1580s, a Neapolitan banker excluded from a proposed government-sanctioned cartel denounces the scheme as “il più pernicioso, et dannoso che sia stato inventato da homini de ingegno dall'advenimento de Cristo in materia pecunaria”….

Rationing cards for bread in 1595 Naples. (quite a task, with c300,000 inhabitants).

The Venetian resident in Naples describing public sentiment in 1620 toward Spanish viceroy Osuna-probably wishful thinking, but fascinating even then

“El mejor papel moneda del mundo”

16th c. hedging During the Sep 1590 conclave the front-runner was the Grand Inquisitor. The Jews of Rome bet 10,000 ducats on his election in the (usual) futures markets: if they won they’d spend the money helping poor jews, if they lost they wouldn’t care…

Letting my UK friends that I’ll be in Cambridge for Easter term 2024 - if anyone wants me to drop in…

Essential reading from ⁦⁦Andrew Sullivan⁩. What sets Andrew apart is that he is willing to question himself. “What I got wrong about Trump.” ⁦UnHerd⁩ unherd.com/2024/02/andrew…

On ne fera pas une phrase plus française que ça avant des semaines 🤷‍♂️

One for William Goetzmann : a call option on South Sea stock, September 1720

Monetary policy conceptualized, c1602: “the matter of coins is a matter of State and those who govern a State must understand it…”

"Understanding Money Using Historical Evidence" -- a good one from the Annual Review of Economics eprints.lse.ac.uk/125356/1/annur…

Labour can't be trusted on defence.

The Other Place is indeed much better.

If you are interested in transforming a life in Ukraine by supporting a student who was displaced by war, lost parents, or suffered other profound loss or trauma, you can use this link. foundation.kse.ua/en/ x.com/Mylovanov/stat…

Trouvez la différence. (PS: Déat est passé du pacifiste de gauche au ministre Nazi très rapidos après 1940.)

Most people I know—Ukrainians, Americans, and my social media crowd—dislike or even hate Trump. They’re afraid he’ll cut a deal with Putin and sell out Ukraine. I disagree. Trump could offer Ukraine a real chance to end the war. Here are five reasons why 1/

[Warning: this may offend some people!] I think economists have done society a disservice by elevating applied-micro studies that focus exclusively on the relative effects of trade across different groups of workers but are silent about the aggregate effects.

Seems like a premature judgment. It takes a while to build a ship industry. I think we should give it another century before we reach conclusions.