Economic Rockstar

Connecting Brilliant Minds in Economics and Finance

095: Scott Burns on Mobile Money Banking in Africa and the Success of M-Pesa

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095: Scott Burns on Mobile Money Banking in Africa and the Success of M-Pesa

Scott Burns is a Mercatus PhD Dissertation Fellow in the Economics PhD Program at George Mason Scott Burns Economic RockstarUniversity.

Scott earned his BS in Economics from Louisiana State University where he was part of the Speech and Debate Club and the Phi Eta Sigma Honors Society.

His current publications include The War on Drugs in Afghanistan: Another Failed Experiment in Interdiction and Old (Chicago) school, new century: the link between Knight and Simons’ Chicago plan to Buchanan’s constitutional money.

Scott’s PhD dissertation topic has to do with one of the most exciting yet under-appreciated miracles of the market going on in the world today, the “mobile money revolution” in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Scott writes for the blog Alt-M, which is a blog run by free banking scholars on the theme ‘Ideas for an Alternative Monetary Future’.

Scott, along with fellow Econ PhD student at GMU, David Lucas, started a band inspired by Adam Smith called ‘The Butcher and the Baker’.

Economics:

In this episode, Scott mentions: banking, monopolies, natural monopoly, market failure, savings, investment, development economics, finance, GDP, laissez-faire, mobile money, unintended consequences, bitcoins and hyper-inflation.

Economists:

In this episode, Scott mentions: Adam Smith, Ludwig von Mises, F. A. Hayek, Joseph Schumpeter, Scott Sumner, David Beckworth, Lawrence H. White and George A. Selgin,

Links:

Papers:

Articles:

Books:

 

Companies Mentioned in this Episode:

  • Uber, Airbnb, Amazon and Safaricom.

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090: Stefan Szymanski on Soccernomics and How Sabermetrics, Inequality and Finance Rules the Sport

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090: Stefan Szymanski on Soccernomics and How Sabermetrics, Inequality and Finance Rules the Sport

Stefan Szymanski is the Stephen J. Galetti Professor of Sport Management at the University of Michigan. Stefan Szymanski Economic Rockstar

Between 2008-2012 he was a Professor of Economics at Cass Business School, City University, London.

Stefan began researching the economics of professional football in 1989, and has since come to spend his entire time researching the economics and business of sport.

He has published 55 scholarly articles, 14 book chapters, six books and four edited volumes on sports related subjects.

Stefan has also acted as consultant to sport governing bodies and national governments, and has appeared in court as an expert witness on the economics of sport. He has become a regular pundit in the media on business related sports issues.

Stefan’s interests include sports management and economics; sport history, culture and society; the internationalization of sport; international sports federations and the governance of sport.

Stefan is co-author of Soccernomics, author of Money and Soccer: A Soccernomics Guide and co-owner of Soccernomics Agency.

Economics:

In this episode, Stefan mentions: John Kay and Simon Kuper.

Economists:

In this episode, Stefan mentions:

competitive balance defence, collusion, game theory, wage caps, bankruptcy, finance, sabermetrics and soccernomics.

Why the Football System is Stable:

  1. There are a vast number of clubs. Whenever one club fails there are at least a dozen other clubs ready to take their place.
  2. Football is so culturally central to European life that the clubs are never allowed to go bankrupt. They are always re-born in some form or another. In other words, the business that forms the football club can go bankrupt and disappear. But the football club itself almost never does. Football isn’t just a business in Europe, it’s also a dimension of community life. A football club only really dies if the community dies and that doesn’t happen very often.

Links:

Podcasts:

Where to Find Stefan:

Books:


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053: Helena Norberg-Hodge on Localisation, Trade Treaties and the Economics of Happiness

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053: Helena Norberg-Hodge on Localisation, Trade Treaties and the Economics of Happiness

Helena Norberg-Hodge is the founder and director of Local Futures. A pioneer of the ‘new economy’ movement, she has been promoting an economics of personal, social and ecological well-being for more than 30 years.Helena Norberg Hodge

Helena is the producer and co-director of the award-winning documentary The Economics of Happiness, and is the author of Ancient Futures: Learning from Ladakh, described as “an inspirational classic”.

Helena has given public lectures in seven languages, and has appeared in broadcast, print, and online media worldwide.

She was honored with the Right Livelihood Award (or ‘Alternative Nobel Prize’) for her groundbreaking work in Ladakh, and received the 2012 Goi Peace Prize for contributing to “the revitalization of cultural and biological diversity, and the strengthening of local communities and economies worldwide”.

Economics:

In this interview, Helena mentions: localisation, globalisation, deregulation, finance, banking, money, real economy, price, demand, subsidies, tax, business alliances, lobbying, competition, trade treaties, unemployment, poverty, natural environment, growth, climate, energy consumption, comparative advantage and GDP.

