It has been pointed out to me by my wife, so I definitely noticed, that I may be publishing too much content on here at present.
Since I retired, and even more so over the summer months, I seem to have been suffering from a surfeit of ideas and an urgent desire to share them, but Jacqueline has suggested that I may be putting out so many big ideas that I might be overwhelming you, the reader, of whom she is one.
We discussed this, then took a walk to think about it, had a coffee to reflect on it, and I then decided to ask you, the reader, for an opinion. It would be useful to know.
Poll
Am I publishing too much content on this blog?
- Yes - I am a bit overwhelmed by it all (33%, 172 Votes)
- Give me as much as you want - we need this stuff (29%, 147 Votes)
- No - but use more summaries to help me decide what to read (21%, 110 Votes)
- No - it's fine (17%, 85 Votes)
Total Voters: 514
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If you strip away the ‘quantum ’ window dressing, all you’ve been saying is “economics deals with complex systems full of uncertainty, so forecasts are necessarily limited and incomplete.”
You’re re-branding this by saying “Economics is complex, full of uncertainty, so let’s borrow the language of quantum mechanics to make that sound radical”. That’s a 50 year old idea that has been absorbed into mainstream economic methodology for decades. Alas, it walked out of the Treasury when Gordon Brown became Prime Minister and has not been back during the periods of his successors.
So what am I saying. Revive the good ideas of old, don’t re-invent them, it saves a lot of thinking.
Wrong, the old was not quantum thinking. It did not exist.
I’d be more worried about you burning out , Richard, than the patience of your readers. Just write about what you find interesting and hopefully it will find an audience.
I remain to be convinced about “quantum economics” but I’d just note that you’ve already referred to David Orrell’s book on Quantum Economics from 2018. (Somehow missed that, but I’ve not been reading all of the “quantum” posts.)
Others have published work in a similar space, such as William H. J. Hubbard, “Quantum Economics, Newtonian Economics, and Law,” Coase-Sandor Working Paper Series in Law and Economics, No. 799 (2017).
https://chicagounbound.uchicago.edu/law_and_economics/824/
And from a quick search (not by any means a thorough review of the relevant literature) there is quite an interesting passage and critique in “Pluralism in Economics” published by Andrea Salanti and Ernesto Screpanti in 1997, on the role of metaphor in economics, and reference to Mirowski’s work “More Heat Than Light” in 1989.
https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Pluralism_in_Economics/8Mu2kWbYcSEC?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA139
That pluralism book goes on to talk about metaphors from biology.
Thanks.
Noted.
I have now read David Orrell’s book and think we head in different but related directions.
Economic models of Lucas and Friedman are not quantum like. Micro founded models do not have dual states. Lucas style models assume households to be rational agents and these agents act as if they know the economic effect of government policy before such policy has come into being. We are assuming a classical material world.
Correct.
I’d say if it’s important for you to get ideas out of your head and into print then I have no problem with the volume on offer. I’m free to choose what I want to read.
If I don’t have time, I pick and choose the posts I want to read most. If the need to write is your way of processing ideas, then I think it fair to say, post as many as you’d like. It’s then up to us as readers to decide how much we read.
Thanks
@Neal Samuels,
I agree with you! I am perfectly of capable of choosing what I want to read all by myself.
I like having lots of posts as I have many times gone back to a series of post (that were over two months+ old) and read them at my leisure.
At least half the reads here every day are back posts. That is also often true with the videos.
What you say chimes with my sensibilities, and view on political and financial machinations. I have sent various Reformatives who are fans of the Faragenoch ideology of ‘take what you can from those least able to afford it’. Bite sized chunks of easily disseminated info would help, and prevent their eyes glazing over. Too often I get ‘But Nige is on our side’ ‘Nige is a good man’ etc and I want to say back exactly how he’s changing and gaming the system for his benefit & not theirs.
I am working on this
I ponder this a lot and after getting deep into literacy rates a few months ago, I think that info almost needs to be streamed.
