Eoin McLaughlin
@eoinaldo
Econ Prof at Heriot-Watt University, interested in #econhist, #landreform, #microfinance, #sustainabledevelopment, #health, #nufc & #Seinfeld (not necessarily in that order) www.eoinmclaughlin.ie
Not quite an airport book but it does fit on the ferry 🛳 The Inclusive Wealth of Nations is out today.
After several years of research and writing, today I finally got to hold the first copy of "The Inclusive Wealth of Nations". Grateful to everyone who helped shape the book along the way. And a special thought for David Greasley and Kirk Hamilton, who I wish were here to see the finished book.
PS: Our post was also run through the new AI detectors on Substack, and we're happy to report that it was apparently written by two humans 😀
'Growth in every postcode' is a nice ambition. But why have so many British regions failed to catch up in the first place? I've highlighted Ireland to show an alternative path was possible.
Adam Smith died on this day in 1790. Despite famously writing that he had "no great faith in political arithmetic", one of history's little ironies is that he helped inspire the statistical tradition that eventually gave us modern national accounts.
Andy Burnham wants “growth in every postcode”. But how has UK growth actually fared under different governments? I played around with 80 years of data and came to a slightly awkward conclusion: which government grew Britain fastest is probably the wrong question. open.substack.com/pub/eoinaldo...
The 250th anniversary of The Wealth of Nations ended up being, in many ways, a celebration of The Theory of Moral Sentiments. Why? A few reflections on how Adam Smith scholarship has changed over the past half century. open.substack.com/pub/eoinaldo...
Economists such as Solow and Nordhaus, along with scientists such as Cole and Curnow, spent years dissecting the model's assumptions. Yet its influence only grew. Why? (5/7)
One criticism, first highlighted by Kevin Kelly, is particularly striking. If the World3 model is run from 1600 it predicts collapse roughly a century later. If it is run from 1800 it predicts collapse roughly a century later. The world did not collapse in 1700 or 1900. (3/7)
Many of today's degrowth arguments can be traced back to The Limits to Growth (1972), one of the most influential environmental texts ever written. Yet the model at the heart of the report attracted sustained criticism from economists and scientists alike. (2/7)
This week a group of economists and degrowth advocates argued in the Guardian that economic growth is a "doomed strategy". The piece is a good example of what I call advocacy bias: selecting evidence that supports a preferred policy while overlooking contrary evidence. (1/7)
I've apparently been erased by AI slop. A paper cites: "Agarwala & Coyle (2024), Challenges of wealth-based sustainability metrics: A critical appraisal" The actual paper is by McLaughlin, Ducoing & Hanley. Same title, journal, and year, but the AI hallucinated the entire authorship.
The Irish government appears to be in denial over the extent of the housing crisis (highest eviction rates in the OECD...) www.irishtimes.com/ireland/2026...
Great article on the AI malaise: Should AI steal your job? - giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/... via @FT
Last week the Taoisheach said "it was just plain stupid to go on about the greatest evictions since the famine". Here's our response in the Irish Times. We think our original argument was missed. Besides, Ireland has the highest eviction rate in the OECD!!! www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2026...
AI can now produce competent prose at industrial scale. The problem is no longer producing information, but recognising quality. A short essay on Robert Pirsig, universities, synthetic fluency, and the future of judgement. substack.com/home/post/p-...
I am late to the game but here's my substack, first post is contextualising the UK productivity puzzle (inspired by class on British relative decline): open.substack.com/pub/eoinaldo...
Nice to see Smith appreciated for more than the father of the "invisible hand". I made this word cloud of the Wealth of Nations and it reflects the diversity of thought. www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...
Yeah, not the answer I got! Head in the sand isn't going to address the real rapid ai improvements.
This is why I'm still doing in-person exams....:“In my whole degree, I never had an in-person exam. That’s why ChatGPT has gone rampant. It’s just so easy to cheat.” www.theaustralian.com.au/subscribe/ne...
This has been one of the most read articles on the RTE site in the past 24 hours
We wrote an article on the high rate of evictions seen in Ireland last year and putting them in historical perspective www.rte.ie/brainstorm/2...
Editorial from Irish Economic and Social History congratulating Joel Mokyr for his Nobel recognition and highlighting the link between his studies on Ireland and his later work on the industrial revolution (it was only in print, not online but latest issue is here journals.sagepub.com/home/ies)
Gunboat diplomacy and "spheres of influence" are back www.nytimes.com/2026/01/04/u...
Best (worst?) graph I've ever seen: Who’s right about AI: economists or technologists? - on.ft.com/43oaD6n via @FT
Manuscript done ✅ Off to production at Bloomsbury! The book revisits Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations at 250, rethinking prosperity through inclusive wealth & sustainability More soon… 📖✨
The erosion of social literacy might be one of the biggest casualties of the AI revolution www.nytimes.com/2025/05/14/o...