I have, this morning, published the last in the currently planned series of what I have called “economic questions”. A little reluctantly, and as a result of persuasion, I have included myself in this series as a concluding entry to indicate the point I have reached after 50 or so years of thinking about economics, after considering the work of 50 people who have influenced me along the way. Some of those influences have been deeply beneficial. Others have fuelled my anger and spurred my reaction. I include both because they matter.
The question that arises as a consequence of this is, what happens next with this series? It could, of course, be left just as it is at present, but I have, again, been persuaded that I should do something more with it than that. The plan is, then, to turn this into a book to be made available as a free PDF download and potentially as a Kindle publication in both electronic and physical form.
My son, James, has so far put most of the collection together, reordering the entries to create a logical progression through a series of groups. It already exceeds 200 pages on A4. I now need to write both an introductory chapter and an introduction to each group of thinkers, now that they are structured in a logical progression. I will also be rewriting one entry because what I wrote for Paul Krugman in the first instance could, I think, be improved, and justifiably so.
This activity will now fit into other work themes. Publication will not happen overnight. There is still a lot to do and a bit to learn about publishing on Kindle. A price of around £12.99 is likely for this book in physical format, although we cannot be sure as yet.
While that is going on, James is moving on to another project, which I mentioned here in December but which was put aside then. It has been suggested to me of late that the problem with this blog is that finding what I have written on various themes is difficult, and that it is important that I address this issue on some key topics. One of the key topics on which I am most often asked questions is Modern Monetary Theory (MMT). As a result, James and I have revisited the work he did on assembling some of what I have written on this subject into a single volume, with the intention that those who are interested in it can download and use this when seeking answers to questions that they have, because most of them I have already addressed.
To contextualise this project, there were around 70 posts when we put it aside in December, totalling around 300 pages at that time. I have been particularly busy on this theme this year, and I even think that one or two posts yet to come might be included as late entries because of the thinking I am now undertaking on issues such as money and the job guarantee. This means that there are likely to be 100 posts in this book.
That said, with an established workflow and relatively little commentary to add to this volume, this one might make it to publication before the economic questions series. Due to its bulk and assuming an A4 layout, a target price of around £14.99 might be required for this if produced as a book.
Any comments and suggestions on either topic are welcome. If there are other collections that people might think might be of value based on prior work, please also let me know.
My intention, however, is to focus on new work. What seems most pressing to me is to create a publication on the politics of care.
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I offer a vote of thanks for all the work you and the team do for the rest of us.
I am sure many who follow this blog would agree.
Thanks
I’d buy both of these, in physical form. Kindle is fine for quick reading, but not for intensive use, I have found. And it’s more to educate myself than for discussing with others — most people I know aren’t up for long and serious conversations, of the sort that can really change minds.
Thank you
I would welcome a volume containing your thinking on a sustainable politics that cares for people and preserves our planet, but am happy to wait until you have the time and energy for it, in amongst all that keeps you busy. Keep on birding!
Thank you
Thanks, looking forward to the book. No reply needed –
Having recently rewired my brain to firstly accept, then advocate, MMT I am keen to find ways to bring others on the journey.
This blog is huge and reading it daily has helped me, but newcomers are likely to be more receptive to a book format.
So, my first request would be for the book to be suitable for me to either give, or recommend, to a (non-economist) friend/relative as a standalone summary of the key blog themes.
My second request would be for it to have a suitably compelling title. “Theory” has inadvertent connotations of uncertainty, academia, just an idea, etc when perhaps “Truth” would be more accurate! Or maybe “real-world” economics.
Thanks for all your hard work.
This book will be a compendium
A shorter guide might then follow, using this as source material
Imagine 2028/9 and an informed electorate and media, demanding of all canvassers/politicians/candidates,
“do you believe in a politics of care?”
and/or
“What’s your answer to the Richard Murphy question?”
That would make a nice change.
🙂
Finding relevant content on the blog has frustrated me at times so an organised publication will be very welcome. I much prefer the Kindle format as it is usually much cheaper, far more portable and pages can be turned one handed if you accidentally have a glass of something in the other.
Great idea to create the book length extracts from the blog.<p>
It would also be great if there could be a book entitled something like – ‘the economics of real resources’, or ‘its the real economy not the money’. <p>
If you call it an MMT book – it would still seem to be focussing on the money – whereas much of your case is to focus on the real economy – people, infrastructure, etc etc , and show how money and tax is generated as a result of what we want to achieve rather than a starting constraint.
