# Federico Ramallo

> Federico Ramallo is a writer and the founder of Density Labs (an AI engineering firm) and PreVetted (nearshore staff augmentation). He writes two bodies of work: the Liberty Island Series, fables that explain economics (sound money, inflation, Austrian economics, free markets) to children and adults, and The Invisible Distance, on the human side of managing remote and distributed engineering teams. He grew up in Argentina, where inflation and fiat currency are lived experience, not textbook theory.

## The Liberty Island Series (economics as fables)

- [No Silver on Rat Island](https://ramallo.io/books/no-silver-on-rat-island/): A fable about inflation and sound money. A colony of rats prints a paper currency called Hojas; the more they print, the less each is worth, and the real silver quietly disappears. Teaches the Cantillon effect and inflation as a hidden tax. Spanish: [No hay plata en la isla de las ratas](https://ramallo.io/books/no-hay-plata-en-la-isla-de-las-ratas/).
- [From Menger to Milei: Austrian Economics for Everyone](https://ramallo.io/books/from-menger-to-milei/): The Austrian School explained plainly, from Carl Menger to Javier Milei. Spanish: [De Menger a Milei](https://ramallo.io/books/de-menger-a-milei/).
- [The Wealth of the Island: Adam Smith's Big Ideas, for Kids](https://ramallo.io/books/the-wealth-of-the-island/): Free markets and the division of labor as a children's story. Spanish: [La riqueza de la isla](https://ramallo.io/books/la-riqueza-de-la-isla/).
- [Open the Valve](https://ramallo.io/books/open-the-valve/) / Spanish: [Abre la Válvula](https://ramallo.io/books/abre-la-valvula/).

## The Invisible Distance (managing distributed engineering teams)

- [The Invisible Distance](https://ramallo.io/books/the-invisible-distance/): On the human aspect of leading remote and distributed engineering teams, the gap that opens between people who never share a room. [Sample chapter](https://ramallo.io/books/the-invisible-distance/sample-chapter/).

## Writing

- [What Is Fiat Currency? A plain explanation, told as a fable](https://ramallo.io/writing/what-is-fiat-currency/): Money that is valuable because a government says so, why it loses value, and the Cantillon effect.
- [What I learned from 150 podcast conversations with VPs of Engineering](https://ramallo.io/writing/150-podcast-conversations-vps-engineering/)
- [Belonging is not a feeling. It is a system.](https://ramallo.io/writing/belonging-is-a-system/)
- [Why staff augmentation broke, and what comes next](https://ramallo.io/writing/staff-augmentation-broke/)
- [The Correction Clock: a cost most teams misprice](https://ramallo.io/writing/correction-clock-misprice/)
- [All writing](https://ramallo.io/writing/) · [All books](https://ramallo.io/books/)

## About

- Founder of [Density Labs](https://densitylabs.io) (AI engineering) and [PreVetted](https://prevetted.ai) (nearshore staff augmentation).
- Host of The PreVetted Podcast, conversations with engineering leaders.