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Hi! This is the Market Economics Fairy! I can't tell whether this is just a case of the journalist not understanding what properties make for a good unit of e

by Eliezer 12y ago

Hi! This is the Market Economics Fairy! I can't tell whether this is just a case of the journalist not understanding what properties make for a good unit of exchange, or if the actual creator of the currency has never heard of the Law of One Price! But we should always suspect the journalist first because they have poorer incentives! Let me know if there's any link explaining what the point of this currency really is! Sincerely, the Market Economics Fairy!

kaoD 12y ago
Hi! Even though you have a great point there, snarkiness is usually frowned upon in Hacker News. I'd also like to point out that, even if it's called a Law, it isn't a Law (especially since there's an intent to challenge our notion of currency here).
- TeMPOraL 12y ago
  > snarkiness is usually frowned upon in Hacker News Hey! Give it a pass; the Market Economics Fairy has been with us here for a long time, and usually has some insightful things to say ;). Sincerely, Random HN'er who likes that style.
jchrisa 12y ago
I'm aware of the fairy maybe you'd enjoy http://sacred-economics.com/sacred-economics-introduction/ http://sacred-economics.com/sacred-economics-introduction/
- Eliezer 12y ago
  Skimming three chapters reveals no sign that the author of the above book knows first-year undergraduate economics, why the current economy is arranged the way it is, or what policy tradeoffs would be involved in their hopeful ideas. May I recommend to you the standard introductory text Intermediate Microeconomics by Hal Varian, which I recently gave to a friend of mine?
  - jchrisa 12y ago
    Ok deal, I'll see how far I get. One more for you, something I find rational: http://www.generation-online.org/p/fp_bifo5.htm http://www.generation-online.org/p/fp_bifo5.htm Edit: After reading http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_one_price http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_one_price I think I'll have to reflect on arbitrage in the system, but it's cool to see that it has a stabilizing effect.
    - walterbell 12y ago
      What do you think of http://metacurrency.org http://metacurrency.org and its progress or lack thereof? Current "markets" are distorted for various reasons. Historically, broken markets have been fixed by non-computational means.
      - jchrisa 12y ago
        I went to a meta currency event around the time of Occupy, and it was part the inspiration that got me started. I haven't heard much from them lately.
reduxde 12y ago
Hello Market Economics Fairy. Shift perspective a bit: What's one step above the concept of money? Any government (or in Hong Kong, any bank) can print FIAT currency, arcades trade cash for gameplay tokens, parking structures sell vouchers to park a car for some set period of time (which employees might get for free if they work in the building). What establishes the value of each, beyond trust, reputation, and demand? How could someone go about designing a wallet full of wallets, that could hold any type of money from any country or organization, where no value was established implicitly, but that simply allowed any organization (or individual) the technology to print money that could not be counterfeit? What is a dollar bill other than the signature of the US government? What is a Euro other than the signature of the EU? What is the exact value of the signature of Michael Jordan? What if your wallet, instead of holding money, simply held any type of signature?
facepalm 12y ago
What does the "law of one price" have to do with it? I don't think that law would be broken, since everybody's "coin" has a different value. So things could still have just one price.

by Eliezer 12y ago

kaoD 12y ago

Hi! Even though you have a great point there, snarkiness is usually frowned upon in Hacker News. I'd also like to point out that, even if it's called a Law, it isn't a Law (especially since there's an intent to challenge our notion of currency here).

TeMPOraL 12y ago
> snarkiness is usually frowned upon in Hacker News Hey! Give it a pass; the Market Economics Fairy has been with us here for a long time, and usually has some insightful things to say ;). Sincerely, Random HN'er who likes that style.

jchrisa 12y ago

I'm aware of the fairy maybe you'd enjoy http://sacred-economics.com/sacred-economics-introduction/ http://sacred-economics.com/sacred-economics-introduction/

Eliezer 12y ago
Skimming three chapters reveals no sign that the author of the above book knows first-year undergraduate economics, why the current economy is arranged the way it is, or what policy tradeoffs would be involved in their hopeful ideas. May I recommend to you the standard introductory text Intermediate Microeconomics by Hal Varian, which I recently gave to a friend of mine?
- jchrisa 12y ago
  Ok deal, I'll see how far I get. One more for you, something I find rational: http://www.generation-online.org/p/fp_bifo5.htm http://www.generation-online.org/p/fp_bifo5.htm Edit: After reading http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_one_price http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_one_price I think I'll have to reflect on arbitrage in the system, but it's cool to see that it has a stabilizing effect.
  - walterbell 12y ago
    What do you think of http://metacurrency.org http://metacurrency.org and its progress or lack thereof? Current "markets" are distorted for various reasons. Historically, broken markets have been fixed by non-computational means.
    - jchrisa 12y ago
      I went to a meta currency event around the time of Occupy, and it was part the inspiration that got me started. I haven't heard much from them lately.

reduxde 12y ago

Hello Market Economics Fairy. Shift perspective a bit: What's one step above the concept of money? Any government (or in Hong Kong, any bank) can print FIAT currency, arcades trade cash for gameplay tokens, parking structures sell vouchers to park a car for some set period of time (which employees might get for free if they work in the building). What establishes the value of each, beyond trust, reputation, and demand? How could someone go about designing a wallet full of wallets, that could hold any type of money from any country or organization, where no value was established implicitly, but that simply allowed any organization (or individual) the technology to print money that could not be counterfeit? What is a dollar bill other than the signature of the US government? What is a Euro other than the signature of the EU? What is the exact value of the signature of Michael Jordan? What if your wallet, instead of holding money, simply held any type of signature?

facepalm 12y ago

What does the "law of one price" have to do with it? I don't think that law would be broken, since everybody's "coin" has a different value. So things could still have just one price.