Why Nobel Economist Robert Shiller Is Still A Bitcoin Skeptic

Add Nobel Prize winner Robert Shiller to the list of people who are skeptical about bitcoin. 

In a piece published on the Project Syndicate website, Shiller cast a critical eye on bitcoin’s claim to be an innovation by providing examples of failed currencies from history. They had a similar spiel as bitcoin but failed to take off. For example, the Cincinnati Time Store sold items based on “labor notes” or paper notes that were time units that represented the amount of labor required to bring the product to market. In effect, they represented a promise by the buyer to perform an equivalent amount of work for the store’s owner in exchange for the product. But the concept proved to be unpopular and the store closed down in 1830. (See also: Bitcoin Best Example Of Irrational Exuberance Right Now). 

Other examples provided by Shiller in his note relate to the use of energy as units of payment. For example, Technocracy, a movement at Columbia University, intended to…