Economists:

In this interview, Helena mentions: Alex Tabarrok, Adam Smith, David Riccardo,

In this episode you will learn:

  • how and why Helena decided to advocate for and promote localisation.
  • about Ladakh and how it was removed from the rest of the world.
  • how the global market was very destructive to the local market in Ladakh.
  • how globalisation destroyed the livelihood of farms and local businesses and created unemployment.
  • how the happiness and high self-esteem among the people of Ladakh was destroyed after a decade of economic development.
  • why extreme tensions between buddhists and muslims erupted after living in peace for over 500 years in Ladakh.
  • about Ladakh, where the Dalai Lama is the spiritual head.
  • how Ladakh has become a case study on how a local economy has been quickly affected by globalisation.
  • about the phenomenal work Helena is doing to highlight the changing lives and economy of Ladakh and other regions.
  • about the true meaning of the real economy and how cheap money and speculation is destroying it.
  • why the earth is so precious and must be protected before we see irreversible and horrific damage.
  • about the terrific work being undertaken by Local Futures to highlight the need for economic change to protect our earth.
  • why we need to make the local food market a global initiative.
  • how small towns and villages are taking initiatives to feed their community with fresh, organic foods.
  • how schools are integrating nature into their infrastructure to increase the well-being of staff and pupils.
  • how nature provides profound and important psychological healing benefits.
  • how diversifying and staying local can provide more diversified foods per unit of land and water than the large monocultures.
  • why farmers prefer to work closely with the customer than with large-scale supermarkets.
  • whether small farmers and businesses should create a group to represent the their interests and to lobby governments in much the same way as large companies like Volkswagen and Monsanto.
  • how to make small and local businesses more visible.
  • about Helena’s mantra for resistance and renewal – resisting trade treaties and renewing localisation.
  • about the law that was passed in Sweden to have trade treaties to be discussed in secret.
  • how, under the new trade agreements, multinational corporations can sue governments if they inhibit their profit-making ability of that governments country.
  • whether GDP is a good measure of progress and how Helena interprets its true meaning.

Quotes by Helena on the Economic Rockstar Podcast:

“The EU is essentially an economic union and it’s bringing with it a centralised bureaucracy” – Helena Norberg-Hodge

About Earth Being Our Only Economy:

“The earth is our only economy. There’s nothing we use that doesn’t come from the earth. Nothing, nothing. Every iPad, every shoe, every television. And that economy, the real economy, is diversity. It requires and can only continue to live by respecting the uniqueness of every leaf, of every human being. Everything that lives is unique and is changing from moment to moment.” – Helena Norberg-Hodge

“I describe Nature as the economy, but it’s also our Mother. It’s our spiritual home” – Helena Norberg-Hodge

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“Usually when people talk about the economy, they’re just thinking about paper money. They don’t think about culture and farming as having anything to do with the economy.” – Helena Norberg-Hodge

“The global food economy, from beginning to end, is the biggest contributor to CO2 emissions, and it’s not just because of the factory farming with animals. It’s across the board.” – Helena Norberg-Hodge

About the Stock Market and Cheap Money:

“The market is really young lads sitting in front of computers speculating with huge amounts of money. And they inevitably have to and do favour the giant. They’re betting on the giants ‘horses’ like Monsanto, McDonalds and Walmart. And so this connection between that flood of cheap money created out of thin air, now has become a sort of a ‘blind machinery’ that is eating up the real economy, the earth, extremely rapidly and we’re going to see more horrific examples.” – Helena Norberg-Hodge

Other Quotes:

There is a growing local food market that is going global – Helena Norberg-Hodge

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GDP is an outrageous measure of progress. It is simply a measure of commercialisation – Helena Norberg-Hodge

With Riccardo and the notion of comparative advantage, it sounds good on the surface. But let’s remember it was brought in in a time of slavery – Helena Norberg-Hodge

Where to Find Helena:

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040: Rebecca Harding on Trade Finance and How Delta Economics Can Help Identify Growth Opportunities World-wide

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040: Rebecca Harding on Trade Finance and How Delta Economics Can Help Identify Growth Opportunities World-wide

Dr Rebecca Harding is CEO of Delta Economics, which specialises in the area of Trade Finance. Rebecca is an independent economistRebecca Harding with an extensive background in modelling economic growth, trade, productivity, innovation and enterprise.

Rebecca is the author of nine books and has written over 250 articles on economic issues. She has held senior positions in leading academic, think-tank and corporate organisations, including roles at the London Business School, Deloitte and the Work Foundation.

Rebecca has advised the European Union and regional governments and agencies in the UK and Germany on innovation and enterprise policy.

Rebecca is a Board Member of the Society of Business Economists and a Board Member and Trustee of the German British Forum. In 2013, she was elected as a national representative of the European Movement UK.

