and the Future of the International Monetary System by Barry Eichengreen.

Recommend Book:

  • Against the Grain by James C. Scott

Patreon

If you’re a fan of the podcast and would like to show your support in anyway, please check out my Patreon page at www.patreon.com/economicrockstar where you can sign up for any of the awards for as little as $1 a month or you can simply follow me on the Economic Rockstar Facebook page or on Twitter or simply recommend the show to a friend, especially if they have never had the opportunity to study economics.

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