Hi, Quartz members!
And we’re off…
For starters, thank you for joining! And welcome to the inaugural Quartz member email. Yesterday, we let loose our first Field Guide, on the future of cash. Call us biased, but we think it’s a deep dive that would make Greg Louganis jealous.
We’re not stopping there, though. Our Field Guide continues today, with an exclusive QZ&A with Harvard economist Ken Rogoff. When he’s not being a grandmaster at chess, Rogoff has been advocating for “demonetization,” saying that the move away from printed currency is a move away from corruption, money laundering, and graft. It’s a seemingly innocuous suggestion, but for Rogoff, it’s led to tremendous controversy—even death threats.
Stay tuned for more on money. Over the rest of the week, we’ll be looking even deeper into the world of money: How African mobile companies are becoming multiplatform e-commerce giants; the burden of cash on pot dealers (it’s a real problem!); and how cash will be kept alive by a very powerful group—criminals.
Call me maybe?
We’ll have a members-only conference call on Friday at 11 AM EST with John Detrixhe—the author of much of our Field Guide and Quartz’s Future of Money correspondent. Mark it down in your calendars; we’ll send a link to the meeting on Friday morning.
Sam Grobart
Quartz membership editor