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Gini Book List

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The following books and resources have influenced Gini's philosophical and technical development in significant and small ways. These nonpartisan scholars, scientists, and thought-leaders have devoted their lives to rigorous empirical research and data-driven analysis. This has enabled them to verify thousands of important data points across many domains, which we take into account every day as we build Gini's technical systems and analyze all the global socioeconomic and geopolitical dynamics that are relevant to cryptocurrencies in today's complex, interconnected world.

As we explained on the Gini School of Economics Introduction, technical architectural design flows from philosophical beliefs. Each human's philosophical beliefs is based on their knowledge and awareness of how the universe works, but each human brain is born as a blank slate and must be filled with knowledge and life experience before it can do anything useful. This is why reading substantive books and opening our minds to a diverse selection of authors, ideas, perspectives and experiences is so important.

Rigid ideologies are like degenerative brain diseases: They retard mental, emotional, and spiritual growth and they trap the mind in a theoretical world that does not actually exist, which prevents many humans from seeing and solving problems in the real world. This is how the human mind becomes a mental prison. The only way to escape this prison is to open our minds to a diverse selection of authors, ideas and perspectives.

A human's ability to make a meaningful impact in this world flows from the accuracy of their knowledge and the depth and breadth of their awareness. Specifically, without a broad base of technical, socioeconomic, and geopolitical knowledge; significant knowledge of economic history; and significant knowledge of precisely how and why corporate and government corruption impacts economic and geopolitical systems in the real world, it's impossible for any technical team to build a well-designed cryptocurrency.

This is not an exhaustive book list. The list includes several classic Economics books that are not saturated with unrealistic economic theories, parochial assumptions, and rabid ideology. This list is primarily intended to help people learn how the perpetual and inevitable collusion between gigantic and self-serving corporations, governments, and banks makes a mockery of both Hayek and Keynes, which is why no cryptocurrency based purely on Keynesian or Austrian School theories will ever succeed in the real world. That's why Gini has developed our own unique economic philosophy, which is much more practical, relevant, responsive, adaptive, and empowering for humanity in the real world of the 21st Century. The Gini economic philosophy is based on data-driven, humanitarian principles, real-world outcomes, and many insights from nonpartisan and non-ideological economists like Adam Smith, Henry George, John Locke, and many others in this list.

No single human or organization could possibly compile all this data alone; so, we deeply appreciate all these authors and we encourage you to read all their books and articles.

Progress and Poverty: An Inquiry into the Cause of Industrial Depressions... by Henry George

The Great Transformation: The Political and Economic Origins of Our Time by Karl Polanyi 

Wall Street and the Rise of Hitler: The Astonishing True Story of the American Financiers Who Bankrolled the Nazis by Anthony Sutton

Wall Street and the Bolshevik Revolution: The Remarkable True Story of the American Capitalists Who Financed the Russian Communists by Anthony Sutton

Tragedy and Hope: A History of the World in Our Time by Carroll Quigley

The Tyranny of Experts: Economists, Dictators, and the Forgotten Rights of the Poor by William Easterly

The Great Leveler: Violence and the History of Inequality from the Stone Age to the Twenty-First Century by Walter Scheidel

Business as a System of Power by Robert Brady

Bad Samaritans: The Myth of Free Trade and the Secret History of Capitalism by Ha-Joon Chang

The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith

The Theory of Moral Sentiments by Adam Smith

The Great Crash 1929 by John Kenneth Galbraith

Once in Golconda: A True Drama of Wall Street 1920-1938 by John Brooks

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Two Treatises of Government by John Locke

The Federalist Papers by James Madison, Alexander Hamilton & John Jay

Winner-Take-All Politics by Jacob Hacker and Paul Pierson

Secret Empires: How the American Political Class Hides Corruption and Enriches Family and Friends by Peter Schweizer.

Democracy in Chains by Nancy MacLean

Extortion: How Politicians Extract Your Money, Buy Votes, and Line Their Own Pockets by Peter Schweizer

Griftopia: A Story of Bankers, Politicians, and the Most Audacious Power Grab in American History by Matt Taibbi

Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World by Liaquat Ahamed

All the Devils Are Here: The Hidden History of the Financial Crisis by Bethany McLean and Joe Nocera

Plutocrats: The Rise of the New Global Super-Rich and the Fall of Everyone Else by Chrystia Freeland

The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power by Shoshana Zuboff

Lies, Incorporated: The World of Post-Truth Politics by Ari Rabin-Havt

The Revolt of The Public and the Crisis of Authority in the New Millennium by Martin Gurri

The Storm Before the Storm: The Beginning of the End of the Roman Republic by Mike Duncan

Skin in the Game by Nassim Taleb

Three Felonies A Day: How the Feds Target the Innocent by Harvey Silvergate and Alan Dershowitz

Undemocratic: How Unelected, Unaccountable Bureaucrats Are Stealing Your Liberty and Freedom by Jay Sekulow

Capitol Punishment: The Hard Truth About Washington Corruption From America's Most Notorious Lobbyist by Jack Abramoff

Throw Them All Out: How Politicians and Their Friends Get Rich Off Insider Stock Tips, Land Deals, and Cronyism That Would Send the Rest of Us to Prison by Peter Schweizer