Rebecca holds a BA in Economics and German and an MSc and PhD in the economics of Science and Innovation from the University of Sussex and writes on her blog rebeccanomics.com.

How Rebecca First Discovered Economics:

Rebecca was taught economics as a kid by her father who was a sociologist. “An economist who’s taught by a sociologist is quite an unusual thing. He started off with the fundamental principle that economics is wrong because people aren’t rational. So the first lesson in economics I had was my father telling me that the subject was wrong”.

I have a very eclectic background. I was taught by a sociologist. Some of my big influences when I was in university were in geopolitics and international relations. I’ve done a lot of political science and a lot of philosophy as well. And then, of course, I have an economics, mathematics and language background. So I’m a bit weird. I call myself a hybrid.

Find Out:

  • about Dr Harding’s company DeltaEconomics.
  • about the data used by DeltaEconomics and why it has developed its database of statistics.
  • what is Trade Finance and how it has experienced phenomenal growth in recent years.
  • how companies bridge the finance gap between the time they export goods to the time they receive payment.
  • what the challenges are with long-term growth in trade.
  • if there are inherent risks associated with the trade finance market as more sophisticated derivative and credit markets emerge.
  • about the inherent risks that may appear in the derivatives markets for trade finance.
  • if a market collapse could be the outcome of a non-compliant and unregulated trade finance securities market.
  • if could an implosion in trade finance is possible with large defaults in payments due mainly to the development of a derivatives and securities market.
  • if sovereign risk will become prominent if trade finance risk increases.
  • if enough data exists for trade finance to allow it to mature into a fully functioning wholesale and derivatives market.
  • about some risks to the global supply chain.
  • about the pioneers of innovation and productivity in economic theory.
  • how productivity and trade finance could be correlated.

Economics:

In this interview, Rebecca mentions and discusses: trade finance, credit, exports, growth, derivatives, securitisation, risk aversion, sovereign risk, business risk, contagion, commodities, inflation, fiscal policy, monetary policy, foreign direct investment, demographics, innovation and total factor productivity.

Economists:

In this interview, Rebecca mentions and discusses: Joseph Schumpeter, Christopher Freeman, Carlota Perez, J. K. Galbraith and Frances Coppola.

Influencers:

Karl Marx, Christopher Freeman, Carlota Perez, Joseph Schumpeter, J. K. Galbraith,

On Delta Economics:

“For trade data, it’s the best platform in the world – it’s corrected, it’s clean, it’s comprehensive and it covers continents like Africa all on one platform. It gives clients information on what the trading opportunities are” – Rebecca Harding, CEO of Delta Economics.

“We view the world from a trade perspective. Trade is important because it’s how businesses interact with one another.”

Delta Economics – It’s macroeconomic big data! – Rebecca Harding

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What we’ve done is pioneer the way in which big data is used in economics – Rebecca Harding

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What is Trade Finance?

Trade Finance is everything that drives trade itself. From a financial perspective, if you look at the value of world trade, about 80% of that is financed by banks or backed up by big insurance companies or finance through export credit agencies. It’s a huge market and grew very quickly in the from 2000 to 2007. The reason being was due to emerging markets entering into global trade in a very much aggressive way. Banks saw huge opportunities for financing trade.

Essentially, if you are trading with another company in another country, then what you need is some kind of bridging finance between the gap from when you put your goods onto a ship or an aeroplane and when it’s received by the person in the other country and paid for. So what this company needs is some kind of financing gap between those two points. That’s what trade finance is.

By including trade finance data into forecasting, you get much more accurate forecasts as to what’s going to happen to trade. In 2007, there was a tightening of credit available to businesses since the credit in the financial markets of developed countries had locked up. Subsequently, much of the trade finance went to emerging Asia and emerging Latin America and financed huge growth there.

The whole Trade Finance market is largely driven through very large finance houses such as JP Morgan, HSBC, Barclays, Bank of America, Merrill Lynch and BNP Paribas. These very big global banks are the ones that are involved on a day-to-day basis with the trade-receivables, the credit lines, the letters of credit, the open account and the working capital.

What’s also interesting about Trade Finance is that you also have quasi-government agencies and export credit agencies, which are part of the private sector and which are sometimes supported by the public sector. There is also a massive insurance market and legal sector attached to it. With such growth in the Trade Finance market, there is interest now coming from private sector private equity companies who see an opportunity to buy the debt and securitise it and actually use it as an asset class. What Delta Economics also do is it allows the data user to understand trade finance as an asset class. Companies can securitise the debt and trade that securitisation. The derivatives market will be an important component of this.

The Trade Finance market is estimated to be worth $7.4 trillion annually. There are many companies , like Lloyds, who will be putting security behind the money they are backing up.

It was seen as a way of fuelling long-term economic growth through trade.