There needs to be stuff that communicates economics at a pre-GCSE level. Its not something we study at school and people have no foundational knowledge.
How to do that?
There’s a question to muse on.
Reform’s manifesto is meaningless in the context of today whereby political parties lie their little cotton socks off in order to get into office and once there press the big lie button that they’ve discovered a big “black hole” in the government’s finances or some equivalent explanation to justify austerity cuts. They are able to do this because for much of the post-war period they’ve successfully managed to nobble voters’ lie-detector. Now most voters rely on unsubstantiated opinion and denigration of heterodox money mechanics explanations. This is true in regard to other important topics such as immigration. It can only be said that if a society allows its mainstream media to be operated predominantly by the rich this will be the outcome. It can also be said this is not true democracy.
Personally, I find your writing on finance, economics and especially public and business accounting tremendously interesting and useful – more general political commentary less so. Probably just me ! Your wife, of course, may not have been thinking about us readers, but the time you spend writing…
Right now, she is not far from me reading quantum biology…
She is at least as geeky as me
I just wish she would write…
Ah-ha – quantum biology – excellent.
“Life on the Edge” J.Al-Khalili and J. McFadden. I am sure it is somewhat dated now (2014) but it is a very good read & certainly informed me. The story of the scandinavian robin was jaw dropping (ditto the collagen story).
I will have to ask Jacqueline about that one.
I agree in that I also find your writing on finance, economics and especially public and business accounting tremendously interesting. However there are a lot of posts that are getting far too political. Yes I know that I shouldn’t read them but they are there.
You are presenting a false dichotomy, that there is a difference between my writing on economics, and so on, and that on politics. There is no such distinction. All of life is political, and your comment was, most especially so.
@Richard Murphy,
Write and post what you want to write and posts. No one is forcing anyone to read anything against their will.
This is not a “West End Town” and there is not “a Madman around” so their is no need to call the posting police.
🙂
I’m reading everything you post here, some of it to learn more about that mythical entity called ‘money’ and some of it because seeing someone writing trenchantly and clearly about the country’s currrent follies and iniquities makes me feel slightly more hopeful. (And this includes the comments from your readers.)
But I’m retired and disabled and have all the time in the world. I recommend your blog to friends and I sometimes share pieces, but many of my friends, relatives and acquaintances have far busier lives and different priorities. So although I voted for ‘Give me as much as you want’, that’s my personal choice, and I’m aware that in an earlier phase of my life (single parent, full-time job, half-finished PhD, etc) I might well have been put off by the very thing that I now appreciate.
Accepted.
The age profile of readers here and on my YouTube channel might be older for that very reasons, I suspect.
Some of us are officially old but most of us who follow this blog are young at heart, curious, wanting to learn things and wanting a better world even if we won’t be around to see it. ( but holding open there might be reincarnation and next time we could be male or female, white or Black, rich or poor family, disabled or not-in which case we must hope for a world that is fair for all sorts of people. John Rawles was right )
Go with what makes you psychologically comfortable. Your regular audience will let you know!
Thanks
I don’t bother with any news and papers anymore – I come here for the intelligent and thoughtful commentary – which I think is essential, they way things are heading.
While I have your attention Richard – have you ever read a book called Life and how to Survive it, by John Cleese and Robin Skynner? Published 30 years ago, I still find it’s insights extremely valuable. However the reason I mention it is the format it’s presented, basically Cleese asking questions and Skynner providing the observations. Basically, the format is something I thought perhaps you could use in a book with another economist to explain and shatter the myths.
I have certainly read that many years ago. I will go and search it out.
I have a title right now, and that is always dangerous for me.
PS A search suggests it is not on my shelves any more but AbeBooks had one for £3.39….and it is heading my way.
Yes, I read it about the time I started on the path to be a counsellor
There is a fascinating bit about the extreme right and extreme left and how they turn on each other in the search for purity. John says he imagines one of them cutting off his own leg because it has ‘betrayed him’.
