My Thesis Work On Bitcoin [**NEW** Table of contents,Introduction,First chapter]

[alonmuroch]

HI davidpbrown, thanks for the answer. I think smart contracts fall beautifully into the Tx friction reduction category, the possibility of simple user to condition very complex payment programs without any intervention of a 3rd party (like lawyers and banks), reduces tremendously friction in that area.
With Smart properties though, i am having some problems. The idea is amazing and very disruptive, but i also think we will not see a massive use of it in the near future, the reason is because we don't really know how to enforce it in the real world. Smart properties can work great in the computer world (renting an online movie, software licence, etc.), but to truly exploit it in the material world, it requires much bigger interventions. I absolutely see the case for Smart Properties, but it requires a much bigger consensus among the people the kick off than bitcoin.

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[davidpbrown]

I suspect we'll see fits and bursts of progress in this area. Certainly it'll be a while before the law has its head around the implications but industry could push the issue; especially in a tough economic environment, any edge will be impt - and the first to create a new edge will cut deeper too. All the law needs to do, is understand and acknowledge the idea that ownership is represented in a certain way and set a precedent. So, one use of smart property linked to big industry for example would be cars; if a car knows who its owner is, then the lock can acknowledge the owner; that needed be BTC obviously, that could be GM-Coin..

[alonmuroch]

Some Progress update !
So because bitcoin is a very new thing, especially for economics professors, my prof. asked me to first write an introduction.
last couple of days i'm working my a** off to write a good introduction. The direction i am heading is writing kind of an argumentative thesis, arguing that bitcoin can replace traditional centralized money systems. I explain my argument by comparing the last 2 big evolutions in money technology (credit cards and eCommerce services like Paypal) to bitcoin. The comparison will concentrate on Tx friction reduction and its importance in economic growth.

I know it's only an undergraduate thesis but i really do want to write something that could contribuite to the community !
so .. I thinking i will post the introduction here to see what you think... 

[doolittle]

Hi Alon, good luck, pls let me know how it goes.

[alonmuroch]

Hi !
I just uploaded here my progress !
(https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6htTZ-Vp7EDS1E2UTNsbUlKOWM/edit?usp=sharing)
In the pdf you will find a first draft of: table of contents, introduction and the first chapter.
As its only a draft and english is not my mother language, you will probably find some spelling and grammar mistakes, obviously those will be resolved

Table of contents and the introduction is to give you a more general view of what i'm doing.
The first chapter talks about the traditional money systems we know (from an historical point of view). The goal was to describe the evolution in money technology through transaction friction, meaning, how much easier it is to make a transaction. I choose 4 historical points in money evolution: Barter, Commodity money, fiat and electronic payment systems. I still missing the description of this evolution through transaction friction cause i still not sure how to approach it (suggestions are very welcome !) because it's a key concept for the whole work. Basing a good explanation about the evolution of money through transaction friction makes it very obvious what are the advantages of technologies such as bitcoin. The thing that guides me is imagining a simple chart (as below) where the y's are trisection friction and the x's is time. as time goes by and money technology becomes more advanced, transaction friction is reduced.

Any suggestions and comments are very welcome !!!!!