Data Sources Mentioned in this Episode:

Recommended Books:

Where to Find Rebecca Harding:

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010: Douglas Goldstein on How Chess Can Teach Us Lessons on Strategic Financial Planning

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010: Douglas Goldstein on How Chess Can Teach Us Lessons on Strategic Financial Planning

Doug GoldsteinDoug Goldstein has over 20 years in the financial planning and services industry, beginning his career on Wall Street in 1992 at Dean Witter. Doug is a Certified Financial Planner, registered Investment  Advisor, Trust and Estate Practitioner, and a licensed investment professional. Doug is the founder and director of Profile Investment Services, Ltd and hosts two podcasts on iTunes called Goldstein on Gelt and Rich As A King. Doug has authored numerous books on financial planning and building wealth and is co-author of Rich As A King: How the Wisdom of Chess Can Make You The Grandmaster of Investing. Doug is quoted in many publications such as The Wall Street Journal and Forbes, as well as guest lecturing on investment in colleges.

Economic Themes:

In this interview, Doug mentions and discusses: investment planning, stock markets, over-confidence, behavioral finance, loss aversion, prospect theory, personal finance, strategic finance, interest rates, bonds, risk, liquidity risk, hedge funds,

Economists and Economic Schools:

In this interview, Doug mentions: Terence Odean, Daniel Kahneman and Kenneth Rogoff.

Doug’s Defining Moment:

  • A chance meeting with Boris and Anna, a Russian couple, led to Doug enrolling his daughter and son into Boris’ chess classes. While sitting in during these classes, Doug realised that the strategic thinking and analysis of a chess player is similar to that of a financial planner and investor.
  • You can use the strategies of chess to illuminate so many concepts in investment

Doug’s Affirmations/Mantra:

Accept upon yourself a teacher, acquire for yourself a friend and judge everyone favorably

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Doug’s Influencers:

Doug’s mother and grandmother who were both in the finance industry.

In this episode, you will learn:

  • about two women in Doug’s life who smashed the glass ceiling in their respective careers.
  • about the financial planning lessons Doug learned from his mother and grandmother.
  • if women make better financial planners or investors than men.
  • if trading markets more frequently leads to better returns.
  • how the patience of chess playing is similar to the patience needed when planning your stock market trades.
  • why the fear of losing results in investors making bad decisions.
  • what you should do if you have a question about your business.
  • how the concepts of improving your game in chess is the same as that of investment and financial planning.
  • about the difference between short-term and long-term financial planning.
  • how a game of chess is bounded unlike the uncertainties of a stock market and what you can do to manage these uncertainties.
  • ‘how the News causes you to Lose’.
  • how goal-setting can get you out of the bottom of the socio-economic ladder.
  • who Doug would be if he was a chess piece.
  • whether stocks or bonds are more dangerous today.
  • which investor performs better – those listening to the news for advice or those that do not.
  • if Doug has a crystal ball to help make predictions!
  • why building a community is better than building a network if you want to succeed.
  • what Doug’s path to success is.
  • if we should try to pay off our mortgage early.
  • how being a philanthropist can make you a better person.
  • Doug’s simple method of identifying if you are risk averse in terms of your investment.
  • the parallels that Ireland and Israel have in terms of their economy, innovations and foreign direct investment.

Advice:

  • There’s nothing that you’re actually going to know about what’s going to happen tomorrow in the markets. But what you do know is to educate your clients about how to responsibly take care of their own money.
  • Amateur investors  and amateur chess players move around because they can’t figure out their strategy. They make a move that doesn’t really have a purpose and that’s a huge mistake.
  • Go into meetings and discussions with people as a friend. Assume that they’re there to work with you and not against you. You’ll be much happier.
  • Focus on developing a strategy.
  • Build your community – that’s how you will ultimately succeed. Build a group of people that you can constantly be in touch.

Career Advice

‘We are not the same as our parents and grandparents. You’re not going to work for some company for your whole life and then retire with a great pension at 60. it’s up to you to take care of yourself. The governments going broke, your parents are probably going broke, you’re going broke and you’re in debt. You’ve got to get your own act together. As soon as you understand how business works, you should try and set your own sails and find something that you really enjoy doing, that can add value and work really hard to do it.’

‘There’s nothing wrong with a little bit of hard work in order to succeed. Don’t assume someones going give it to you’

Personal Habits:

  • ‘I tend to be more conservative. I look for ways of trying to protect my business and my savings. I’m constantly looking for problems, coming up with solutions before the problems arise so that they don’t arise.’
  • Goal-setting. Check out Doug’s and Susan’s goal-setting paradigm STRATegic in Rich As A King.
  • Doug is an anti-debt person and is a philanthropist.
  • Doug organizes everything first thing in the morning – calender, email and builds a list of what needs to be done. He does the unpleasant but most important things first. Everything that’s crossed out are his accomplishments for the day.

