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Robbie Mochrie

@economyofhope.bsky.social

510 followers 410 following 600 posts

Starting from economics, but interested in politics, philosophy, classics and history. Sometimes about Scotland. Hoping to be wryly curious. Recent book "How to think like an Economist" with Bloomsbury Current project "Trustees of Civilisation."

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Robbie Mochrie @economyofhope.bsky.social · Nov 30

Why @economyofhope.bsky.social?
Because that's what Maynard Keynes offered the world in 1936. And there's no other economics worth considering.

Cover of the first edition of Keynes's "General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money"

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Robbie Mochrie @economyofhope.bsky.social · 5d

Social media summarised.

David Klemperer @dmk1793.bsky.social · 6d

Oh yeah seeing this was what led me to turn this thought I'd already had into a post, but it wasn't what had inspired the thought (which I've already been boring people with at the pub)

Robbie Mochrie @economyofhope.bsky.social · 5d

FDR enjoying the freedom which driving gave him once he was paralysed.
I've used @delong.social as the starting point for thinking about how we now need to manage that freedom and why Zohran Mamdani might be enough like FDR to rebuild the Democratic coalition

open.substack.com/pub/robbiemo...

Cars, coalitions and common sense

Using Brad Delong's politial economy to link Zohran Mamdani to FDR.

open.substack.com

Robbie Mochrie @economyofhope.bsky.social · 7d

Thanks for forwarding - not sure what you mean.
Nothing oblique in the Substack - unless you consider that St James, Hyde Park and Endicott Peabody conducting divine worship in St John's, Washington DC are oblique.

Robbie Mochrie @economyofhope.bsky.social · 7d

Some words about creative destruction in politics, trying to use the Nobel Peace Prize award as a lens for understanding better the Economics Prize, the present economic and political situation, and invoking the work of Adam Smith.
open.substack.com/pub/robbiemo...

Nobels for Peace and Economics

How the Peace Prize might allow us to interpret the award in Economics.

open.substack.com

Robbie Mochrie @economyofhope.bsky.social · 7d

Upside: a visitation by an Egyptian god.

Robbie Mochrie @economyofhope.bsky.social · 8d

FDR - recovering from polio suddenly went back into politics in 1928.
Odd timing, and perhaps bounced into it.
What might explain his choice - noblesse oblige or religious faith?
Reflections on Davis’ claim that it was faith.

open.substack.com/pub/robbiemo...

By his works shall ye know him

Franklin Roosevelt's practical faith?

open.substack.com

Robbie Mochrie @economyofhope.bsky.social · 13d

@scg1.bsky.social
Delighted to see that your hard work has paid off and this paper is annoying the right people

www.gov.scot/publications...

A Fresh Start with Independence

This paper sets out why Scotland should become an independent country, and what an independent Scotland could look like. It provides details of this Scottish Government’s proposals for an independent ...

www.gov.scot

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Robbie Mochrie @economyofhope.bsky.social · 13d

Bringing together @timothysnyder.bsky.social and Barbara Kingsolver to reflect on the role of care in establishing our freedom.
With other analysis from Anne Case and Angus Deaton, summarised by @baldwinre.bsky.social.
Telling stories to make sense of data.

open.substack.com/pub/robbiemo...

'On Freedom' and 'Copperhead'

By caring for others, do we become our best selves?

open.substack.com

Robbie Mochrie @economyofhope.bsky.social · 15d

Late to this, but much as I enjoyed reading @timothysnyder.bsky.social's 'On Liberty', the limited role for the divine - or even the sustaining collective - in a book which leans so heavily on the reputations of Edith Stein and Simone Weil left me with many questions.

substack.com/profile/1139...

Economy of hope (@economyofhope)

Fighting off a chest infection, I have turned to reading books. That's one of the suggestions in the concluding pages of Timothy Snyder's On Liberty. So here I am, once again staring at my screen, t...

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Robbie Mochrie @economyofhope.bsky.social · 16d

Fascinating thread which made me realise just how little attention I've been paying to the Conservative Party recently.
Ties in with @robfordmancs.bsky.social wondering if the Party now has a death wish.

Dylan Difford @dylandifford.bsky.social · 16d

It's a strategy that amounts to:
> Ignoring or even tarnishing strengths
> Constantly bringing up major weak spots, while repeating the failings that made them weak spots
> Missing open goals
> Paying no attention to voters you should be targetting

Robbie Mochrie @economyofhope.bsky.social · 16d

But this was very clearly a monetary economist's take on the Great Depression, and there was much less emphasis on both the politics of the New Deal and the developments in economic thought at that time than I would have made.
A good reminder of how much I still have to understand about all this.

