What made you decide to blog about economics when there are so many other blogs already?
I decided to start blogging back when I was in graduate school. There were not as many blogs then as there are now. I saw it as a way to interact with economists and work out my ideas. Writing not only forces you to think carefully about ideas, but also to learn how to present those ideas clearly (I don't pretend that my presentation is always clear, but I like to think I'm asymptotically approaching clarity!). Economics is less about what to think and more about how to think. To learn economics, you need to really engage with the ideas. Writing is a great way to do that. So, in other words, I started blogging out of self-interest. I'll let others decide whether this was Adam Smith's invisible hand at work.
You’ve written about Bitcoin and other forms of online monetary transfer; do you think economists have paid too little attention to it or is it a passing fad?
I'm fascinated with bitcoin. Anyone who is a monetary economist should be excited about bitcoin because cryptocurrency poses a number of theoretical questions and will also provide evidence regarding existing monetary theories. To me, I think too much of the focus to this point has been on whether or not bitcoin can overtake existing currencies -- and people have very strong opinions on this. I think the technology itself has the potential to change the way we do a lot of different things. I also think that right now, as a currency, cryptocurrencies likely have the most to offer to those in developing countries with poor financial institutions and untrustworthy governments than the developed world. This raises a lot of political economy questions as well. As far as my overall opinion, I have no idea if this is a fad or a revolutionary idea, but I'm excited to watch things play out. This is about as close to a natural experiment as we get in monetary economics!
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