Bretton Goods

I talked to Ben Reinhardt about new models for funding science and innovation. Ben's pieces on DARPA and his proposal for a private DARPA-like research funding organization are foundational pieces in the field and should be read by anyone who wants to understand them. We talked about: The Big Man Theory of History What makes good DARPA program managers? Why you need to be less responsible to innov...

I spoke with Matt Clifford, the co-founder and CEO of Entrepreneur First a pre-idea investing firm. We talked about some very exciting topics! They are: Personality types of successful founders Founders with high agency The race between politics and technology The most underrated impactful historical event  

I talked to Duncan Weldon a former Britain economics correspondent for The Economist and the writer of the substack Value Added . We talked about his book Two Hundred Years of Muddling Through . Topics include How did the road to riches change through centuries? Why does Britain have no tech giants? How did Britain survive with high levels of debt in the past? Why did the Industrial Revolution beg...

I talked to Sam Bowman, the Director of competition policy at the Law and Econ Center. He was previously Executive Director of the Adam Smith Institute and has been a constant advocate for saner housing policy. I talked to him about housing policy and adjacent topics: How housing affects everything! How do we incentivize NIMBYs into allowing more building? The most underrated economist Lessons fro...

I talked to Michael Green who is Chief Strategist and Portfolio Manager at Simplify ETFs. He previously was Chief Strategist and Portfolio Manager at Logica and even before that he was portfolio manager at Thiel Capital. Mike is extremely smart and very fun to talk to. We had an interesting conversation about How do passive flows change the stock market? How can you trade these with options? Expla...

I talked to Tom Spencer a law student at City Law School and Chief Organizer of London New Liberals . Tom's interests lie on the edge of law and economics where he does work on housing policy and anti trust. We had a lively conversation on Solving the UK's housing crisis What lawyers and economists can learn from each other Brexit and its consequences The unwritten British constitution Abolishing...

I talked to Michael Bishop, who worked at DARPA's Replication Markets project. We talked about Why was there a replication crisis in science? How do you design a market for predicting replication attempts? Is there alpha in replication market trading?

I talked to Kevin Erdmann, a visiting fellow at the Mercatus Center about his upcoming book Building From the Ground Up which is about myths surrounding the housing bubble and the Great Recession. We talked about The myth of a 'housing bubble' How American policymakers self induced a recession His research process Preorder Keivn's new book here !

I talked to Matt Darling, an Employment Policy Fellow at the Niskanen Institute  We talked about Cognitive tax of poverty Behavioural economics and the replication crisis What question does he wish people asked him?

I talked to Rohit Krishnan, a venture capitalist and writer of the newsletter Strange Loop Canon . In my view he is among the most underrated writers in the public sphere today. I talked to him about a variety of topics. They are: The real meaning of ambition Why people misunderstand optionality Rohit’s favourite Indian cuisine Why you can’t replicate college with internet subcultures “VC’s bigges...

I talk to Joshua Miller, an extremely smart 16 year old on  Nominal GDP Targeting What he disagrees with Milton Friedman the most on The theory behind market monetarism

I talked to the very popular Noah Smith on a variety of topics. We talked about Is America too insular? Indian cultural exports to the US Is economic growth zero-sum at the country level? Where does he disagree with @jdcmedlock the most? What are the deep causes of partisanship in America? The moral coordination problem of going vegan The political economy of solving NIMBYism “America's national p...

I spoke to Michael Fritzell who writes the substack Asian Century Stocks about high-quality stock ideas around Asia. Michael is a CFA charterholder and has worked as an equity analyst in Asia for over a decade. We talk about Common characteristics of successful CEOs Why Chinese real estate prices are due for a fall How do you read an annual report in Asia?

I spoke to Pranay Kothasthane who is the Deputy Director of Takshashila Institution, a think tank based in Bengaluru.  We talk about India’s vaccine diplomacy Why Pranay’s an optimist on Indian growth What he learnt running a Hindi podcast

Mark Lutter is the Founder and Executive Director of the Charter Cities Institute. CCI's aim is to build an ecosystem for charter cities We talk about - The basic concepts of charter cities - What is the biggest misconception about charter cities? - What personality type does it take to run a non profit?

For this Indian Independence day I talked to Shruti Rajagopalan about the Indian economic reforms. How was Nehruvian socialism different from socialism under Indira Gandhi? Why didn't land reform work in India? Does Shruti believe in the Great Man theory of history?

Karol is a financial sector specialist at the World Bank. I speak to him about Why doesn't America have 24/7 payment systems? Was shock therapy in Poland a mistake? Bangladesh’s growth miracle What do the World Bank’s critics get wrong? A highly enjoyable episode!

I talk to Srivatsan Prakash - the host of the Market Champions podcast - about his experience podcasting, investing and some thoughts about the stimulus We talk about - The most surprising thing about being on a podcast - Is there a wrong way to invest - Why ‘Austrian investing’ is the wrong way to invest - The Biden stimulus isn’t going to lead to inflation

Alfonso Peccatiello is the Head of Fixed Income Portfolio Management at ING Deutschland. I talked to him about Why is Italy in trouble economically? How should you size positions while trading? Why do so many European institutions buy negative yielding bonds? Alfonso gives some very good career advice at the end of the interview!

Hemantha is a student at Harvard, who is currently working at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. He has worked with the India CEA and the RBI. We talk about What makes certain government schemes successful? Does being a debater make you more adversarial? How would he change RCTs?

Mike is starting at The Economist as Asia business and finance editor. We talk about - What is the biggest flaw of journalists? - How Hong Kong's land policy hurts its tech companies - Why asset price "inflation" is nonsense - Why Mike's not an MMTer but would like to see it tried anyways BONUS: Mike reveals who he thinks will win the Euros!

We talk about - Do think tanks actually have an impact? - Should we loosen accredited investor regulations? - Should more companies invest in public policy roles? - What would he do if he could remake American federal regulation? You can read Eli's writing at https://elidourado.com/ You can read my writing at http://brettongoods.substack.com/

We talk about - How to become a good generalist - Why did America do so much better than Europe on vaccines? - What happened to the media industry? - His writing process - Picking a media diet - Why nobody writes in Socratic dialogue? - The pseudonymous economy - Where should ambitious people go?

I talked to Jeff Snider on why he thinks QE doesn't matter, the usage of repo in financial markets and the global dollar shortage. It was an entertaining conversation, and Jeff is very knowledgeable on these matters. Subscribe to my podcast here: https://open.spotify.com/show/5a29fQG0xEbPEdqSxQjMcQ Read Jeff's writing here: https://alhambrapartners.com/author/jsnider/

In this episode I interview Garett Jones on his book 10% Less Democracy. We talked about term limits, lobbying, the workings of the Senate and how do policies go from ideas to implementation. Buy his book here: https://www.amazon.com/10-Less-Democracy-Should-Elites/dp/1503603571 Subscribe to my newsletter here: http://brettongoods.substack.com/