I think if memory serves ( takes more time off these days) it is called paranoid schizoid. Paranoid means fear. ( fear is the root of many of our unskillful means of dealing with the world -like trying to control others, hiding away or using alcohol to excess)
Schizoid is a simple splitting into good and bad. Good being us and the bad -well, potentially everybody else. It is not restricted to Daily Mail readers. We can all do it -the important thing is self awareness and good will.
Good points Ian – there are many things in that book that Richard has reminded off.
A few weeks ago (in a post I wish I had saved) Richard spoke of the Goverment as being how a healthy family operates. Which I am sure is covered similar in the book.
In addition, I seems to recall Cleese amd Skynner discussing how a young person shouldnt be anywhere near politics as they wont have the understanding and life experience to make astute, moral decisions. (which reminds me of that teenager in reform)
I recommend anyone to read it, I think I will buy a new copy and read it myself!
I voted for ‘I’m a bit overwhelmed’, because I am. I feel I’m just getting to grips with one theme and along comes another one on the same day.
Like KatyJ, I’m retired and have time to read your posts (and I find some commentators very helpful i when providing their expertise based ‘extensions’ of what you’ve said) but it is a lot to take in.
I do like the addition of a list of posts on a topic. I’ve found the search facility very unhelpful in the past, the ‘lists’ make searching easier. Do you use AI to produce them? I’ve been toying with using AI to help me search your blogs for specific topics.
but I think you should do just what seems right for you. I can cope 🙂
Thanks
The lists are created by me.
The lists are a wonderful idea so one may access a “post series” with one click!
Thank you for the extra effort.
Thanks
I love the blog and range of articles, interviews and videos .. would like more on Reform being exposed as a straw man … my favourite blog to enjoy a strong black coffee over in the morning. Keep up the good work.
Thank you, and noted.
We are planning a Reform series.
10 have been drafted, but give me time
Have you thought about trying haiku to cut things down to size? How about these:
1. Origins
Money is created,
not mined, not found, but written –
a promise made real.
2. Circulation
Deficits are breath,
the lungs of the economy,
without them, silence.
3. Tax’s true purpose
Tax does not fund spend,
but cools the heat of surplus
and guides us toward good.
4. Market power
Bond markets whisper,
yet their shadow bends the state –
we need brighter light.
5. Pensions and debt
Private pensions gorge,
built on subsidy and gilt,
a feast of imbalance.
6. Justice denied
Aid to poor is cut,
while rich overseas holders
are paid without pause.
7. Investment
Capital spend grows,
not as cost but living seed
planted for tomorrow.
8. Public choice
People come before
the fragile nerves of markets;
states must dare to act.
9. Inequality
A house built on sand,
democracy tilts and falls –
tax can lay it firm.
10. Waste of neglect
Unclaimed benefits,
not savings but lost futures,
human light untapped.
11. Green necessity
Earth calls for a plan:
a just transition funded,
policy as cure.
12. Final choice
Economics is
a story we choose to tell –
will we choose to care?
I am amused
Just keep it coming. I’m learning something everyday. If you bottle these ideas up for a later point, you will likely lose something along the way. If you run out of ideas, which I doubt, you can always revisit some of these blogs and see if they need updating.
I will one day run out of ideas, but I will be dead, senile, or done in.
I suspect your wife is a very wise lady who should be listened to!
I can see both sides. Your content has gone up since retiring and you clearly find it cathartic to get it out and the quality is pretty consistent . But there are clear categories of topics and maybe these could be separated out? Categories include how you are feeling on a given day, comments on the current political situation and deeper economic content. All are valid and I do enjoy your wildlife photography,but whereas you used to have around 3 posts/day you now have 6/7 and it can feel a bit scatter gun, which I suspect is what your wife is alluding to? What does your son who helps with your videos think?
He sees no problem, if the videos keep coming.
Why not let your wife write a piece sometimes ?
