The insights of the Austrian School of Economics will prove invaluable to investors navigating the distorted global economy of 2021.

This 18-tweet thread walks you through the definitive guide "Austrian School for Investors" by @scholarium_at, @RonStoeferle and @MarkValek.👇 1/ The roots of the Austrian School can be traced back to its founder Carl Menger, whose 1871 book Principles of Economics provided a new foundation for economic theory and solved the age-old "Paradox of Value".

From Menger's work we can derive 4 pillars of Austrian Investing.

There is often an overlooked tax story at the heart of humanity’s defining events.

@DominicFrisby's book Daylight Robbery provides a fascinating account of the ways in which tax has shaped our past, and will change our future.

This 15 tweet thread explains.👇 1/ Civilisations tend to ascend at times of limited government, strong property rights and low taxes.

But governments often have short-term incentives to expand.

Since tax rises tend to be strongly resisted by the population, they are often introduced during times of crisis.

In 2019, I made the decision to radically reduce the number of possessions I own.

Doing so proved to be one of the best decisions of my life.

As we go into 2021, I encourage you to think about how you could live more by owning less.

This 13 tweet thread explains.👇 1/ In 2019, I watched this @LondonRealTV interview with @aantonop.

Andreas articulated something that I had long sensed: that many of the physical possessions I owned were hindering me rather than improving my life.

His words prompted me to take action.👇

In "A Masterclass in Economic Calculation" @michael_saylor talks to @PrestonPysh about inflation and why he expects more companies to put bitcoin on their balance sheet.

This 6 tweet thread summarizes Michael's argument.

Check out the full episode here: bit.ly/2WPymtu 1/ CPI is losing relevance as a measure of inflation.
 
Businesses looking to understand how much purchasing power their cash will lose should track M2 money supply growth, which approximates the cost of capital.

While US CPI inflation rose only 0.2% in 2020, M2 soared by 24%.

Weimar Germany's hyperinflation provides perhaps the most dramatic example of the destruction that ensues when money dies.

This 16 tweet thread summarizes Adam Fergusson's definitive account, and explores the lessons we can learn from this dark period in German history. 1/ During WWI, European powers suspended the gold convertibility of their currencies, issued bonds and printed new bills, as a means of financing their war efforts.

With varying degrees of severity, each introduced price controls in a misguided attempt to suppress inflation.

In 1997, "The Sovereign Individual" made predictions about the ways in which the internet will radically alter society.

Many of those predictions, including the rise of "cybercash", are playing out before our eyes.

This illustrated thread summarises the book in 12 Tweets.👇 1/ Humans have passed through three societal epochs:

1. Hunter-Gatherer Society
2. Agricultural Society
3. Industrial Society

Now, looming over the horizon, is something entirely new, a fourth age characterised by the rise of the microprocessor: Information Society.

The manufacture of collectables by pre-historic humans was the first step on the road to creating money.

@NickSzabo4's epic essay "Shelling Out" describes how and why this happened.

This illustrated thread summarises Nick's 12,000 words in 12 Tweets.👇 1/ Most hunter gatherers lived a precarious existence on the brink of starvation.

But we know from archaeological records that they made and collected jewellery.

The fact that early humans devoted their scarce resources to this seemingly frivolous activity merits exploration.

Today’s recommended read is The Bullish Case for Bitcoin by @real_vijay.

His excellent article outlines the history of money's emergence, #bitcoin's core properties, and the path we should expect it to follow as it transitions to becoming global money.

My summary is below.👇

https://twitter.com/real_vijay/status/969591986662424576

In 2008, Satoshi Nakamoto published a 9 page solution to a long-standing computer science puzzle known as the Byzantine General’s Problem.

His solution - bitcoin - allowed, for the first time ever, value to be transferred, at a distance, in a completely trustless way.

1/12

The delusion that governments can successfully manipulate prices has spanned cultures, nations and epochs.

Inspired by Scheuttinger & @eamonnbutler's excellent book "Forty Centuries of Wage & Price Controls", I have catalogued my top 8 historical price control blunders.👇 BABYLONIA

In 1754 BC, the Code of Hammurabi imposed a rigid system of controls over wages, prices, production, and consumption.

Legal prices were set for labour, farm animals and goods like wagons and boats.

A decline in trade followed as merchants departed for foreign lands.

To understand economic phenomena we must analyse human action, rather than material objects and their properties.

Inanimate objects are dead matter.

It is human reason shaping humans’ actions that rearranges matter and gives it value, meaning, and purpose.

1/8 Attempts to explain social phenomena by reference to objects, abstract nouns, or collectivist entities are ultimately futile.

Entities do not act, only individuals do.

Quantitative economic methods neglect the fact that there are no constant relations in human action.

2/8

Have you ever heard it said that wealthy countries should prioritise reducing #inequality over growing the economy?

The 2009 book #TheSpiritLevel makes perhaps the most influential argument for that position.

But it is badly flawed.

This thread explains why. 👇

1/9 #TheSpiritLevel argues that income inequality leads to a range of bad social outcomes concerning life expectancy, obesity, mental health, homicide and child mortality.

They draw on data from 23 of the world's 50 richest countries to show convincing-looking correlations 👇

2/9

The 20th Century saw the world monetary system transition from a gold standard to a fiat standard.

Gold Wars by Ferdinand Lips (recommended by @saifedean) tells the story of how Switzerland became the last country to abandon its currency's link to gold.

Thread 👇
1/6 Lips argues that the confidence gold backing inspired in CHF helped transform landlocked and resource-poor Switzerland into one of the world's most prosperous countries. Switzerland enjoyed the benefits of sound money, high savings, strong growth and low unemployment.

2/6

As we enter our next economic downturn, we are told to learn the lessons of the Great Depression.

Pundits urge governments to follow Roosevelt’s example by stimulating the economy to bring about a recovery.

Thread 👇 They blame Hoover’s “laissez faire” response to the crash of 1929 for the severity of the Great Depression.

In contrast, they claim Roosevelt turned the economy around through the bold programmes of The New Deal.