Nocturnal Unwrap

Nova Mentis
Nocturnal Unwrap

Join main host Philasande Shongwe and guests in unwrapping truths about business, entrepreneurship and the economy at night. Nocturnal Unwrap is part of the Nova Mentis youth think tank, where we shut the chaos of the world, identity politics and cancel culture out to frankly and candidly discuss critical and practical solutions for real issues.

  1. 15/08/2022

    #19: Professor Johan Fourie on "Our Long Walk To Economic Freedom"

    Joining Phila and Simo today is Professor Johan Fourie. Professor Fourie attained his PhD in Economic History from Utrecht University. He currently lectures economics at Stellenbosch University. He joins Phila and Simo to unpack his book, "Our long walk to economic freedom: 100 000 years of human history". Phila begins by explaining how a previous podcast which he recorded with a previous guest, Professor Stan du Plessis, motivated him to reach out to Professor Fourie. Swiftly thereafter, Professor Fourie proceeds to unpack why he wrote the book and why a new edition is on its way. Further, Professor Fourie unpacks the choice of words in the title of the book, and explains why the word "Our" in the title, is the most important. He further explains what he means by "economic freedom", using his Monopoly/Settlers of Catan anecdote to elucidate this. Further still, Professor Fourie talks about how Trust and global cooperation has led to the prosperity we see today, stressing that autarky only leads to poverty. The conversation then proceeds to the contents of the book; highlighting a few chapters that Simo and Phila found most attractive to them. These chapters include, "Why do Indians have dowry and Africans lobola?", "Who was the richest man in history?", and "Why should we cry for Argentina?". " In addition to conversation with Prof Fourie, have a listen to the podcast with Professor Stan du Plessis titled, titled "Sound and unsound money" (https://nmonline.co.za/en/professor-stan-du-plessis-on-sound-and-unsound-money/).  Professor Johan Fourie's website link : (https://www.johanfourie.com/)

    56 min
  2. 29/05/2022

    #17: Professor Stan du Plessis on Collectivism and Individualism

    Joining Phila today, to discuss the differences between collectivist and individualist modes of social and economic thinking, is the Chief Operating Officer of Stellenbosch University, Professor Stan du Plessis. Prof du Plessis attained his Master of Philosophy in Economics from the University of Cambridge and his PhD in Economics from Stellenbosch University. Professor du Plessis begins by telling us about his own intellectual development - about how he went from "an extremely committed Marxist" to a pro-market economist. He carefully annunciates what led him the way of Karl Marx and how, as a first-year student in 1991, the prospect of a new South Africa excited him. He goes on to talk about his time in London; about studying Marx and Ricardo, under one of the great Marxist scholars of the world at the time, John Eatwell. Yet despite this, it was a short, 140-paged Dostoevsky novel, Notes from Underground, that left him a "very confused ex-Marxist". Phila and Professor du Plessis proceed to unpack the contents of "Notes from Underground" and discuss briefly, the core idea of the book. In addition to this, they explore the valuable contributions contained in Adam Smith's "The Theory of Moral Sentiments", Karl Popper's "The Open Society and its Enemies" as well as Friedrich Hayek's "Constitution of Liberty". Tune in to hear what they have to say. Professor du Plessis' Ted Talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUEVZEbNW1g Phila and Prof du Plessis' previous podcasts: Sound and unsound money: https://open.spotify.com/episode/6S8jtduWKC2HDDn28JahuL?si=8gA4u5MfSjah0Wbtkl6yCQ Monetary policy and money printing: https://open.spotify.com/episode/5iBu4V1snVdOnneyRs2TYI?si=W552aJmwRIG-6-e_fOxxfg

    1 h 33 min
  3. 12/11/2021

    #15: Professor Stan du Plessis on Sound and Unsound Money

    Joining me today - and making a second appearance on the podcast - is the Chief Operating Officer of Stellenbosch University, Professor Stan du Plessis. Prof du Plessis attained his Master of Philosophy in Economics from the University of Cambridge and his PhD in Economics from Stellenbosch University. He joins me today to explore the concepts of sound and unsound money. We explore the evolution of money and the societal changes that have accompanied it. We talk about how technological advancements have changed the way we think about money and have caused the usurpation of what Saifedean Ammous - the author of The Bitcoin Standard - referred to as "primitive moneys". Furthermore, we explore some of the contributions made by some of the biggest and most influential names in economics, which include but are not limited to John Maynard Keynes, Milton Friedman and Friedrich Hayek. In discussing inflationism, we zoom in on Hayek's "A tiger by the tale" allegory as well as Keynes' "The economic consequences of the peace" about which Prof du Plessis says "is one of those cases where an economist really nailed it. He really got it exactly right". Moreover, we talk about the need for - and rationale of - economic decentralisation, as laid out by Hayek in "The use of knowledge in society" and then segue into a brief discussion about cryptocurrencies and the opportunities - as well as the problems - it introduces.

    1 h 31 min

À propos

Join main host Philasande Shongwe and guests in unwrapping truths about business, entrepreneurship and the economy at night. Nocturnal Unwrap is part of the Nova Mentis youth think tank, where we shut the chaos of the world, identity politics and cancel culture out to frankly and candidly discuss critical and practical solutions for real issues.

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