Takeaway:

  • Don’t be afraid to pick up the phone and calling someone if you have a question about your business.
  • Having a pretty good strategy today is much better than having no strategy until maybe one day you’ll develop one.
  • It’s okay to develop as a strategist. It’s what all investors do and it’s what all chess players do.
  • The news you’re getting from most sources is probably useless.

    ‘Give me a stock clerk with a goal and I’ll give you a man who will make history. Give me a man with no goals and I’ll give you  a stock clerk.’ J.C. Penney

Recommended Books:

Favorite Internet Resources:

  • Financial Snapshot – a tool that builds up your financial profile and identifies your financial situation so that you can work on it or improve it.

Where To Find Doug Godstein:

Gift for You:

How To Achieve Exponential Growth in Your Business: The 3 Game-Changing Tactics I Used to Double, Double Again and Then Triple The Size of My Business.

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007: Ryan Blair – Gangster turned Millionaire on Decision-Making, Game Theory and Incentives

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Episode 007: Ryan Blair –  Gangster turned Millionaire on Decision-Making, Game Theory and Incentives

Ryan BlairRyan Blair is a serial entrepreneur but his path to becoming a millionaire is both unique and fascinating. From a middle-class family who lost it all, Ryan became a gang member and, at times, carried an AK-47. life changed for Ryan due to a strong work ethic and a will to succeed. He overcame great obstacles to achieve extraordinary success.

With six multi-million dollar companies by age 30, Ryan vowed to make his current company, ViSalus Sciences, be the first billion dollar company to come out of the Great Recession and to help many people along the way. He is a philanthropist and New York Times best selling author.

Economics and Finance Themes:

In this interview, Ryan Blair mentions and discusses: decision-making, incentives, rewards, compensation, leveraging, poverty, entrepreneurialism, economic systems, philanthropy, venture capitalists, investors, Game Theory, complementary goods and capital markets.

How being a gang member is similar to being a business person:

  • “A gang is an economic system. Similarities  exist between being an entrepreneur and a legitimate businessman and doing business as a gang member on the street”.
  • “A gang is simply illegal entrepreneurship. It has a management hierarchy. Generally a gang will have various revenue streams. It has a compensation system. There are incentives and rewards as a recruiting system to recruit new members. There’s replication that occurs as a business model. The gang will have different hubs and different cities and countries it operates in. There are so many similarities”.
  • “Game theory is simply the idea of a game of chicken. Sometimes you have to be willing to risk it all and a lot of the time you have to be willing to walk away from a deal”.

Ryan’s Influencers:

  • Bob Hunt: Ryan’s step-father. Find out what he taught Ryan.
  • John Wooden: basketball player and NCAA coach, author on leadership and winner of the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
  • John C. Maxwell: Expert on leadership and New York Times best-selling author.
  • Dale Brown: NCAA Hall of Fame basketball coach.

In this episode, you will learn:

  • what life was like for Ryan growing up with a violent, drug-addicted father and how his family lost everything.
  • how Ryan overcame this to teach people how to overcome their poor decisions or the decisions of their family or the environment they were born into.
  • what skeletons Ryan takes out of the closet (revealed in his book) giving us some insight in this podcast.
  • why people are shocked that he was in a gang but how people that he knew in the past are even more shocked by his appearance, level of education and his ability to articulate on subjects that he is passionate about.
  • how over-leveraging and keeping-up with the Jones’ fuelled by credit in the economic ‘good times’ can be destructive for some families.
  • how Ryan went from middle-class to poverty to multi-millionaire.
  • how Ryan went from earning minimum wage at 18 to earning 6 figures within 2 years.
  • how staring at a 60-year old prisoner became the defining moment that changed Ryan’s life-path.
  • how Ryan overcame dyslexia and ADD to create his own auditory learning system, something which the current educational system failed to do.
  • why Ryan believes that ‘vision’ is so important in your life.
  • how Ryan helps people facing life in adversity: Clue? – The creation of foundations and philanthropic work.
  • about Ryan’s work with autism.
  • about the importance of having mentors and having a life purpose.
  • why Ryan had the perfect attributes to be involved in gangs. [Ryan was forced into a gang because he was a young kid, influenceable and could be productive. He was an angry kid, got into a lot of fights and had something to prove to society].
  • how Ryan learnt powerful lessons from the boardroom on how to structure agreements.
  • how Ryan used the economic theory of Game Theory to get ahead in business and become the dominant player.
  • how Ryan applies mathematical techniques to get the result he’s looking for.
  • the meaning behind Ryan’s tattoos: ‘Carpe Diem’ and ‘8411’.
  • how a tragedy that befell Ryan’s mother has become a great learning experience and a way to develop and to value certain things in life.
  • how Ryan will help give his son a strong work ethic and an incentive to do whatever he wants to do.

