François R. Velde
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François R. Velde
@fvelde.bsky.social
1.2K followers 320 following 19 posts

Economic history (mostly monetary and fiscal, various places and centuries)

Economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago (usual disclaimer applies)

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Economics 75%
History 6%
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François R. Velde @fvelde.bsky.social · Mar 15
Cognitive sciences @ McGill - not sure how closely related that course was, but it was in the Philosophy department
François R. Velde @fvelde.bsky.social · Mar 15
@ McGill (last year)
François R. Velde @fvelde.bsky.social · Mar 15
The timing of last night’s total lunar eclipse could have been timed by a competent student of Ptolemy 1800 years ago, +/- 13 minutes (*). A wrong but shrewd model, honed on centuries of good data, can perform very well.

(*) that was my son’s final exam last year in a Babylonian astronomy class.
François R. Velde @fvelde.bsky.social · Feb 20
WaPo not on the list, though. You should have offered to do a special issue on MT for $40m.
François R. Velde @fvelde.bsky.social · Feb 20
John Cochrane…. a fat finger mistake, as his commentary makes clear.

Reposted by Nuno Palma

François R. Velde @fvelde.bsky.social · Feb 20
The birth of coinage - c650BC, five consecutive denominations (each half of the one on the left). Lydian coins, 55% gold and 45% silver. The one on the right weighs 0.3g and could probably buy a few sheep. Not quite small change…
François R. Velde @fvelde.bsky.social · Jan 11
And there’s a coin museum next door!
François R. Velde @fvelde.bsky.social · Jan 2
El archivo general de Simancas has joined the 21st c.! Now we can take pictures from our seats without limit
François R. Velde @fvelde.bsky.social · Dec 10
It’s Saturday Oct 16, 1582 and everyone in Naples is shopping for a new calendar (calendario novamente stampato). The Pope thought he could impose a worldwide copyright for the inventor, but the Catholic King told his viceroy to ignore this infringement on his jurisdiction.
François R. Velde @fvelde.bsky.social · Nov 29
still an improvement over smoggy 20th c.

Reposted by François R. Velde

nber.org
NBER @nber.org · Nov 24
Congress structured the Fed to limit politicization of monetary policy and prevent Presidents from manipulating interest rates. History of the Eccles-Glass battle proves this point, from Gary Richardson and David W. Wilcox https://www.nber.org/papers/w33174
François R. Velde @fvelde.bsky.social · Nov 23
Breakthrough in payments technology: a Swedish coin weighing 19kg (1648) and a note of same value (1666).

Reposted by François R. Velde, Roger Blum

leastactionhero.bsky.social
Microplastics Sommelier @leastactionhero.bsky.social · Nov 22
nobody does more brutal fashion reviews than the irish
lady of sophistication @janky_jane Props to anyone who tries to be fashionable in ireland i wore a red beret once in waterford and someone called me super mario Andrew Beatty V @AndrewBeatty Replying to @janky_jane I once ordered a taxi in Belfast for a night out. The driver pulls up to my house and just says "yer not going out like that. Go back in and change, I'll turn off the metre." | swear I was wearing normal jeans and a normal jacket. Matthew @MrWeir Replying to @janky jane I once wore a silver jacket to college, turned up late for class, said 'sorry I'm late', lecturer said, 'that's ok' then waited til I was halfway across the front of the full class before following up with 'trouble with the spaceship again was it?'. Replying to @janky _jane My sister was in France sporting a new trench coat, thought was so stylish, but went into an Irish bar and got called Inspector Gadget by the first guy that saw her 15:53 • 8/16/21 • Twitter Web App was wearing my super-fashionable short trench coat. My friend took one look at me wearing the jacket and said, "Where are we off to now. Columbo?" Eoin O Neill @eoinjoneill Replying to @janky_jane Was wearing a vintage nike jacket in a very long que for drinks at a boxing match when a Belfast lad goes "furk me this is taking forever, your man has been here since the 80's" Loic Wright @dufflest Replying to @janky jane I wore a suit with a matching tie and pocket square to my first day of work at an advertising company (I thought I was going to be in Mad Men I guess) and the staff sent around and signed a communion card for me with a fiver in it. Eóin O Coileáin @L20_MTN Replying to @janky_jane I wore a white, wool turtle-neck jumper to the match once and a fella in the pub said 'Where have you parked the U-boat?'.

François R. Velde @fvelde.bsky.social · Nov 17
Tango and financial history
François R. Velde @fvelde.bsky.social · Nov 17
Because the conclusions are always stated in the introduction - economists are impatient readers, especially with 50-page papers.
François R. Velde @fvelde.bsky.social · Nov 15
Hi there
François R. Velde @fvelde.bsky.social · Nov 15
Banco de la Nación Argentina: register of illiterate clients (with fingerprints), c1900-02. Several Turks, one Arab, one German.
François R. Velde @fvelde.bsky.social · Nov 12
Ah, so the drawings represent the shops rather than the items. That makes more sense.
François R. Velde @fvelde.bsky.social · Nov 12
Then no need for drawings?
François R. Velde @fvelde.bsky.social · Nov 12
How was the illiterate servant supposed to distinguish un bocal di vino from un bocal de tondo?
François R. Velde @fvelde.bsky.social · Nov 8
Shouldn’t the graph be symmetric around the (0,0) point?