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PODCAST

Debunking Economics - the podcast

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 acast.com/privacy for more information.

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All Episodes

34:29

The Aggregate Problem

Debunking Economics - the podcast ·

2024/09/18

The UK’s unemployment rate is 4.1%, the inflation rate is growing at 3.1% and the economy is growing at 0.6% quarter on quarter. That’s how the economy is doing, what more do we need to know?Well, it would be useful to know whether the unemployed are predominantly in certain income groups, or that income growth was greater in particular parts of the economy Like, more for capitalists and less for workers?As Steve and Phil discuss this week, economists are building business models built on

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36:59

We fought the pandemic and the war won

Debunking Economics - the podcast ·

2024/09/11

The pandemic was the biggest economic disturbance since the second world war. In both cases supply chains were severely disrupted, either by German U-boats or, more recently, factories and borders closed to stop the spread of disease. On the face of it, though, we have got off relatively Scot-free. We haven’t seen the massive fall in GDP experienced after the war. In factwe saw a sharper fall inGDP in the 2008 financial crisis.What is different is how we have handled the readjustment. After the war

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37:02

Disposable Jobs

Debunking Economics - the podcast ·

2024/09/04

A couple of years ago, when warning of the need to fight inflation, Jerome Powell, Governor of the US Federal Reserve says interest rate would rise and jobs might disappear. Yet, interest rates have risen, and unemployment hasn’t fallen anywhere near as much as expected. So, what’s going on?Does it mean, thankfully, that monetary policy isn’t working as well as expected? Now the talk is of a soft landing, where jobs have been protected and inflation has come down. The work of fine tuning by the

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39:13

The Old Age Liability

Debunking Economics - the podcast ·

2024/08/28

Some call it the silver tsunami. The wave of old people putting pressure on government budgets. And, as baby boomers retire and young people produce less and less children, western populations will continue to age. That means less productive capacity and more people dependent on welfare. On today’s podcasts Phil & Steve talk through the three options open to governments: flood the country with younger migrants to pay more tax, pay less and create a cohort of elderly poor, or rethink the idea

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35:26

Could stubborn central banks drive us to debt deflation?

Debunking Economics - the podcast ·

2024/08/21

The last time interest rates were this high they came down rather fast. This time central bankers are determined to manage a slow unwind and deliver a return to growth without wreaking havoc on the economy. Will they be successful? This week Steve Keen argues the high interest rates are inflicting damage without treating the problem. Inflation is being caused by businesses increasing their mark-ups. But, Phil asks, surely they are only able to do that because demand is outstripping supply.And what

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54:02

It’s not complicated! Doyne Farmer on a Better...

Debunking Economics - the podcast ·

2024/08/14

Complex systems don’t have to be complicated to provided deep insights into the real world. That’s the view of Doyne Farmer, special guest on this week’s podcast. It’s an approach he shares to economics with Steve Keen. Steve develops systems from the top-down, whereas Doyne’s work focuses on agent-driven bottom-up modelling. But they arrive at similar conclusions. Phil Dobbie talks to them both about how we could arrive at a more accurate understanding of the economy and financial systems, which

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37:21

Debt, savings and investments – how they really work

Debunking Economics - the podcast ·

2024/08/07

It’s curious isn’t it how we talk about household savings, rather than net debt. Many people do have money squirreled away in savings accounts, for a rainy day. That rainy day comes when hey lose a job and need that cash to pay their mortgage. So we are saving to help pay off an existing debt at a later date. How cockeyed it that? A lot of that money tied up in savings, including funds we’ve put away for our pension, ultimately become the source for investment. That’s supposedly a good thing. More

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37:37

Including energy in economic models. It doesn’t have...

Debunking Economics - the podcast ·

2024/07/31

So, if economics is all about the allocation of scarce resources, isn’t energy the most scarce resource? And yet its not really included in any economic models. We look at labour and capital as the drivers of growth, but energy is just a contributor to those factors, not a key factor in itself. Yet without energy humans wouldn’t survive and machines would lie dormant. This week Phil talks to Steve about the need to give energy the dominant position it deserves in economic models. As you’ll discover,

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39:25

Our obsession with ownership

Debunking Economics - the podcast ·

2024/07/24

We are obsessed with the need to own things, not least, our homes. But for younger people that is increasingly becoming a pipedream, unless they are lucky enough to gain a healthy inheritance. Even then it’s going to come later in life. In the meantime, we save like crazy, and even when we do get a house, we spend decades paying it off though a hefty loan form the bank. The finance sector are the big winners. But should we do away with this unhealthy obsession and rent our homes. A d should the

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37:02

Too big for their boots? Are bigger companies slowing...