Advice:

  • Ryan’s life purpose goal: “I will measure my influence by the network of the people I can draw upon for inspiration and economic creation’ – Ryan Blair”.
  • Ryan’s Philosophy: “Success is about your beliefs, values, actions and skills. So if you work on all of these things you will be successful” – Ryan Blair”.
  • On Vision: “I use that method in my life and my conscious and subconscious has no choice but to pursue them because I really fall in love with the vision”.
  • On Failing: “I fail forward and try to draw from certain things or from my gang past or maybe perhaps an investment that I made that didn’t work out so well”.
  • On Getting the Best Deal: “If you’re not prepared to walk away [from the deal] and the other party knows that, then you’re gonna be out-negotiated in many cases or you simply won’t get the best result possible for you, your family and your shareholders, which is what’s most important in a business negotiation”.
  • On Learning: Because Ryan knew that he wanted to be an entrepreneur, it was easy for him to associate learning with growth as an entrepreneur.
  • On Opportunities: “Opportunity exists all around you. If you’re looking for it and if you train yourself in how to see it – start there. If I sat in my garden, I could possibly find an opportunity to become an entrepreneur and be successful”.
  • On Nutrition and Learning: “Have a breakfast in the morning before school so as to have a proper education. Nutrition is so important to learning and to growth in an individual”.

Personal Habits:

1. 

‘I’m an idealist. I like to make things as good as I possibly can’ – Ryan Blair

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2. Asking questions: “I ask a lot of questions of myself. Am I doing the right things? Am I making the right adjustments necessary for me to achieve the result that I want? I ask myself the question ‘Why not?”.

“If I want a vacation and I can’t afford one I then go ‘Why can’t I afford one and someone else can?’. Generally, there’s a reason for that. Maybe you haven’t properly saved or you don’t have enough income coming in. If I want a new car that I would really like to have and I can’t afford it, I’ll ask myself ‘Why not?’ and eventually I ask that question enough times then I got the new car or I got the vacation or I got the houses or I got the stuff that I wanted. Now I ask myself ‘Why can’t I have a billion dollar company?’ The answer is a multi-faceted one and it’s one that I will find a solution to and solve the problem”.

3. Making decisions: “Making the right decisions is harder to do because you can’t always have all the facts and all the information in front of you. I look back on a lot of my decisions, reflecting on them and say ‘Hey, maybe I didn’t make the right decision’, meaning there was another decision that would have been better”. A wrong decision could have been made because “I had the wrong facts or, perhaps, the wrong intentions or emotions in the decision-making process that made me fail to make the right decision”.

4. Evaluating decisions and making the necessary adjustments: “In life, you’re going to make some bad decisions, particularly in business because you don’t always have all the facts or you can’t predict the future or you don’t know how the economy might change or how capital markets might change”.

“If bad decisions are made, you’ve just got to assess it, understand it and make better decisions, and eventually you accumulate enough right decisions to where you’ve got success”.

The Golden Rule that Ryan Lives By:

“The Path is all Math” – “you’re reverse engineering or you’re finding the mathematical equation to get the result you’re looking for and that could be a result of fixing any deficiency in your life or to improve something. There’s generally a mathematical path to it and that could simply be the number of steps in the formula or the amount of time it takes for you to get the result that you’re looking for”.

‘Understanding the math behind things is very important’ – Ryan Blair

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‘The Path is all Math’ – Ryan Blair

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Takeaway:

  • Don’t let anyone steal your milk: a gang member lifestyle allowed Ryan to develop an innate ability to spot trouble in the boardroom and to fight his corner.
  • Be careful in deals that you do as an entrepreneur with venture capitalists or sophisticated investors. Ryan found himself in a situation where he had created value and wealth but faced not receiving any of it.
  • “Life can deal you a bad hand and if you sit at the table long enough and you play with the best strategy, you’ll end up getting a great result out of it. And I’m living proof of that”.
  • Attributes required to make multi-generational wealth: creativity and strong work ethic.

Recommended Books:

Favorite Internet Resource:

Where to Find Ryan Blair:

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006: Andrew Heaton on Using Comedy to Explain Economic Concepts

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006: Andrew Heaton on Using Comedy to Explain Economic Concepts

Andrew Heaton

Andrew Heaton is a comedian, writer and political satirist. He is the presenter of the witty and entertaining economics podcast, EconPop and has a Masters degree in International Politics. Andrew has been featured in a Bollywood movie, plays a lead role in the sitcom Cap South and has been voted best new comedian of 2013 in New York. Andrew hails from Oklahoma, is an Officer to a Prince and plays the Ukelele to enhance the mood of his friends’ amorous endeavors.

