Elinor Ostrom, the winner of the 2009 Nobel Prize in Economics, passed away yesterday. The Indiana University obit is here (hat tip - Graham Brownlow). Ostrom's Nobel Prize lecture is available here. In the video clip below, Ostrom gives a short talk on how humans can use natural resources in a sustainable way.
According to Robert Shiller , speaking at Davos, Bitcoin is a perfect example of a bubble - story here . Shiller sees Bitcoin as a backwards step in the evolution of money. George Selgin , a free banker, takes an opposing view - click here . Although he doesn't believe that Bitcoin is money, he sees its development as a fascinating turn in the evolution of money. In particular, he lauds the fact that Bitcoin production is constrained and cannot be infinite. There is a short video below where Bitcoin explain how it works.