iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Eoin McLaughlin @eoinaldo.substack.com · 03/09/2026

Short piece on the British Disease (Britain's relative decline) www.economicsobservatory.com/british_dise...

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Eoin McLaughlin @eoinaldo.substack.com · 06/08/2026

Not quite an airport book but it does fit on the ferry 🛳 The Inclusive Wealth of Nations is out today.

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Eoin McLaughlin @eoinaldo.substack.com · 24/07/2026

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.

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Eoin McLaughlin @eoinaldo.substack.com · 24/07/2026

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 😀

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Eoin McLaughlin @eoinaldo.substack.com · 18/07/2026

'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.

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Eoin McLaughlin @eoinaldo.substack.com · 17/07/2026

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.

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Eoin McLaughlin @eoinaldo.substack.com · 10/07/2026

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...

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Eoin McLaughlin @eoinaldo.substack.com · 26/06/2026

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...

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Eoin McLaughlin @eoinaldo.substack.com · 21/06/2026

Tech bros really are extinctionists: www.msn.com/en-in/money/...

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Eoin McLaughlin @eoinaldo.substack.com · 12/06/2026

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)

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Eoin McLaughlin @eoinaldo.substack.com · 12/06/2026

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)

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Eoin McLaughlin @eoinaldo.substack.com · 12/06/2026

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)

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Eoin McLaughlin @eoinaldo.substack.com · 12/06/2026

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)

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Eoin McLaughlin @eoinaldo.substack.com · 06/06/2026

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.

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Eoin McLaughlin @eoinaldo.substack.com · 30/05/2026

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...

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Eoin McLaughlin @eoinaldo.substack.com · 30/05/2026

Great article on the AI malaise: Should AI steal your job? - giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/... via @FT

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Eoin McLaughlin @eoinaldo.substack.com · 27/05/2026

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...

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Eoin McLaughlin @eoinaldo.substack.com · 22/05/2026

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-...

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Eoin McLaughlin @eoinaldo.substack.com · 31/03/2026

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...

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Eoin McLaughlin @eoinaldo.substack.com · 19/03/2026

Great article www.reuters.com/commentary/b...

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Eoin McLaughlin @eoinaldo.substack.com · 14/03/2026

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...

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Eoin McLaughlin @eoinaldo.substack.com · 14/02/2026

Yeah, not the answer I got! Head in the sand isn't going to address the real rapid ai improvements.

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Eoin McLaughlin @eoinaldo.substack.com · 08/02/2026

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...

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Eoin McLaughlin @eoinaldo.substack.com · 06/02/2026

This has been one of the most read articles on the RTE site in the past 24 hours

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Eoin McLaughlin @eoinaldo.substack.com · 05/02/2026

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...

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Eoin McLaughlin @eoinaldo.substack.com · 07/01/2026

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)

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Eoin McLaughlin @eoinaldo.substack.com · 05/01/2026

Gunboat diplomacy and "spheres of influence" are back www.nytimes.com/2026/01/04/u...

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Eoin McLaughlin @eoinaldo.substack.com · 12/11/2025

Best (worst?) graph I've ever seen: Who’s right about AI: economists or technologists? - on.ft.com/43oaD6n via @FT

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Eoin McLaughlin @eoinaldo.substack.com · 01/10/2025

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… 📖✨

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Eoin McLaughlin @eoinaldo.substack.com · 17/05/2025

The erosion of social literacy might be one of the biggest casualties of the AI revolution www.nytimes.com/2025/05/14/o...

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Eoin McLaughlin @eoinaldo.substack.com · 16/04/2025

New paper looking at 🧈 productivity in Denmark and Ireland. We find more variance knowledge Irish creameries compared to their Danish equivalents www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

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Eoin McLaughlin @eoinaldo.substack.com · 12/04/2025

What a chart in FT:US dollar’s haven status under threat, fund managers warn - on.ft.com/4j7gRNC via @FT

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Eoin McLaughlin @eoinaldo.substack.com · 11/04/2025

Crazy times, gold is always a safe haven @a-fergal.bsky.social www.bullionvault.co.uk/gold-news/go...

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Eoin McLaughlin @eoinaldo.substack.com · 29/03/2025

A neighbour was clearing out her garage, she found this Lehman Brothers on risk from climate change. Something tells me they missed risks closer to home

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Eoin McLaughlin @eoinaldo.substack.com · 20/03/2025

Re-reading Galbraith's Affluent Society. What a master piece. His take on the conventional wisdom surrounding inequality is brilliant and still relevant.

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Eoin McLaughlin @eoinaldo.substack.com · 19/02/2025

I'm pushing my pet theory that it's really just the "British Disease" redux (trend pre-oil is where the UK is at): Britain’s productivity puzzle is turning into a crisis - on.ft.com/3EDQTlx via @FT

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Eoin McLaughlin @eoinaldo.substack.com · 13/02/2025

New working paper alert - we look at Ireland's monetary experiment in 1955 using novel daily data from the Dublin Stock Exchange. The experiment resulted from a misreading of British policymakers response to a run on sterling. www.quceh.org.uk/uploads/1/0/...

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Eoin McLaughlin @eoinaldo.substack.com · 05/02/2025

Hannah isnt some of this unintended consequences of fuel transition on shipping? This was advocated as a climate solution without appreciation sulphur was a coolant (image from from the paper)

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Eoin McLaughlin @eoinaldo.substack.com · 03/02/2025

Update: Customs v size of the state

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Eoin McLaughlin @eoinaldo.substack.com · 03/02/2025

Out of curiosity, when did customs (i.e. tariffs) cease to matter as a source of US federal government revenue? they drop off after WWII. So if Trump really wants to make external revenue substitute for internal revenue, looking at 19th century levels of protection.

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Eoin McLaughlin @eoinaldo.substack.com · 02/02/2025

Key assumption is that there'll be no retaliation: ‘A trade war on steroids’: Trump ushers in new era of US protectionism - on.ft.com/4heatDo via @FT

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Eoin McLaughlin @eoinaldo.substack.com · 29/01/2025

Dust Devils on the rise www.science.org/content/arti...

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Eoin McLaughlin @eoinaldo.substack.com · 20/01/2025

New paper out in Risk Analysis looking at ways to mitigate future public health risks. We argue for a greater engagement between Planetary Boundaries and Global Catastrophic Risk approaches to existential risk and place emphasis on monitoring Inclusive Wealth onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Conceptualisation of link between Planetary Boundaries and Global Catastrophic Risk and Inclusive Wealth

Classification of existential catastrophes

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Eoin McLaughlin @eoinaldo.substack.com · 13/12/2024

Reading up on roots of Britain's productivity puzzle/British Disease, nice cartoon from Pollard's Wasting of the British Economy

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Eoin McLaughlin @eoinaldo.substack.com · 11/12/2024

Anyone know anything about this website peeref? I regularly get weird spam emails, but asking me to retrospectively rate my own work is a new low.

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Eoin McLaughlin @eoinaldo.substack.com · 10/12/2024

Classic footnote from Barbara Solow's paper on the William's thesis.

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Eoin McLaughlin @eoinaldo.substack.com · 03/12/2024

Shortly after the case the private creamery Slattery's was blown up. The following year Ballymac was blown up, as were other creameries. So this is what our paper is analysing. How did this commercial conflict spillover to the wider conflict.

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Eoin McLaughlin @eoinaldo.substack.com · 03/12/2024

New working paper on the Milk Wars in early 20th century Ireland. We look at the role of creamery competition in aggravating violence in the Irish countryside during the war of independence ehes.org/working-pape...

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