Noted
The last time I mentioned this you told me you were finite, but I am wondering how much you are intending on joining up with any other proponents of the ‘care’ lobby given that you have obviously worked strategically with others in the past (like John C and one of two others). To me, the outline of what a care economy or society would look like would be common denominator between you and existing proponents.
However, as we know, what would set you apart – and what any existing lobby is missing – is how the care economy/society would be paid for – the technocratic side of that based in the reality of money creation and tax policy that you have refined on this blog over the years.
I’m sorry if this feels as though I am giving you more to do but what I’m hoping is that it gives you less to do and that you could focus on the funding and sustainability issues of care and leave (perhaps) the way it would look and work (delivery) to the practitioners. I would love to see that relationship take off and also, it would mean that all the heavy lifting would not be done by you?
As for the book, I would buy it, and one for some of my sons mates who need to read it to combat the bullshit they’ve just been taught (expensively) at University about economics.
Look – it’s just a thought, OK?
Heard!
Are you still on for some proof reading?
Yes! I am Richard.
Thanks
My personal preference would be to download on to my Kindle but will buy in what ever format you provide. I know nothing about self publishing on Amazon but it would make gifting simple and straightforward for kindle users like me
Thanks, Simon
Thanks for all your work. The books would be helpful. In my group discussions one question is often ‘I can see how MMT works in the domestic economy, but in the global economy won’t increased government spending lead to currency devaluation and so to inflation of the imports we all rely on?’ This is an example of where responses to common objections/questions would be really useful in getting the point across. Best wishes.
This in there
You are probably into this. Consider a premium price hardback edition for academic and other libraries.
The economics of digital printing make print to order and very short print runs viable
I know less about Kindle Royalties but the picture is something like this. To maximise publications must be priced between £1.99 and £9.99. Some conditions apply around delivery etc. Outside that band royalties drop to 35%.
Kindle Unlimited royalties are on a pages read model. I think eBooks are automatically enrolled.
Final word. Reviews.
All noted. Thanks
For any prospective items published in PDF format, I have one request: If it’s not too much extra work, can you also make available a PDF in US Letter format — 8-1/2″ x 11″? That way it could be printed on demand in the U.S. and Canada.
Noted
I’ve been following the site for a while and really value the depth of the archive. With so many posts and transcripts now available, I wonder if it might be worth considering some kind of search facility to improve navigation.
I asked ChatGPT to explain what the options would be for a blog such as yours. It tells me there are two options:
“At a basic level, even a keyword search across transcripts (using something like a standard indexing engine such as Elasticsearch or similar) would make it much easier to find discussions on specific topics.
There are also relatively accessible ways to go further using what’s often called “semantic” or AI-assisted search. This involves indexing the transcripts in a way that allows readers to ask questions in plain English and retrieve the most relevant passages, rather than just matching keywords. Techniques such as vector embeddings and retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) are commonly used for this and don’t require changing the existing content—just structuring and indexing it differently.”
It would be great if James had the time and interest to implement such an enhanced search tool as it would allow users to ask natural language questions about your views as represented in the blog. Of course there is always the risk of inaccuracies in the responses aka hallucinations with AI assisted search.
Nevertheless even a basic keyword search feature would be enormously helpful.
Noted
I am discussing these issues with Andy Moyle, who does our tech.
Any chance of you looking at the issue raised by James Meadway? (aka “call me Dr Meadway”) who promulgates a version of old NEF material, decries Steve Keen (“my PhD proved him wrong”), you (“not qualified in economics”, “a liberal”) and MMT (“toxic sludge”)? He is in a position of influence in the Green Party, and of course Green economics will be an area of attack in elections. I must own up, a long exchange with this person on Bluesky left me no doubt of his large ego, I’ve got a distaste for him. Nevertheless, his take – and what seems to be the take of Verdant (the Green think-tank) is important.
I have benefited immensely from your postings Richard, and found particularly the sketches on an array of economic makers and shakers fascinating, educative and empowering. So, thank you.
One issue I have not seen. You have clearly said that tax returned to the Treasury is destroyed, whilst new money is simply created .
what happens to the tax revenue (is that an oxymoron?) from the oil and gas producers.
My friend whom you met at the Cambridge event is adamant that tax revenues ( the above as well as people’s tax returns) are not destroyed but are used to fund this and that.
can you furnish me with some materials- data or BoE missives that I can wave in front of him?
sorry to ask, but this seems to be a critical point atm.
regards
Martin
Use the Josh Ryan Collins materials
And your friend struck me as someone determined to keep to his path of ignorance whatever I say.
Just ask him, how does the double entry work when money is only debt, not something physical and which without double entry has no record of existence at all, this even being true of notes.