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35

Blockchain Economics & The Origins of Innovation with Prof. Jason Potts

Show Notes

Today we're joined by the innovation professor Jason Potts. I've wanted to have him on the show for a while, because he seems to be more clued into the technological changes that are transforming our world and the economic impacts they will have, than most economists I've come across.

Jason is a Distinguished Professor of Economics at RMIT University and Co-director of the Blockchain Innovation Hub at RMIT in Melbourne Australia. His research focuses on the economics of innovation and new technologies, economic evolution, institutional economics, and complexity economics. He has written 5 books and published over 80 articles on topics including growth theory, creative industries, economics of cities, innovation commons, and most recently on crypto-economics and blockchain.

One book in particular, Innovation Commons: The Origin of Economic Growth, served as the basis for half of this conversation. If you're an entrepreneur, policy-maker, or anyone interested in innovation in general, Jason's book, while perhaps more of an academic read, is worth checking out.

Jason is also an editor of the Journal of Institutional Economics, Vice President of the International Joseph A Schumpeter Society, as well as a member of the Steering Committee of the Australian government’s National Blockchain Roadmap.

In our conversation we cover:

  • The economy as a complex adaptive system
  • Why capitalism is a misnomer, and instead, the economic system in which we live might be better characterised as an institutional market society for the growth of knowledge.
  • We explore why innovation actually begins before the creative entrepreneur in what's called an innovation commons.
  • and, of course, what will likely become a defining technology in this decade and those to come: blockchain. Jason explains why this will be the base layer for the emerging digital economy and why NFTs, non-fungible tokens, are the start of a new age of experimentation in property rights.

If you've had any hesitancy or misgiving about blockchain technology in the past, Jason will likely change your mind.

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