Economic Themes:

In this interview, Andrew mentions and discusses: wheat quotas, comparative advantage, protectionism, relative and actual growth, free markets and limited government, Austrian Theory of Monetary Creation, supply and demand, signalling, subjective value, negative externalities, tariffs and import duty, protectionism, corporation tax, scarce resources, population, abundance of resources, the Great Depression, US deficit, unintended consequences, behavioral economics and risk aversion.

Economists and Economic Schools:

In this interview, Andrew mentions: the Chicago School, the Austrian School, Libertarianism, Adam Smith, Milton Friedman, Freidrich Hayek, John Maynard Keynes, Murray Rothbard, Frédéric Bastiat, Thomas Malthus, Gene Epstein, Steven Horwitz,

Andrew’s Influencers:

Gene Epstein and Milton Friedman.

Podcasts:

EconPop is hosted by Andrew, who is joined by economist Steven Horwitz and professor of literature Paul Cantor.

In this episode, you will learn:

  • how Andrew became interested in economics while studying abroad in Scotland.
  • what parallels Andrew draws between politics, economics and comedy.
  • what economists and school of thought Andrew draws inspiration from to carve out his own views.
  • where and from whom Andrew gets his inspiration for his anecdotal writings on economics concepts.
  • how economic concepts is in abundance in life and can be found in the many movies we may have watched.
  • what qualities Andrew believes makes a successful person.
  • about Andrew being an Officer to Prince Leonard of Hutt River.
  • what comparative advantage is and how Andrew explains it in an unusual but light-hearted way.
  • why Andrew believes we will never run out of resources and why we should not worry about scarcity.

Advice:

‘If you’re gonna have a lot of activities that you are doing, you need to be mentally organised and very good at prioritising.’

‘To supercharge your day, when you are getting to your tasks, do the one you hate most first… the rest of your day is a cinch.’

‘With books, the trick is you just write a thousand words a night… your subconscious mind works on it and when you sit down the following night it’s a little bit easier.  You have a full novel in two and half months.’

Personal Habits:

  • Andrew works extremely hard to get things done. He has blended comedy with economics to allow this dismal science to become enjoyable or entertaining.
  • Andrew believes that having the right mentor is hugely beneficial and such a relationship allows him to learn and focus on reaching small milestones. This has worked out favorably well for Andrew in the field of economics where he developed a strong set of opinions on some theoretical aspects of economics. By expanding his knowledge-base through economics books and the many discussions with his mentor, Gene Epstein, Andrew has opened new doors and created new opportunities that otherwise may not have been attainable. His love of economics, particularly the Austrian and Chicago Schools and libertarianism, has given Andrew a lot of material to work on for his comedic performances onstage, online and in books.
  • Andrew writes quite frequently and believes that constant writing will have a payoff in terms of the publication of a book.
  • Andrew plays the ukelele but, unfortunately, it wasn’t ‘tuned’ correctly for him to give us a treat on this podcast. So, as an homage to Andrew, I changed the outro music theme of Economic Rockstar to one that uses a ukelele. I hope you enjoy it!

Takeaway:

On Economics and Comedy:

Economics is a dismal science, so if you can make it funny it sweetens it – Andrew Heaton

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On Humor and Economic Differences:

‘When you start arguing with somebody your adrenaline level shoots up.  Just on a biochemical level, you become much less able to hear what they are saying because you are taking a defensive posture.  Conversely, when you’re laughing, you produce endorphins.  And, if I can make you laugh, for a moment you are willing to listen to me – just for a moment.’

On Human Innovation Outpacing Declining Resources:

“We didn’t end the Stone Age because we ran out of stones”. – Andrew Heaton

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Recommended Books:

Favorite Internet Resources:

Where To Find Andrew Heaton:

Contact Andrew and start a campaign if you would like him to create a ‘Mighty Heaton’ doll!

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005: Hector Avellaneda on Buying Gold to Protect Your Wealth from a Dollar Crisis

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Episode 005: Hector Avellaneda on Buying Gold to Protect Your Wealth from a Dollar Crisis

Hector AvellanedaHector Avellaneda is from Houston, Texas and has a passion for entrepreneurship, economics, finance and gold. This, however, only materialized after Hector came face to face with a untold truth and one of the harshest lessons that only a life experience can teach you, as long as you are willing to dig deep in search for answers.

Hector, the son of Mexican immigrants to the US, grew up in poverty and was statistically destined to a life of poverty in adulthood. However, Hector wanted to defy this probability and worked extremely hard in school. In typical fashion, Hector accumulated college debt and was ironically facing a poorer life than his own parents despite a larger mean income.

Hector questioned the college debt system and deeply explored how US citizens have grown accustomed to taking on such debt. Further research led him to realise that middle-class America could see their wealth wiped out due to an impending dollar crisis. Subsequently, Hector wrote an economics and finance-related book to share his findings and to suggest what you can do to protect your wealth.

