155: Lotta Moberg on Refugee Cities and the Blockchain Industry as Special Economic Zones

Lotta Moberg is a Macroeconomic Analyst for William Blair’s Dynamic Allocation Strategies (DAS) team. She has a Ph.D. in Economics from George Mason University and earned her BA in Economics from Lund University (Sweden). Prior to joining the DAS team, Lotta worked in Russia for the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs and in Kosovo for the Swedish Armed Forces. She has published articles on special economic zones, tax benefits, tax competition, and municipal bankruptcy. Lotta’s book The Political Economy of Special Economic Zones: Concentrating Economic Development is available at your favourite online store.

Find Out:

About Dr. Moberg’s work on SEZs as well as her book The Political Economy of Special Economic Zones which highlights not only the successes of these zones but also their failures.

The opportunities that special economic zones can bring to blockchain and cryptos and how these zones can be a testing ground for a country that would like to adopt blockchain tech before committing to a full scale adoption.

About Lotta’s work at refugeecities.org which is devoted to the economic empowerment of refugee camp residents.

Lotta discusses how refugee camps could obtain special economic zone type status and give those living there the opportunity to establish an economy that will allow trade with the host country and others. This would generate employment and create business opportunities for the camp residents.

In this Episode, Lotta Mentions and Discusses: 

• Special Economic Zones, including those in China, Ireland, Cuba and Saudi Arabia.
• Blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies
• Venezuela and the Petro dollar
• Saudi Arabia’s NEOM.
• and much more

Links:

• Lotta Moberg: www.lottamoberg.com
• Refugee Cities: www.refugeecities.org

Paper:

• Moberg, L. (2015). The Political Economy of Special Economic Zones. Journal of Institutional Economics. Vol. 11(1); 167 – 190.

Bands:

• First Aid Kit
• Billy Joel

People:

• Tom W. Bell
• Genghis Khan

Books:

• The Political Economy of Special Economic Zones: Concentrating Economic Development by Lotta Moberg
• Origin of Wealth:  The Radical Remaking of Economics and What it Means for Business and Society by Eric D. Beinhocker 
• End of Theory: Financial Crises, the Failure of Economics, and the Sweep of Human Interaction by
• Theory of Moral Sentiments by Adam Smith
• The Jungle by Upton Sinclair

Other episodes:

• 148: Tom W. Bell on Special Economic Zones, Copyright and Liberland
• 137: Rakesh Ramachandran on Crypto Economics and How Knowledge of Austrian Economics Created His Blockchain Company QBRICS 
• 009: Naomi Brockwell (Bitcoin Girl) on Bitcoins, Liberty, Government and Fiat Currency 

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