S9 Ep32: The digital money supply
Every day, billions of transactions settle between strangers who have no idea which bank the other uses. That lack of friction is not automatic. Nine-tenths of the money in daily circulation has been ...
5 Kesä 27min
S9 Ep31: How well does patent screening work?
Someone once held a patent on the swing. A piece of wood. Two ropes. The US Patent Office granted it. How often does that actually happen, and what does it cost when the system gets it wrong? Or, how ...
29 Touko 32min
S9 Ep30: Redefining the monetary standard
The fiat money system has survived the Great Inflation, the global financial crisis, and a pandemic. But can it survive digital currencies?Bitcoin and the blockchain solved a genuine problem in comput...
22 Touko 26min
S9 Ep29: Guns and Butter
Europe's NATO members have pledged 3.5% of GDP to rearmament. The political argument is already about which social programmes will be sacrificed to pay for this, when the government chooses guns inste...
15 Touko 21min
S9 Ep28: Immigration and integration in Europe
More than one in eight people living in the EU today was born in another country. In fourteen of the bloc's largest economies, it is closer to one in six. For ten years, the same team of researchers h...
8 Touko 25min
S9 Ep27: The right to choose to die
Content note: this episode discusses assisted dying, end-of-life choices, and suicide. Some listeners may find the content distressing.In April 2024, Daniel Kahneman — one of the most influential psyc...
1 Touko 23min
S9 Ep26: The public origins of American innovation
The standard story of American innovation features Silicon Valley, venture capital, and the heroic startup founder.When you trace the history of the internet, GPS, mass-produced penicillin, or the COV...
24 Huhti 31min
S9 Ep25: Rebalancing the Chinese economy
In 2003, Premier Wen Jiabao warned that China's growth model was unbalanced between supply and demand, over-reliant on investment and exports. More than 20 years later, the imbalance is smaller — but ...
20 Huhti 27min
