economics

Bitcoin as Energy Buyer of Last Resort

February 7, 2022 February 7, 2022 / crypto, economics

Inspired by the “Bitcoin as Clean Energy Stimulus” section of Ryan Selkis’s Crypto Theses for 2022, I’ve spend a bit more time recently thinking about Bitcoin and energy usage. The view by a lot of non-crypto enthusiasts is that Bitcoin is terrible for the environment. The typical argument is that Bitcoin itself does not add …

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Tipping and path dependency

December 10, 2019 March 31, 2021 / economics

A little while ago I was listening to a Freakonomics podcast about the economics and behavioral incentives of tipping. Tipping is pretty ubiquitous in American restaurants, with somewhere around 18-20% generally expected. But the entire ecosystem around tipping is a bit screwy. Because they are expected to receive compensation through tips, servers in most states …

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