I wish she would! But she keeps saying there are angles she has not explored as yet, which is very frustrating. That’s always going to be true, is my rejoinder.
I have followed this blog site for about 17-18 years, I think, and as the content has increased, so it has become a daily habit to see what is new, and read nearly all of it, when I originally just dipped in a couple of times a week.
Thanks, and I am aware you have been here for a long time. Appreciated.
Pressed the “overwhelmed” button – if only because there is so much useful information and comment it is difficult to take in and I spend more time reading it than doing “useful things” (according to my wife). Seriously, your wife may have a point (they usually do) – one or two “thoughts for the day” may be enough but I understand if you’re bursting with ideas you do want to share them.
Looking forward to the Reform series – the fightback needs to start now. Maybe Labour might learn some lessons from it too
She is a major influence on the creation of the ideas these days. We spent three hours or more working at the same table this morning. I think she realises she may be wrong, but we will discuss the results.
Please, if you have ideas and wish to put them on this blog, please do. It’s always a good read. We need ideas to be floated, new and old. It’s stimulating and keeps the grey cells working. We have the choice, what to read, when to read it and then, if we wish to comment. Without the cue of your post, there’s nothing. I hate nothing.
So thanks for all you do, we’d all be the poorer without your posts.
Thank you.
I wouldn’t say I was overwhelmed by the numbers of ideas and arguments. What I would say is that I find myself overwhelmed by futility. What I mean by this is that the small numbers of people who could change the way the UK are doing things are not listening. Or they are listening and don’t care. This is followed up by nationwide gaslighting and a significant portion of the population who only want to listen to those singularly incapable of running an economy.
I have been a member of the Labour party for over a decade, last year I let my membership lapse because the party or the ministers never responds to ‘off-message’ members letters and because the government is such a disgrace. I did receive something last week urging my return to membership but offering me no hope of a party that I could be proud of.
In short it is not you that is proving too much, it is the (seeming) fact that none of it matters and that we are bound for disaster.
I have to believe it matters, but get your point.
It does matter.
🙂
Having read the comments, I’m now torn. Yes, we can pick which posts to read….but a lot are intriguing from the summary, if not irresistible.
What is critical is your workload, how much you can manage and take breaks.
Off-topic, but whilst writing, here’s my summary of the Modern Money Lab anti-austerity conference in Bristol last weekend, which you gave a heads-up to in a blog post recently. Although, It’s making yet more demands on your time!
https://thepoundinyourpocket.org/2025/09/15/modern-money-lab-anti-austerity-conference/
The reason why I avoid gigs like this is the risk of overload.
And thanks for sharing.
Please blog everything. I came here for an education in an economics that made sense to me. I stay for intelligent views and comment. I learn from other commentators and on the occasions when I comment it helps me to understand my own views. I feel welcome, challenged and enriched. Like some other commentators, I have time to read carefully, follow the links they occasionally post and to think and re-think. Usually, I come here first in the morning rather than any other source. Occasionally, I feel despair (like last Saturday for example) but I find this ‘place’ can refocus my attention on the importance of what is written here. Thanks.
Appreciated.
There was never a time when your core arguments were needed more because we really need to move the dial in ways you exemplify. While it’s often also interesting and sometimes important to read what you bring forward on a range of other subjects, maybe your wife is saying why try to cover the waterfront when core business is more crucial than ever?
I will listen: as others say, burnout is the real issue. I can do 12 hour days here, but it feels like I am doing not onloy what I need to do, but what I want to do. It’s better than playing golf and I could never birdwacth all week.
Keep up the good work! My only comment is that since I am driven via the daily email I wonder whether the brief summaries could be long enough to contain complete sentences or paragraphs so it’s easier to to decide whether to dive in.
Thanks for all you do. Looking forward to hearing you with Zack.
I will look at this again.
Are you seeking considered feedback or immediate responses? Quantum economics is an exciting venture but you are making very elaborate analogies that involve two complex subjects. Analogies commonly refer a complex situation to a simpler everyday one – balancing household finances for example. It is easy to understand and so directly accessible … and commonly accepted. (And readily punctured by the simplest of MMT accounts.)
