Basil Halperin is an assistant professor of economics at the University of Virginia. In Basil's first appearance on the show he discusses the famous but flawed Citrini essay, why Silicon Valley's growth expectations aren't showing up yet in interest rates, the impact of Less Than Zero by George Selgin, what the true frictions in the economy are, the differences between Calvo and menu-cost pricing, the impact of transformational AI on emerging economies and the housing market, and much more.
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Check out the transcript for this week's episode, now with links.
Recorded on March 27th, 2026
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Timestamps
00:00:00 - Intro
00:02:20 - Global Intelligence Crisis
00:07:04 - Transformative AI and Interest Rates
00:21:05 - Optimal Monetary Policy Under Menu Costs
00:48:13 - Transformative AI and its Macro Implications
00:55:41 - Outro
