Bitcoin Forum

Economy => Economics => Topic started by: billyjoeallen on May 29, 2011, 10:08:40 PM



Title: Sweet Murray Rothbard! Minimimum economic knowledge requirements
Post by: billyjoeallen on May 29, 2011, 10:08:40 PM
If you miners want to know why chumps like me are happily scooping up your BTC for over $7 a pop (what the forces are that move markets), you need to study your libertarian economics.
If you don't under stand the concepts of supply and demand, marginal utility and comparative advantage well enough to teach them to an eighth grader, you need remedial training.

I suggest reading in this order:
1. Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazzlit
2. The Armchair Economist by Steven Landsburg
2. The Road to Surfdom by F.A. Hayek
3. Freedom to Choose by Milton Freidman

These books only impart basic economic literacy.

then and only then might you be possibly ready to tackle Human Action by Ludwig von Mises.

The reason I don't mine myself is because of the opportunity costs re: comparative advantage. This is subject to change as conditions change. You need to learn what those conditions might be.


Title: Re: Sweet Murray Rothbard! Minimimum economic knowledge requirements
Post by: abyssobenthonic on May 30, 2011, 12:55:58 AM

2. The Road to Surfdom by F.A. Hayek

Road to Serfdom (or did you mean Hayek's exploration of the music of the Beach Boys and Jan & Dean as well as Gidget? ;) ) isn't the most applicable book by Hayek to Bitcoin, IMO (most of Hayek 2.0 (when he stopped writing about economics and largely turned his attention to general sociopolitical issues) isn't that applicable). 

The Denationalisation of Money (http://mises.org/books/denationalisation.pdf) (Hayek 3.0) is the most applicable to Bitcoin and Monetary Theory and the Trade Cycle, Prices and Production, and Profits, Interest, and Investment (all Hayek 1.0) are also quite applicable.


Title: Re: Sweet Murray Rothbard! Minimimum economic knowledge requirements
Post by: Sjalq on May 30, 2011, 02:16:38 PM
Well I'm mining because I can get more BTC than the PC cost and get a PC.


Title: Re: Sweet Murray Rothbard! Minimimum economic knowledge requirements
Post by: proudhon on May 30, 2011, 02:30:47 PM
Well I'm mining because I can get more BTC than the PC cost and get a PC.

I was initially attracted to mining because of the nerd factor and because my very simple calculations and understanding of bitcoin made it seem like a very good investment.  Looking back, I would have been much, much better off putting money directly into bitcoins.  I still mine because I earn several times the cost to keep my miner running, and because I want to contribute to network security, but I'm also buying up coins.   ;D


Title: Re: Sweet Murray Rothbard! Minimimum economic knowledge requirements
Post by: Sjalq on May 30, 2011, 02:43:31 PM
I'm sure there's a trading term for when price increase outpaces the profitability of production.

What are you guys going to be doing with your coins?

I was thinking of starting a voluntary group; MineToUse (or something similiar)
Bitcoin owners commit voluntarily to not trading their BTC for currency but only for goods and services they can buy in the community.
They could also commit to dedicating some small percentage of their time / products to sell exclusively in Bitcoin.



Title: Re: Sweet Murray Rothbard! Minimimum economic knowledge requirements
Post by: billyjoeallen on May 30, 2011, 10:41:46 PM
I'm sure there's a trading term for when price increase outpaces the profitability of production.

What are you guys going to be doing with your coins?

I was thinking of starting a voluntary group; MineToUse (or something similiar)
Bitcoin owners commit voluntarily to not trading their BTC for currency but only for goods and services they can buy in the community.
They could also commit to dedicating some small percentage of their time / products to sell exclusively in Bitcoin.

eventually I will trade my stash (some of it anyway) for an airplane.  I'm not too worried about the cost of production/market price difference. It costs about $450 to mine an ounce of gold and it's trading for~$1500  is that a bubble?


Title: Re: Sweet Murray Rothbard! Minimimum economic knowledge requirements
Post by: Blaster on May 30, 2011, 10:49:06 PM
I am mining mainly because I cannot buy right now.


Title: Re: Sweet Murray Rothbard! Minimimum economic knowledge requirements
Post by: billyjoeallen on May 31, 2011, 11:48:32 PM
I am mining mainly because I cannot buy right now.

And I'm buying because I can't mine. Comparative Advantage, baby. We're both better off.
David Ricardo would be proud of us. :-)