Duncan Weldon

@duncanweldon

Economics writer. Author. Expect history, economics, finance and other stuff. Wrote Two Hundred Years of Muddling Through. Blood and Treasure, on the economics of war, out now.

1.619 Folgt26.080 Follower8.419 Posts

Bluesky

Ist das dein Profil?Übernimm es — dann gehört dir duncanweldon.dirty.social.Profil übernehmen

Duncan Weldon@duncanweldon· 27d

Duncan Weldon@duncanweldon· 28d

Does make the Wikipedia listing. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...

Duncan Weldon@duncanweldon· 28d

A thing I wrote last year. engelsbergideas.com/essays/logis...

Duncan Weldon@duncanweldon· 29d

Every time I try to understand refining margins and get my head around them, the story seems to change. Anyway, the thing to keep in mind is that price of crude isn’t that good a proxy for the inflationary impact.

Duncan Weldon@duncanweldon· Jul 13

Some sort of mysterious substance in the sky is blocking the sun.

Duncan Weldon@duncanweldon· Jul 9

But…

Duncan Weldon@duncanweldon· Jul 7

Superb stuff.

Duncan Weldon@duncanweldon· Jul 7

A picture I took of him on a cold night in Durham just before the rain started.

Duncan Weldon@duncanweldon· Jul 7

Today’s cricket texts with dad.

Duncan Weldon@duncanweldon· Jul 7

www.ft.com/content/7a0f... If I was a political aide with a conviction for fraud, under scrutiny about undeclared financial support… I simply would not write a book called “How to Launder Money”.

In one chapter entitled “The Art of the Bribe”, Cottrell and Files set out how politicians can be bought. They argue that bribes, if in the form of small gifts rather than cash, can be passed off as “a mistake of overexuberance in friendship”.

They add: “Long-term relationships keep the bought person in hand while you’re making money and the cohort is making money . . . Money from corruption is a bit like fiscal heroin; one fix and you know you need more.”

Duncan Weldon@duncanweldon· Jul 6

I was thinking about this bit of Battle Cry of Freedom when recording a podcast with @roberthutton.co.uk for next week.

Duncan Weldon@duncanweldon· Jul 6

To be fair, the vast majority still pay. commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-bri...

Duncan Weldon@duncanweldon· Jul 6

Wonder how big the sample size is? Looks like occasional civil engineering dives and then recoveries (relative to the others) do happen.

Duncan Weldon@duncanweldon· Jul 5

Not sure I should be eating this.

Duncan Weldon@duncanweldon· Jul 5

Duncan Weldon@duncanweldon· Jul 4

Oh!

Duncan Weldon@duncanweldon· Jul 3

Strong hand gesture game.

Duncan Weldon@duncanweldon· Jul 3

There’s no need for a long debate on “where is the north?”.

Duncan Weldon@duncanweldon· Jul 2

However happy and well off the slaves may be as a general rule, yet there must be many instances (like that of Mr Sargent) of ill-treatment and cruelty. Mr Sargent is a Northerner by birth, and is without any of the kind feeling which is nearly always felt by Southerners for negroes.—July 1863.

Duncan Weldon@duncanweldon· Jul 2

Some of this stuff goes on *surprisingly* late. A fascinating read which might as well be entitled “The Word’s Most Credulous Man Goes On Holiday”.

The cover of

THREE MONTHS
IN
THE SOUTHERN STATES APRIL-JUNE 1863 BY LIEUT.-COL. FREMANTLE

Duncan Weldon@duncanweldon· Jul 1

North East Morrisons > all other Morrisons.

Duncan Weldon@duncanweldon· Jun 30

Stuff like this is worth keeping in mind when thinking about capital spending & growth. They’ve been building an elevator to the platform that is stairs only for a few months. Is this transport capital investment? Yes. Is this a good thing to do? Yes, absolutely. Will it boost growth? Not really.

Ongoing construction work on a train platform

Duncan Weldon@duncanweldon· Jun 30

Packing before heading north later today. Ideal clothing for the England India T20 tomorrow.

Duncan Weldon@duncanweldon· Jun 29

Super interesting paper. Open access. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Overall, the rise of the Medici family in Florence can easily be seen as a story about the super-rich members of a republican polity acquiring the control of the local institutions and the government, and thereafter being able to maintain such control over time until all vestiges of real republicanism disappear, all while their country begins experiencing secular stagnation. This historical example, then, speaks directly against the idea that we can expect the super-rich in power to provide for everybody – in fact, the Medici appear to have provided mostly for themselves, and for their immediate clients and associates, in a context of social immobility and growing economic inequality. Quite clearly, the case of the Medici (similar to that of the Venetian and Dutch elites) also serves to exemplify how we can make use of insights from economic history, even from a relatively remote period, to address pressing challenges faced by our own societies. If one also comes to the depressing conclusion that humankind never truly learns from history, we should counter that ignorance of history only makes it easier to repeat the same mistakes, and to believe the same old lies: in the economic arena, as well as in any other area of human activity.

Duncan Weldon@duncanweldon· Jun 28

Not an unusual mix of politics.

Duncan Weldon@duncanweldon· Jun 28

Clearly emotional as he spoke in the England dressing room, Stokes said: "The reasons can wait, why, but I've had many trips to the well before for this team, for you blokes, for people beforehand and I've got one more trip to do.
"The only that I ask, please, is can everyone do the same.
"We've got a lot of hard work to do and the only thing I want is to be able to walk off that field, regardless of the result, knowing that I've had this group give everything for the last two days.
"That's the only thing I want, for everyone to give it not only for me, selfishly, but also for this team.
"I've got the emotional side out of it. Now it's time to go to work. Please, everyone else come with me."

Duncan Weldon@duncanweldon· Jun 28

With the players out on the field, some pretty dramatic news coming out of the ECB.
Ben Stokes, the England Test captain since 2022, has announced he will retire from international cricket at the end of this Test.
The 35-year-old announced his decision to his team-mates in the Trent Bridge dressing room today.
Stokes is playing in his 122nd Test, and he also featured in 114 ODIs, winning the World Cup in 2019, plus 43 T20s.
We'll have plenty of reaction to this story over the next few hours, no doubt.

Duncan Weldon@duncanweldon· Jun 28

Take with a pinch of salt - I asked Claude to work out how many summits PMs attended over time since 45 based on Hansard and PM statements on them. Quite interesting!

Duncan Weldon@duncanweldon· Jun 28

Remember talking to a large American firm in 2015 or so. They noted that when they opened a large distribution centre in Germany, local areas competed to host it. When they opened a large one in Britain, no local authorities seemed to want the hassle. (Extract from Playbook).