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Robbie Mochrie

@economyofhope.bsky.social

510 followers 400 following 590 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 · 4h

@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 · 22h

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 · 2d

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...

substack.com

Robbie Mochrie @economyofhope.bsky.social · 3d

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 · 3d

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 · 3d

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 · 3d

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...

substack.com

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Robbie Mochrie @economyofhope.bsky.social · 4d

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 · 7d

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"

open.substack.com

Robbie Mochrie @economyofhope.bsky.social · 7d

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 · 7d

I was assuming that the wolf was a contractor.

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Robbie Mochrie @economyofhope.bsky.social · 7d

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 · 11d

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 · 11d

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 · 11d

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 · 11d

Robbie Mochrie @economyofhope.bsky.social · 19d

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 · 19d

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 · 19d

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 · 19d

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 · 20d

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

Robbie Mochrie @economyofhope.bsky.social · 21d

At the GEFI Ethical Finance Global meeting. Striding through the coffee break, my enormously capable former student Angus Clelland, one of the event organisers.
Answering the question of whither ESG?

Robbie Mochrie @economyofhope.bsky.social · Aug 18

On the challenges of writing about the history of economics.
Men have dominated. Seeing my initial proposal, the editors asked "Where are the women?"
And I persuaded them that actually, economics has had a problem engaging with women's thinking.
open.substack.com/pub/robbiemo...

"Where are the women?"

A challenging question in writing about the history of economics

open.substack.com

Robbie Mochrie @economyofhope.bsky.social · Aug 6

Imagining a meeting between Adam Smith and Fred Goodwin, "Make It Happen" is the main Scottish contribution to the @edinburghfest theatre strand.
Some thoughts on Smith for today and what Goodwin would have gained by reading him:
open.substack.com/pub/robbiemo...

Robbie Mochrie @economyofhope.bsky.social · Aug 4

Nothing I've read about him suggests that Mr Goodwin had read "Wealth of Nations".
The instability of Scottish banking - and the collapse of Bank of Ayr - mean that he discusses the need for bankers to be very conservative, especially in their embrace of innovation.
Don't think Fred got the memo.

Robbie Mochrie @economyofhope.bsky.social · Aug 4

In art, the virtue of hope is traditionally associated with an anchor motif. Here, the anchor is serious ironmongery, designed to take hold even in a rocky seabed.

It's the perfect motif as I set out on a voyage of discovery into the ethics of economy. robbiemochrie.substack.com/p/casting-of...

Casting off

Raising the anchor of hope as we face the future

robbiemochrie.substack.com

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Robbie Mochrie @economyofhope.bsky.social · Aug 4

Stability is certainly a part of what people want.
But it's my impression that politicians expect the economy to be amenable to rhetorical urging, rather than perhaps cruder, baser, human emotions like greed and fear.