The Claim and the Digital Spreadsheet in AI4D Implementation
Spreadsheets made the appropriation visible as a change in status or a transfer between columns. Linked sheets or simple financial systems let higher offices see the commitment without waiting for a physical file. The clearance was still by a human. An authorized officer changed the status or approved the transfer. AI can recommend which purpose best matches policy rules or real-resource forecasts and can highlight conflicts with other commitments. It can prepare the documentation for the approval step. The appropriation clearance itself remains with the officer or the rule-based process that has legal authority.
Dollar Liquidity, Stablecoins, and the Computational Foundations of AI4D: Spreadsheet Logic Across the Global Tiers
The developmental challenge is therefore to close that gap. The objective of AI4D is not merely to distribute AI models. It is to build the financial, computational, infrastructural and organizational capacity required to turn global liquidity into local productive capability.
The Three-Layer USD as the Primary Global Financial Infrastructure
This article expands on the argument that the “USD” is the combination of the US dollar and Eurodollars, which includes the petrodollars, recognizing that the US Federal Reserve is still the primary regulator of the global currency.
The Cost of Fragmentation: What We Lose When Multilateralism Gives Way to Multipolarity
Multipolarity concerns the distribution of power among states; multilateralism concerns the institutional mechanisms through which states coordinate. A world can therefore be multipolar and still be strongly multilateral. The danger is not multipolarity itself. The danger is allowing political multipolarity to become institutional fragmentation.
The USD as the World’s “Exorbitant Privilege”
The modern dollar (USD) is no longer simply a domestic American currency. It is a globally distributed financial network.
The $100 Trillion Question: Treasury-Backed Digital Dollars and a Democratic Political Economy
Citation APA (7th Edition) Pennings, A.J. (2026, Jul 27) The $100 Trillion Question: Treasury-Backed Digital Dollars and a Democratic Political Economy. apennings.com https://apennings.com/global-e-commerce/the-100-trillion-question-treasury-backed-digital-dollars-and-a-democratic-political-economy/ Introduction As the United States national debt accelerates past historical milestones, traditional economic orthodoxy, “goldbugs,” and manipulative politicians continue to issue dire warnings of imminent fiscal insolvency, surging bond yields, and currency […]
From USAID to Digital USD: The Next Generation of Financial Inclusion
The central thesis is that the future of development lies less in transferring resources through aid agencies than in constructing computational infrastructures that provide secure access to global liquidity.
Digital Disruption in the Film Industry – Part 5: Generative AI Platforms for Video Synthesis
Cinema is shifting from industrial production, to computational synthesis. The camera is no longer the exclusive machine of cinema. Increasingly, the model is.
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About Me
Professor (full) at State University of New York (SUNY) Korea since 2016. Research Professor for Stony Brook University. Moved to Austin, Texas in August 2012 to join the Digital Media Management program at St. Edwards University. Spent the previous decade on the faculty at New York University teaching and researching information systems, digital economics, and global political economy
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anthony.pennings@sunykorea.ac.kr
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