Sam Hughes

@NathanpmYoung @StefanFSchubert Noooo :( The hunt continues then…

@SamHugh3s @StefanFSchubert Looks like chatgpt 5 thinking to me

Roman and Greek sea battles were really large, completely dwarfing battles like Trafalgar and even Jutland in terms of the number of participants. (Even though there's a lot of uncertainty.)

@StefanFSchubert @NathanpmYoung I should have said oarsmen per galley^

@StefanFSchubert @NathanpmYoung Can you share your source for the figures on Lepanto? I’m particularly interested in the average number of crew members per galley in the period. (Can share why if interested). Thanks!

@antonhowes Amazing, thank you :)

@SamHugh3s Yes, I have in mind William Langland (Piers Plowman) and John Gower.

My latest post! On England's centuries of maximum wages (yes, you read that right), and how they led to a Lost Century of stagnant growth and a dwindling population, while the rest of Europe forged ahead. ageofinvention.xyz/p/age-of-inven…

@antonhowes Yes exactly. I have in mind the utility of poverty doctrine, as Furniss called it (see Ch.6 in the link). Do you have any pointers for where I can read those 1370s commentators? archive.org/details/newpos…

@SamHugh3s Ie the idea that with lower wages people will work harder? This is soort of present in the writing of 1370s commentators, when they fantasise about how when there’s a downturn/deflation then hunger will put workers back in their place. But not as a justification for the caps.

@Empty_America Leonard Thompson, in Ronald Blythe’s Akenfield:

In 1940, pretty much every blue collar job was far more laborious, a carpenter worked a hand saw all day, etc. And food was extremely expensive. A young working class guy usually *couldn't* be overweight, he often had trouble buying enough calories to maintain weight.

.@CGDev's analysis of the UK aid cuts is presented to the Prime Minister here by the chair of the International Development Committee, @SarahChampionMP. Read the analysis: cgdev.org/blog/breaking-…

Which country uses the most aid to host a refugee? Not surprisingly, it's the UK. But what is surprising is how much of an outlier it is: 150% more than its nearest G7 peer. Our new @CGDev analysis w/ @SamHugh3s cgdev.org/blog/costs-hos…

@euanritchie @scepticalranil A year and a half later... I think you'll be interested in Figure 3, inspired by your own chart! x.com/EconMitch/stat…

Following the DAC data release, and prompted by @scepticalranil, I've made some (very very) rough estimates of per capita in-donor refugee costs in 2022 No one will be surprised that UK tops the table. But what is striking is seeing it relative to GDP per capita:

@worstall @delong @pmarca @erikbryn Thanks :) I wish he had set out the calculation, or given a source himself.

@SamHugh3s @delong Same source. @delong I and @pmarca were discussing whether this is true with free online stuff. Delong suggested that x1 was wrong for search, email, Fbook etc, maybe x10, x25 better? @erikbryn research indicates that's better even if not exactly correct. The x1 was from Delong.

We live in consumerism, not capitalism. The consumer surplus - value we get but don't have to pay for - is equiv, at least, to 100% of GDP. The bastard capitalists, after depreciation, get 10% of GDP. This isn't capitalism, it's consumerism. Discuss.

@ACJSissons Great point! Have you seen @binarybits pushing for this reframe too? I like his term "Baumol's wage bonus" :) vox.com/new-money/2016… fullstackeconomics.com/p/why-agatha-c…

Final plug for my new personal blog. The Baumol effect is one of the most powerful forces in the economy,raising wages for everyone. And yet it is normally described as a “cost disease”, wrongly imo. I think we should embrace the Baumol effect more acjsissons.medium.com/the-baumol-eff…

Help us celebrate a decade of Plough magazine🍻 Retweet this post for a chance to win a Plough mug and a free year’s subscription! (In 24 hours we will randomly pick and announce 3️⃣ winners and DM them with more details.) subscribe.plough.com/flex/PPH/YPSNA…

@PhilipDBunn I would love to read that! Been a while since I read him, but I remember him as a really fun commentator on Fordism, especially in Player Piano and some of his short stories. Good luck with the (two!) book(s!) ;)

@SamHugh3s Partially! It's on Vonnegut's political literature more generally. I want to explore some of his major influences and his "teachings" on war, technology, and community.

"Productive procrastination": I should be working on my technology book project, but I have this other idea for a Vonnegut book project. Maybe I'll just spend a little time piecing together an outline and some main points and then... oops.

These are just some (not all!) of the issues we hope the forthcoming localisation strategy to address. You can read the full blog here: cgdev.org/blog/uks-poor-…

And the latest @DevCooperation survey showed the UK performs below average in working with its recipient partners: especially for the coverage of forward spending plans, using partner countries’ own financial management & procurement systems, and on jointly planning evaluations.

New blog on the UK's poor track record on locally-led development. The government has committed to producing a strategy on this, & @lisanandy has voiced her support for the agenda. So, how does the UK perform on the issue?@EconMitch and I have collated the available evidence.