Economics and Finance Themes:

In this interview, Hector mentions and discusses: poverty, wealth, college debt, economic crisis, the Great Depression, loans, credit card debt, poverty trap, psychological effects of poverty, deficit, free markets, incentives, purchasing power, inflation, taxes, quantitative easing, money supply, the Minsky Moment, financial literacy, properties of money, fiat currency, the US Federal Reserve, stock markets, crypto-currencies, the Gold Standard.

Hector’s Influencers:

His dad and a college counsellor. Find out more in his book ‘De-CLASS-ified’ (see below for a link to Amazon and get an e-copy on Amazon for a bargain $2.99).

In this episode, you will learn:

  • how Hector had all the hallmarks of continuing to live a life of poverty in America.
  • about Hector being bullied in school because of the charitable clothes he wore .
  • how Hectors’ father and mother’s sense of hard-work and money management became naturally ingrained in him.
  • how Hector defied and beat the statistical odds of remaining poor for life due to a strong work ethic and a desire to succeed.
  • how hard work in school can open up many opportunities in life including an internship with NASA.
  • the importance of being mentored.
  • how easy credit for college education made Hector ‘s financial position worse off than his parents.
  • what triggered Hector into discovering the truth about the American economy and the college debt system.
  • the risks in the US economy.
  • why the US could be faced with a massive default on student loans and what is triggering this today.
  • how it became acceptable to borrow to pay for college.
  • why Hector’s $50,000 student debt became a blessing in disguise.
  • how Hector’s research into the US college debt crisis resulted in him writing an economics and finance book without having a background in these disciplines.
  • why the middle class in America is about to collapse financially.
  • why the US government will seize money from an American workers’ wages.
  • what type of college degree is not in demand in US anymore.
  • what you should do today when making a college or subject choice.
  • what it takes to have financial and economic freedom.
  • about the 7 properties of money.
  • what countries are doing today with their dollar reserves.
  • about who actually owns the Federal Reserve Bank of America. Hint: It’s not the US government!
  • what you can do to protect your wealth from being transferred to others.
  • who are buying up gold and for what reason.

On Living in Poverty:

  • ‘I was pretty poor. I lived in a small wooden type of house with a sheet metal roof’ – Hector Avellaneda
  • ‘Growing up I saw my parents argue and fight about money and not having enough money to take a family trip or a vacation or just be able to enjoy a day out on the town and so my parents were always very stressed out, always kind of arguing and fighting’ -Hector Avellaneda
  • ‘I was made fun off in school because a lot of clothes that I wore was donated from the local church or local program, a local donation program’ – Hector Avellaneda
  • ‘I always told myself that I was going to do whatever it took to make sure that I was successful in life and to make sure that I got out of that poverty that I had seen as a child’ – Hector Avellaneda

Advice:

  • “Today we need computer scientists, we need computer programmers, we need engineers – those are the degrees that are in demand  and I myself sit on the board directors of a non-profit organization here in Houston that actually encourages kids to go to college and major in things like engineering, major in things like computer science because I think those are the degrees that we need in today’s economy” – Hector Avellaneda.

  • ‘To have financial and economic freedom, I had to become an entrepreneur’ – Hector Avellaneda

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  • “For anyone who is going to college or who is thinking about going to college today, I would say ‘do some real research and figure out what pay expectations you will have upon graduation’ and, with that said, make sure that, if you are going to go to college, major in a degree that will be able to sustain your way of life that you want to live and if you don’t want to major in something like engineering or computer science because that’s just not what you are passionate for then don’t take on any student debt” – Hector Avellaneda.

  • Those holding onto paper assets are at risk of losing it all to those holding real tangible assets like gold and silver, land and claims on oil fields.

Personal Habits:

  • A hard worker, head-strong, determined, passionate and a desire to find out the truth through research, self-education, reading and learning.
  • Hector had a desire to find out what went wrong in his life as he was mis-sold the American idea of taking on college debt . With a limited exposure to finance and economics in college, $50,000 of college debt and unemployed due to the Great Recession of 2008, Hector read widely to learn and understand about the truth behind the US economy, the trillions of dollars of debt and the risks of a mass student loan default and a dollar crisis. 

Takeaway:

‘We have a generation of college students who are graduating into financial bondage’ – Hector

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The free markets have been distorted due to all the incentives that have been created in the US economy.

‘Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value – zero’ – Voltaire

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Before making a college decision, do a course that will allow you to earn an income to pay off your debt, otherwise do not take on debt.

Increase your understanding of financial literacy. Read books on money.

Schools and Universities need to teach more economics, finance and financial literacy subjects to all students.

Self-education is very important – read books and get access to the necessary information online.

‘Money is nothing more than an economic tool by which we convert our time and freedom’ – Hector

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Recommended Books:

Favorite Internet Resource:

Where to Find Hector Avellaneda:

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