Economics is complex and quantum mechanics yet more so. (“I think I can safely say that nobody understands quantum mechanics” – Richard Feynman.) You write at some length about the nth quantum economics analogy (with several sub-components). I’m trying to puzzle out whether it works or not – Is it plausible? Is it helpful? … when, lo and behold, n+1 comes along. (And I’m not keen on broad brushes.) Armies of readers and viewers value the clarity with which you explain things. What are they making of quantum economics? Will you be attracting the sort of mystics who refer to “quantum consciousness” (pace Penfold) and will such people be passing on distorted accounts of quantum economics along with the authority “Richard Murphy said so”?
What is your argument?
That I should not think about how to create better economic narratives – which is the destination of this work – and then write about what I am doing?
Why? How can I create new narratives without sharing them?
Richard,
I pressed overwhelmed button because sometimes I struggle to read all the posts and comments from others.
Imo the blog is great and a trusted source. I definitely want you to continue and I definitely want the others to continue with their comments.
I learn a great deal.
I look forward to your videos but I am finding it hard to keep up with all your blog stuff. I think you should spend a little more time on yourself you deserve it.
This is how I spend time on myself.
I have turned from an avid reader (every post, many comments) to scanning and choosing, and maybe not catching up with everything if I’ve been busy. When I started reading, you had not retired, so your output was less.
Had I started now, I might be overwhelmed, so the lists of related posts would be very useful, and I like them. Your shorter videos, being concise, are valuable for those new to your channel and anyone busy, I think.
Do what you will, your readers must choose what to read, you are not a school teacher planning lessons. I voted for more summaries, I find them useful. I hope you can use AI to create them, so less tedious for you.
Thank you for all your output, it helps make sense of much, I love the new ideas, and seeing that there are many who share you interest and whose comments are stimulating and often informative.
I am going to have to reflect on all this.
As I said at the outset, I have a surfeit of ideas. I have five more issues I could blog right now, bit suspect that will not be useful.
How to work this out, I am not sure.
I’m in the bit too much camp tbh. Find your writing interesting and stimulating, but can’t read all of it these days. Okay you say, I can choose what I read, and yes I do, but my suggestion would be to not write more than two posts a day. This would have the benefit too of freeing you up for other projects I might make one of those posts a kind of a leader column related to that day’s/yesterday’s news, and the other more of a deeper dive.
This is my project.
What else am I meant to be doing?
No you’re fine. I was just thinking if you were to limit yourself to two posts a day (as I was kind of suggesting you might), you might think broadly of doing one of each (without necessarily making it a hard and fast rule).
Over the last 7,047 days (19.3 years) I have averaged 3.4 posts a day. Two a day now is unimaginable.
I think a little too much but perhaps it’s a filtering issue.
You have some insightful and thought provoking things to say but when it’s topical it pushes down bigger projects like your wealth series and quantum economics onto other pages. On occasion we also have glimpses into your private life and bird watching which I know a lot of people would like to see and keep up with. I am not retired but don’t have kids (unless you count my very cute cat), however I have recommended this blog to a colleague who has a job and kids but he won’t have the time to keep up so he might not visit for weeks at a time.
So what I’d love to see is a couple of different sections and structure to make some things easier to find like bird watching/pets, general musings about topical issues and then some of the bigger projects having a bit more visibility after the series is done. I appreciate this is a blog and not a website but it’s my 2 pence.
On a separate note, I would love to know that you’re checking things off your bucket list, visiting countries you didn’t have the time for while working etc. The world is getting more unstable, less tolerant and we never know when our ability to travel or see people goes away. I myself am doing this just in case I don’t have as much time left as I want.
I will be replying to this in a blog post.
[…] type of holiday. In this context, I was then intrigued, amused, and to some degree even baffled by this comment offered in good faith after suggestions about future content on this […]