Robbie Mochrie @economyofhope.bsky.social · 16d

Lovely, learned discussion of the New Deal, Roosevelt and Keynes from @georgeselgin.bsky.social at the @libraryofmistakes.bsky.social.
Agree that Keynes should be the hero of his book, "False Dawn", and with almost everything that he said.

substack.com/profile/1139...

Economy of hope (@economyofhope)

It's taken me until the weekend to catch up on the thoughtful, deeply reflective talk which @George Selgin, formerly of the Cato Institute, gave at the Library of Mistakes in Edinburgh on the recovery...

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Robbie Mochrie @economyofhope.bsky.social · 17d

Sorry for being lazy about this, but I recall reading that there was a split between American and European Zionists in Paris. So was the Wilson administration trying to balance support for its own Zionist advocates with its assessment of Arab capabilities?

Robbie Mochrie @economyofhope.bsky.social · 20d

Plans to celebrate 250 years since the publication of "Wealth of Nations".
Examining some ideas on which Smith might have worked today. But briefly. And in less of an alcoholic fog than in the 18th century.

open.substack.com/pub/robbiemo...

Celebrating Adam Smith

250 years after he published "Wealth of Nations"

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Robbie Mochrie @economyofhope.bsky.social · 20d

But will the firm's filing for administration effectively put any assets it has beyond the scope of the court order?

Robbie Mochrie @economyofhope.bsky.social · 20d

I was assuming that the wolf was a contractor.

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Robbie Mochrie @economyofhope.bsky.social · 20d

Presumably HR delighted to reduce head count without needing to make a large redundancy payment.

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Reposted by Robbie Mochrie

Railmaps @railmaps.com.au · 24d

200 years ago today, September 27 1825, the first train hauled by a steam locomotive ran on the Stockton & Darlington Railway in the UK.

Railways had developed since ancient times, but the S&D was the first public railway to use steam locomotives.

www.bbc.com/news/article...

Stockton and Darlington Railway 200: Locomotion No 1 replica anniversary starts trip

A replica of the Locomotion No 1 is recreating the journey made by the real engine 200 years ago.

www.bbc.com

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Robbie Mochrie @economyofhope.bsky.social · 24d

Think you'd be more likely to hear the sudden mass popping of champagne corks to celebrate delightful news that many of the most tiresome people in the UK were suddenly foreigners.

Robbie Mochrie @economyofhope.bsky.social · 24d

Easy to see where changes of governing party took place - except in 2000 and perhaps in 2016.
Should we still think that "It's the economy, stupid"? Or has this Presidency moved the narrative beyond that?

Justin Wolfers @justinwolfers.bsky.social · 24d

Robbie Mochrie @economyofhope.bsky.social · Sep 19

Leaving aside the absurd apples and pears comparison of Stanford and any British university, I wonder whether (Dr) Kyle would prefer to see more Elon Musks or more Elizabeth Holmeses or even more Sam Bankman-Frieds.

I put this down to a politician saying something which he doesn't really believe.

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Robbie Mochrie @economyofhope.bsky.social · Sep 19

Suggesting to you and @ewangibbs.bsky.social that it's possible for politicians to hold mutually conflicting views and even to say things they don't mean.

Should be obvious to (Dr) Kyle that Stanford has a mission to enable business creation. Does he want more British tech-bros or Elizabeth Holmes?

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Robbie Mochrie @economyofhope.bsky.social · Sep 19

I would like to think that President Trump, as a man of honour, has as his personal motto, "verbum meum pactum est."
But I fear it's just, "I thought we had a deal"

Robbie Mochrie @economyofhope.bsky.social · Sep 19

This has me thinking of the arguments about the continuity of long run economic and social development in @delong.social's "Slouching towards Utopia".
What seems big at the time - war, Great Depression, financial crisis - all washes out over time.

Robbie Mochrie @economyofhope.bsky.social · Sep 18

Brief reflections on yesterday’s Ethical Finance Global meeting in Edinburgh. I’ve missed out Lord Alderdice’s bit about political processes being a like an accordion, always cyclical rather than there being linear progress.
More to follow.
substack.com/@economyofho...

Economy of hope (@economyofhope)

The first of two posts in which I will reflect briefly on what I heard at yesterday’s Ethical Finance Global meeting in Edinburgh. I’ve missed out Lord Alderdice’s bit about political processes being ...

substack.com