Economy 2.0: Ep 7, A Conversation w/Cameron Sajedi - Resume

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Economy 2.0: Ep 7, A Conversation w/Cameron Sajedi
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-N_YXzp-q8

A recorded session titled "Economy 2.0", hosted by Josh Sidman and featuring guest Cameron Stiteler. It is part of a series exploring alternative economic models inspired by heterodox economists Silvio Gesell and Henry George. The session centers on reconceptualizing capitalism, free markets, land ownership, and monetary systems through both historical insights and modern technological frameworks.

🔍 Main Themes and Ideas:
1. Economy 2.0 Series
Originated from a course taught at the Henry George School.

Aims to distinguish free markets from capitalism, arguing they are not synonymous.

The goal is to move beyond 20th-century dichotomies like capitalism vs. socialism, towards innovative economic futures.

2. Silvio Gesell & Henry George
Both were critical of the status quo but strong proponents of free market principles.

Gesell focused on the dysfunctions of money (especially hoarding), proposing "demurrage" — a negative interest rate to keep money in circulation.

George emphasized land ownership and proposed land value taxation to capture unearned income (economic rent) for the public good.

3. Cameron Stiteler’s Contribution
A systems engineer and geoscientist working on GeoCybernetics, which integrates second-order cybernetics with environmental and economic systems.

Emphasizes land use and monetary innovation informed by Web3 technologies like blockchain.

Developed a conceptual protocol called the GeoCybernetic Atlas Protocol (GAP) — aiming to model and simulate the effects of alternative land and currency systems on sustainability.

4. The Wörgl Experiment (1930s Austria)
A historical implementation of Gesell’s ideas.

The mayor issued a local currency with demurrage that greatly boosted economic activity during the Great Depression.

It demonstrated the power of liquidity-focused currency in contrast to hoarded national currencies.

It was eventually shut down by the Austrian central bank, despite its success.

5. Simulation & Modeling
Cameron presented a Machinations.io simulation of the Wörgl economy to demonstrate how a demurrage-based currency circulates and funds public goods.

Emphasis was placed on how simulations can help test different economic models before implementation.

6. Integration with Land Reforms
A key discussion was how to combine Gesell’s monetary model with George’s land reform model.

Three simulation models were proposed:

Wörgl-style monetary reform only.

Georgist land tax in addition.

Full Georgist lease-based land model with public ownership.

7. Experimental Economies & Pseudo-Science
The conversation raised concerns about real-world implementation risks and suggested simulation and pseudo-experiments (e.g., comparative historical case studies) as useful tools.

Emphasis on open-source, modular modeling platforms to allow experimentation with hybrid economic systems.

8. Use Cases and Real-World Projects
Projects like Thor Heyerdahl Climate Park in Myanmar (replanting mangroves) illustrate real-life challenges in accessing voluntary carbon markets.

These projects could benefit from local currencies or tokenized incentive systems to manage cyclical funding and participation.

9. Future Vision
The GAP and Economy 2.0 aim to build community-level toolkits to help towns, cooperatives, or micro-regions experiment with alternative economic infrastructures — enabling decentralized, context-sensitive experimentation.

The aspiration is to build a global, peer-reviewed registry of such experiments to enable feedback, iteration, and collective learning.

📚 Academic Context & Relevance
The discussion reflects core themes in heterodox economics, ecological economics, and cybernetic systems theory, and relates to:

Elinor Ostrom’s work on commons governance.

Amartya Sen’s capability approach to development.

Jane Jacobs’ urban economic critiques.

Post-Keynesian and ecological critiques of standard macroeconomic models.