001h – Germany

Summary

Ashish Kulkarni had been reading about Germany all through February, and blogging about the things he read. In this episode, Aadisht Khanna spoke to him about three broad themes he had covered – the unification of Germany in the late nineteenth century, the German experience with hyperinflation in the aftermath of World War I, and the German Reunification.

What We Discussed

Goodreads: The War That Ended Peace

Goodreads: Germania

Goodreads: Danubia

Wikipedia: Alfred von Tirpitz

Goodreads: The Guns of August

What Started the Biggest Population Boom in History?

NPR: How Fake Money Saved Brazil

A Theory of Optimum Currency Areas by Robert A. Mundell

The New York Times: Revenge of the Optimum Currency Area

Goodreads: Cities and the Wealth of Nations

The Intersection: How Indian Standard Time stays standard

Reddit: On different German words for mother and father

Goodreads: Because Internet

Goodreads: Why Nations Fail

Goodreads: Open Borders

Econ for Everybody: One on inflation, and four on Germany’s reunification

Econ for Everybody: Four articles about the creation of Germany, and one about it’s reunification

Transcript

001g: Twitter and Tear Gas; Waldenponding; Rule Makers, Rule Breakers

Summary

Ashish Kulkarni spoke to Aadisht Khanna about Twitter and Tear Gas, a book by Zeynep Tufekci which discusses the impact of social media on protest movements, and about two different EconTalk episodes: one is an interview with Venkatesh Rao where he talks about the concept of Waldenponding that he came up with, and another is an interview with Prof. Michele Gelfand about her book called Rule Makers, Rule Breakers, which discusses how much different cultures demand compliance to their norms.

What We Discussed

Goodreads: Twitter and Tear Gas

Website: Twitter and Tear Gas

Free ebook (Creative Commons license): Twitter and Tear Gas

EconTalk: Venkatesh Rao on Waldenponding

Venkatesh Rao’s essay Against Waldenponding

Venkatesh Rao’s essay Premium Mediocre

Wikipedia: The Red Queen hypothesis

Goodreads: Here Comes Everybody

Goodreads: It’s Complicated

Goodreads: Exit, Voice, and Loyalty

Wikipedia: The Streisand Effect

Goodreads: Walden

EconTalk: Michele Gelfand on Rule Makers, Rule Breakers

Goodreads: Rule Makers, Rule Breakers

Transcript

001f – Dinosaurs, Aunty Lee’s Delights, and Machiavelli

Summary

Ashish Kulkarni talked to Aadisht Khanna about a discussion between scientists and comedians about dinosaurs, a Singaporean murder mystery in which the detective is an old lady who runs a restaurant, and the misconceptions around Macchiavelli.