The Party Is Over: How Republicans Went Crazy, Democrats Became Useless, and the Middle Class Got Shafted by Mike Lofgren

The Deep State: The Fall of the Constitution and the Rise of a Shadow Government by Mike Lofgren

Republic, Lost by Lawrence Lessig

Dark Money by Jane Mayer

Winners Take All: The Elite Charade of Changing the World by Anand Giridharadas

Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Cocaine Explosion by Gary Webb

The Devil's Chessboard: Allen Dulles, the CIA, and the Rise of America's Secret Government by David Talbot

Internal Combustion: How Corporations and Governments Addicted the World to Oil and Derailed the Alternatives by Edwin Black

All the Shah's Men: An American Coup and the Roots of Middle East Terror by Steven Kinzer

An American Sickness: How Healthcare Became Big Business and How You Can Take It Back by Elisabeth Rosenthal

Bullshit Jobs: A Theory by David Graeber

Bad Pharma: How Drug Companies Mislead Doctors and Harm Patients by Ben Goldacre

Death by Food Pyramid: How Shoddy Science, Sketchy Politics and Shady Special Interests Have Ruined Our Health by Denise Minger

The Truth About the Drug Companies: How They Deceive Us and What to Do About It by Marcia Angell

A Game As Old As Empire: The Secret World of Economic Hit Men and the Web of Global Corruption by John Perkins

Confessions of an Economic Hit Man by John Perkins

Private Empire: ExxonMobil and American Power by Steve Coll

Corporate Power and Expansive U.S. Military Policy by Mason Gaffney

Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq, 2003 to 2005 by Thomas Ricks

935 Lies: The Future of Truth and the Decline of America's Moral Integrity by Charles Lewis

The Globalization Paradox: Democracy and the Future of the World Economy by Dani Rodrik

This Town: Two Parties and a Funeral . . . in America's Gilded Capital by Mark Leibovich

Confidence Men: Wall Street, Washington, and the Education of a President by James Lurie and Ron Suskind

So Damn Much Money: The Triumph of Lobbying and the Corrosion of American Government by Robert Kaiser

The Smear: How Shady Political Operatives and Fake News Control What You See, What You Think, and How You Vote by Sharyl Attkisson

Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin by Timothy Snyder, Ralph Cosham, et al.

The Gulag Archipelago by Alexander Solzhenitsyn

A People's Tragedy: The Russian Revolution: 1891-1924 by Orlando Figes

Collusion: Secret Meetings, Dirty Money, and How Russia Helped Donald Trump Win by Luke Harding

Austerity: The History of a Dangerous Idea by Mark Blythe

Predator Nation: Corporate Criminals, Political Corruption, and the Hijacking of America by Charles Ferguson

Dollarocracy: How the Money and Media Election Complex is Destroying America by Robert McChesney

Rogue State: A Guide to the World's Only Superpower by William Blum

Whiteout: The CIA, Drugs and the Press by Alexander Cockburn and Jeffrey St. Clair

The Creature from Jekyll Island: A Second Look at the Federal Reserve by Edward Griffin

The Death of Money: The Coming Collapse of the International Monetary System by Jim Rickards

The Divide: American Injustice in the Age of the Wealth Gap by Matt Taibbi

The Great Deformation: The Corruption of Capitalism in America by David Stockman

The Price of Inequality: How Today's Divided Society Endangers Our Future by Joseph Stiglitz

The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism by Naomi Klein

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How Think Tanks Amplify Corporate America’s Influence by Eric Lipton and Brooke Williams[1]

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The Hidden Costs of Tax Compliance by the Mercatus Center[2]

The Machiavellians: Defenders of Freedom by James Burnham

Through Our Enemies' Eyes: Osama bin Laden, Radical Islam, and the Future of America by Michael Scheuer and Bruce Hoffman

War is a Racket: The Antiwar Classic by America's Most Decorated Soldier by General Smedley Butler

Command and Control: Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident, and the Illusion of Safety by Eric Schlosser

The One Percent Doctrine: Deep Inside America's Pursuit of Its Enemies Since 9/11 by Ron Suskind

Twilight of the Elites: America After Meritocracy by Chris Hayes

The Perfect Weapon: War, Sabotage, and Fear in the Cyber Age by David Sanger

On Liberty by John Stuart Mill

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Who Runs The World? Solid Proof That A Core Group Of Wealthy Elitists Is Pulling The Strings by Michael Snyder[3]

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Why does financial sector growth crowd out real economic growth? By the Bank for International Settlements[4]

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Shadow Stats: Public Commentary On Unemployment Measurement by John Williams[5]

Notes:

[1] Lipton, E., & Williams, B. (2016, August 7). How Think Tanks Amplify Corporate America’s Influence. The New York Times.

[2] The Hidden Costs of Tax Compliance. (2013, May 20).

[3] Snyder, M. (2013, January 29). Who Runs The World? Solid Proof That A Core Group Of Wealthy Elitists Is Pulling The Strings.

[4] Bank of International Settlements. (2015). Why does financial sector growth crowd out real economic growth?

[5] John Williams. (2016, June 8). Shadow Stats: Public Commentary On Unemployment Measurement.

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