Debunking Economics - the podcast

By Steve Keen & Phil Dobbie

Economist Steve Keen talks to Phil Dobbie about the failings of the neoclassical economics and how it reflects on society.

Hosted on Acast. See

... more

4.1

4040 ratings

Download on the App Store

Download on the App Store

Get it on Google Play

FAQs about Debunking Economics - the podcast:

How many episodes does Debunking Economics - the podcast have?

The podcast currently has 619 episodes available.

Debunking Economics - the podcast episodes:

February 15, 2023 What’s the right wage?
The UK is gripped by strikes right now, but they are not the only ones. All over the world public and private sector workers are taking action as their salaries fail to keep up with inflation. Central banks are urging caution, fearing a wage spiral could push prices higher. This week Phil Dobbie and Steve Keen discuss the theory behind wage setting – a principle that someone sees chief executives earning a ridiculous multiple of the take-home pay of their workers. So, how are wages arrived at? One theory suggests it is the contribution they make to the profitability of a company, but Steve says its more to do with entrenched hierarchy.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
...more
37min
February 08, 2023 Return of the Cluster Truss
Over the weekend Liz Truss was singing her own praises, with a front-page article in the UK’s Sunday Telegraph. She is known, of course, for being the UK’s shortest-term Prime Minister after her plans for tax cuts (mainly for the wealthy) sent finance markets into a spin. In particular, bond prices collapsed and saw pension funds running low on collateral, forcing the Bank of England to step in. But was she wrong? Former Chancellor George Osborne said she made the mistake of cutting taxes without cutting spending. Does that make her the poster child of MMT supporters? She’d be horrified at the description, no doubt. This week Phil and Steve talk about what was good (if anything) and bad about Liz Truss’ economic plan.

487660a055c71bc8d6cc950a3efd059b83f2adb0
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
...more
38min
February 01, 2023 How does liquidity impact the economy?
For most of us liquidity is an easy concept to understand. Have we got enough cash to pay our bills? For small businesses it is a simple case of managing your cashflow and ensuring your cash on hand exceeds your current liabilities. For banks it’s a mix of ensuring you have the capital to meet demands from depositors, as well as the reserves to meet interbank transfers. To ensure we have liquidity we ensure there is a buffer, to keep us out of trouble. But does that buffer keep us using money productively. Even though Paul Krugman is Steve Keen’s Professor Moriarty, can his babysitting voucher analogy help us to understand the impact of low levels of liquidity on a functioning economy where productivity capacity isn’t being fully utilised.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
...more
45min
January 25, 2023 An end to capitalism?
It would be a bold prediction to say that capitalism is on the way out. Nor should it be. It has provided growth and innovation for the global economy, but has it become too laissez faire? Phil asks Steve whether we need to return to the mixed-economy many of us grew up with – when governments controlled large essential sectors, such as transport and utilities, and imposed tighter regulations on those sectors open to private sector involvement. Are we seeing how unfettered capitalism creates more problems, even before we consider the impact it is having on the consumption of the planet’s resources?
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
...more
36min
January 18, 2023 Opportunity Cost and MMT
Conventional economics is built around the idea of opportunity cost. If there is a limited resource a decision has to be made about how best to use it. How is that principle applied when you look at Modern Monetary Theory, when governments can create money without limits until you have reached a point of full employment. There is no need to look at one choice over another. Perhaps you can do both? So, what determines how money is spent? Are those spending decisions left in the hands of politicians? Steve Keen says, to start with, the theory of opportunity cost should be ditched because it only applies at a personal level. He explains why that is, but agrees with Phil that politics is the big stumbling block when it comes to the practical application of MMT.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
...more
41min
January 11, 2023 2023 and all that
After a disastrous couple of years, can things get any worse in 2023? Steve Keen and Phil Dobbie look ahead and actually find some positive take-outs from the precarious situation we find ourselves in. Inflation will fall, that’s taken as read. Politics will shift to the left, that’s already happening. But our future is still left in the hands of politicians who have no idea how to steer us to a more positive future.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
...more
41min
January 02, 2023 Piero Sraffa and the non-existent supply curve
Most people think economics can be summarised in just two words – supply and demand. Where they cross that determines price and as they move the price moves. But what if the supply curve is wrong, or meaningless. One of the first economists to question that was Piero Sraffa, an Italian economist who had grave misgivings about the law of diminishing returns. Steve Keen talks through Sraffa’s life and theories on this week’s Debunking Economics podcast.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
...more
41min
December 28, 2022 Joseph Schumpeter and creative destruction
This week, another economist that has influenced Steve Keen’s thinking; the Austrian born economist Joseph Schumpeter. His economic thinking veers a long way from the traditional Austrian school. As Steve explains this week, Schumpeter argued that if an economy was always moving to or from a point of equilibrium, then it follows that the profit of companies will always be zero. Only through innovation will those businesses get ahead, with means money invested in older technologies will no longer be rewarded. This was Schumpeter’s argument for Creative Destruction, an idea so basic you wonder why nobody had made the observation before him.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
...more
35min
December 21, 2022 Bill Phillips & His Curve
Bill Phillips, rightly or wrongly, has a lot to answer for, because his work is drawn on by central banks when trying to determine the likely rate of inflation. But are they misinterpreting his theories? This week Steve Keen explains why there’s more to the Phillips curve than most people understand. There’s also a lot behind the man, from life on a farm in New Zealand, to engineering a radio in secret in a Japanese Prisoner of War camp. Listen in to hear the story of the man behind the infamous Phillips curve.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
...more
31min
December 14, 2022 Richard Goodwin and non-linear thinking
We continue our series looking at economists who influenced Steve Keens thinking. This week it’s American economists Richard Goodwin, who Steve says is the chief proponent of non-linear thinking in economics. He wrote Theories of Surplus Value, which was about business cycles happening without any exogenous shocks, from overaccumulation and overproduction His biggest weakness was that he didn’t accept the role of banks in money creation, as he highlighted in a letter to Steve in the 1990s.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
...more
41min

FAQs about Debunking Economics - the podcast:

How many episodes does Debunking Economics - the podcast have?

The podcast currently has 619 episodes available.

More shows like Debunking Economics - the podcast

LSE: Public lectures and events by London School of Economics and Political Science

LSE: Public lectures and events

274 Listeners

New Economics Podcast by New Economics Foundation

New Economics Podcast

74 Listeners

IEA Podcast by Institute of Economic Affairs

IEA Podcast

15 Listeners

Pitchfork Economics with Nick Hanauer by Civic Ventures

Pitchfork Economics with Nick Hanauer

1,483 Listeners

IFS Zooms In: The Economy by Institute for Fiscal Studies

IFS Zooms In: The Economy

5 Listeners

Economics Explained by Economics Explained

Economics Explained

148 Listeners

Planet: Critical by Rachel Donald

Planet: Critical

86 Listeners

Ones and Tooze by Foreign Policy

Ones and Tooze

350 Listeners

The Great Simplification with Nate Hagens by Nate Hagens

The Great Simplification with Nate Hagens

408 Listeners

Macrodose by Planet B Productions

Macrodose

24 Listeners

Geopolitical Economy Report by Ben Norton

Geopolitical Economy Report

299 Listeners

Multipolarity by Multipolarity

Multipolarity

37 Listeners

The Economics Show by Financial Times

The Economics Show

140 Listeners

The Why? Curve by Phil Dobbie

The Why? Curve

3 Listeners

Garys Economics by Gary Stevenson

Garys Economics

137 Listeners