Debunking Economics - the podcast ·

2024/07/17

The global share market has always been dominated by the US, now we’re seeing a number share of very large tech companies claiming a larger slice of that pie.Even though they are trading with price to earnings ratios well beyond the historic average, these companies won’t fail. They dominate the market, with billions of customers, low productioncosts, a low number of workers and the spare cash tovest in growth without the expense of extra capital. Phil asks Steve, what damage are these companies

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38:29

Labour’s Energy Halfway House

Debunking Economics - the podcast ·

2024/07/10

Labour has romped to victory in the UK and they need to get cracking on all their election promises. One of those is the creation of Great British Energy. Keir Starmer points to the number of foreign interests owning energy generation in the UK. But, as Phil highlights this week, foreign companies are also heavily invested in energy distribution and retailing. The National Grid is suffering from a lack of investment. Doesn’t that also need to be brought into public hands. And what about all the

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39:32

Paying for our old age

Debunking Economics - the podcast ·

2024/07/03

In the UK the proportion of the population aged over 65 has grown from 16 percent in 2000 to over 19% today. It’s a similar story throughout the western world as the population ages. That’s seen as an enormous liability for governments who will have to pay out pensions to their old folk. Hence the drive to get people to put money into private schemes. In the UK there’s over £2.2 trillion tied up in pension funds, more than AUD$3.4 trillion in Australia. So, what good is that money doing? It will be

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39:53

Greens Manifesto: An Opportunity Lost

Debunking Economics - the podcast ·

2024/06/26

Carla Denyer and Adrian Ramsay recently launched the Greens Manifesto in the run up to the UK election. Phil and Steve discuss it on this week’s podcast and conclude the one thing that seems to have slipped down the priority list, is all the green stuff. They talk about fixing broken Britain, like every party, and correcting wealth inequality. They also promise that their ideas are fully costed, and can be paid for – for example, by a carbon tax. But they know they will never run government, so why

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41:52

The West’s vote on immigration

Debunking Economics - the podcast ·

2024/06/19

The UK election debate changed tune when Nigel Farage agreed to stand for Reform, promising to cut migration and rid the UK of all the problems these nasty foreigners are responsible for.Elsewhere the recent European Union elections saw a sharp shift to the right, again driven by concerns over migration. If Donald Trump wins again in the US at the end of the year that too will be gained on a ticket spreading fear and loathing over migrants. It is clearly an issue that can’t be ignored. Yet you have

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36:01

Two parties obsessed with government debt

Debunking Economics - the podcast ·

2024/06/12

Imagine if Keir Starmer, the UK Labour leader, had said, let’s not get too obsessed with government debt. If we go down that road we won‘t be able to provide the public services we need, our infrastructure will crumble further and we’ll simply see the country’s productivity erode further by the day. Unfortunately, he didn’t say that. Instead, he has pledged himself to the temple of fiscal responsibility, just like the Conservatives. That means, whichever party is in power the UK can expect something

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43:04

Rising margins, higher inflation, lower wages. No...

Debunking Economics - the podcast ·

2024/06/05

There’s been a debate brewing post-pandemic about how much inflation has been elevated by companies increasing their margins. The evidence of that is the increased margins, not just in the tech sector, which has helped increase the share prices of these companies, evidenced by record levels across the US share market indices. This week Steve Keen says its clear that is happening. Even before the pandemic, when inflation was lower, companies were still increasing their margins more than the level of

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42:34

Productivity – the election winner that Rishi Sunak...

Debunking Economics - the podcast ·

2024/05/29

The UK is heading to the polls on July 4th and the Conservative Party is heading for annihilation. Yet, when it comes to espousing sensible ideas from textbooks, Rishi Sunak had the making of a good Prime Minister. For example, tackling productivity by building the necessary infrastructure, investing in education and building cities and regions where businesses could cross pollinate their expertise, facilitated by strong communication and transport links. He presented all of these ideas three years

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29:57

Trump's plan. Same old same old, only more so.

Debunking Economics - the podcast ·

2024/05/22

Steve is on hols this week, so Phil takes a look back at a couple of Debunking Economics podcasts from just before Donald Trump took office. In many ways he stuck to his promises. He tried to cut immigration, he introduced protectionism with hefty tariffs on China and he cut taxes. Now he’s promising more of the same, although Biden might have beaten him to it when it comes to heftier taxes on China’s EV exports. The first time around Steve suggested some of Trump’s thinking was right, although

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40:43

Should the wealthy get away with less tax?

Debunking Economics - the podcast ·

2024/05/15

Should we tax wealth more? The UK’s Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reevs wouldn’t be drawn o the question at an FT forum recently. She said the UK is already a high taxing country. But around the world the wealthy are getting wealthier. Is that a bad thing? Some would say that if they are making money creating growth for the economy, then why would you want to stop them.Jeff Bezos, for example, makes a small fraction of the wealth of the economic benefit he has created for broader society. But does it

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44:12

UK Labour’s Half-Baked Nationalisation Plans

Debunking Economics - the podcast ·

2024/05/08

UK Labour leader Keir Starmer has said if he wins the next general election, within 5 years he will have re-nationalised Britain’s railways. Phil asks Steve whether it naturally follows that this will lead to an improvement in services and lower fares? Steve reckons you any need to look at government run services elsewhere in Europe to answer that question – but Britain’s trains weren’t so great even in the days of British Rail, when they were in government hands. This time there’s a chance one of

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