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Colin Danby

@cdanby.bsky.social

2.7K followers 1.1K following 5.3K posts

Heterodox economist working in history of thought, specifically the commerce between body, nation, race, and economy in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He/him. https://sites.google.com/uw.edu/colindanby/home Photo by Stephanie Seguino

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Colin Danby @cdanby.bsky.social · Jan 30

My "Race in Marshall's Economics" is now available, and open-access!

Thanks to editors and reviewers at _Modern Intellectual History_, and to folks at Cambridge University Press who have been coping with cyberattack aftermath. #EconSky #OpenAccess

www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Race in Marshall's Economics | Modern Intellectual History | Cambridge Core

Race in Marshall's Economics

www.cambridge.org

Colin Danby @cdanby.bsky.social · 2h

Everything an LLM produces is invention -- there is no consciousness there that's aware of true/false.

Depending on the prompt and training set, it's more or less likely to return false answers.

Colin Danby @cdanby.bsky.social · 3h

Tragedy and comedy are the same genre.

Colin Danby @cdanby.bsky.social · 3h

Yep. Freddy the Pig reader here. Read the whole shelf at the public library.

Good fun; also trains you to follow a story.

Colin Danby @cdanby.bsky.social · 3h

Having a lot to take care of taught me what aggressive organisms trees are.

Colin Danby @cdanby.bsky.social · 16h

Not sure it's necessary to impute a rule. "An" is part of my idiolect with "historical" but not with "hysterical." What I grew up hearing. I don't mind when copy editors fix it.

Colin Danby @cdanby.bsky.social · 1d

My impression from working there 1980s was the farther down the pecking order you were, the more likely you were to read and write. Powerful people spent most of their time on the phone.

Colin Danby @cdanby.bsky.social · 1d

Otherwise (a) I am not interested in whether Stoller has done good work somewhere else. (b) I am even less interested in climbing into his head now and trying to excuse him. Policy differences, fine. Lying, not fine.

Colin Danby @cdanby.bsky.social · 1d

Here are some of Derek Guy's threads. Someone should keep a list.

bsky.app/profile/diew...

bsky.app/profile/diew...

bsky.app/profile/diew...

derek guy @dieworkwear.bsky.social · Jun 10

Not true.

I see you're a luxury watch dealer. I'm also interested in watches. Let me show you how free and easy migration has allowed you to earn a living. 🧵

Corey Wiley on Twitter writes: "You don’t get it.
Foundational immigration law is morally just and has been established over millennia. Disrespecting these rules and ideals is very offensive to folks who highly value civilized society"

Colin Danby @cdanby.bsky.social · 1d

Surely you're in a position to say "I don't write *small* articles."

Colin Danby @cdanby.bsky.social · 1d

I'm baffled that the author thinks the descriptions in that first sentence, linked by "ou bien," are in any way in contradiction.

But I suppose this is a standard move of nationalist history.

Colin Danby @cdanby.bsky.social · 1d

And I don't know what work the terms "populist progressive" are doing for you, but politics does not substitute for careful analysis. What deeply disturbs me about all this is that Derek Guy's work is just exemplary, using data, institutional knowledge, and a strong sense of economic history.

Colin Danby @cdanby.bsky.social · 1d

You cannot gloss that over as "a bit snarky" or "a jerk." It's a moral failure.

Colin Danby @cdanby.bsky.social · 1d

I respect your effort to stand up for what you think is useful work, and by all means provide examples.

But. If it is true that Stoller is a competent writer on business, he must understand what Derek Guy is doing. And if Stoller understands that, then he's an unscrupulous liar in controversy.

Colin Danby @cdanby.bsky.social · 1d

His use of "neoliberal" as an all-purpose slur for anything businessy is not entirely consistent with that.

Colin Danby @cdanby.bsky.social · 1d

Derek Guy is indeed highly sympathetic to domestic manufacturing and to garment workers, at the same time that he knows a lot about the business. For me (I'm beyond the reach of fashion advice) his greatest merit is walking us through what firms do, what is possible and what's not.

Colin Danby @cdanby.bsky.social · 1d

I've seen people denounce as "neoliberal" the very idea that revenues need to cover costs. I have colleagues who think budgets are neoliberal.

So Stoller might believe taking business owners' reasoning seriously is neoliberal and hence anti-worker ... I don't know his politics.

Colin Danby @cdanby.bsky.social · 1d

And the bathrooms on those Soros buses? Unspeakable.

Colin Danby @cdanby.bsky.social · 1d

Thank you for reassuring me I have not forgotten basic grammar!

What this bellend means, I think, is simply a repetition of his main argument that Derek Guy should have faulted UPS.

Colin Danby @cdanby.bsky.social · 1d

Anarchy!

Colin Danby @cdanby.bsky.social · 1d

I love his work so much.

Colin Danby @cdanby.bsky.social · 1d

Yep.

What Fisher did help me understand was how important spinning was, like automating that was the key change.

Colin Danby @cdanby.bsky.social · 1d

As someone who can remember buying stuff 45 years ago, a whole bunch of consumer goods are massive bargains today.

Over a much longer period, this is one of my favorite readings.

www.sleuthsayers.org/2013/06/the-...

The $3500 Shirt - A History Lesson in Economics

A criminally compelling web site featuring professional crime writers and crime fighters.

www.sleuthsayers.org

Colin Danby @cdanby.bsky.social · 1d

... which would tend to suggest most folks could afford higher prices, but it's just real hard to resist cheaper options.

Colin Danby @cdanby.bsky.social · 1d

Same period overall CPI has roughly doubled.

fred.stlouisfed.org/series/CPIAU...

Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers: All Items in U.S. City Average

Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers: All Items in U.S. City Average

fred.stlouisfed.org

Colin Danby @cdanby.bsky.social · 1d

Yes. And unless I'm missing something, apparel prices in nominal terms have changed little in 35 years.

fred.stlouisfed.org/series/CPIAP...

Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers: Apparel in U.S. City Average

Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers: Apparel in U.S. City Average

fred.stlouisfed.org