Thoughts that Count - with Vaishnav Sunil

In today's episode, I speak with Daniel Markovits - a professor of Law at Yale Law School and the author of the book "The Meritocracy Trap". We delve into the core thesis of the book - diagnosing the root causes of income inequality, the dismantling of America's middle class, the rat race that dominates the lives of the elite and potential solutions to the predicament we find ourselves in. 

In this episode, I chat with the eminent monetary economist Steve Hanke. We discuss the state of global monetary policy in the context of the pandemic, including the fed's response to COVID-19, distinction between narrow and broad money, modern monetary theory and the prognosis for inflation, social consequences of printing money, ripple effects on emerging markets, the need for currency boards and private cryptocurrencies.

In the wake of the protests following the death of George Floyd, we explore the relationship between housing policies and racial inequity. Matthew and I discuss the history of housing segregation and redlining in the United States, the rise of the YIMBY (Yes in my backyard) movement, regulatory mechanisms that perpetuate inequality, the relationship between housing reform and climate change, and finally, the path forward towards a fairer system.

In this episode, I speak with Preston Greene, Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Nanyang Technological University (Singapore). We discuss Nick Bostrom’s simulation argument, the risks of simulation science, the mechanics of delay discounting, the intersection of social bias and time bias, population ethics and the future use of psychedelics and other drugs to enhance wellbeing

In this episode, we explore the rise of impact investing - how it manifests differently across markets, the criticisms levelled against it, the challenge of measuring impact, and the future of the industry. At the end of this episode, we also delve into what it takes to build a career in impact investing.