Debunking Economics - the podcast

The UK Prime Minister has made noises about reining-in executive pay. Phil Dobbie asks Professor Steve Keen whether high executive salaries are really such a problem. If somebody can demand such a high salary shouldn’t we congratulate them and aspire to do the same ourselves. Isn’t it the politics of envy to think otherwise? Or are they distorting the economy – and perhaps the biggest influence on...

Funding retirement seems to be a global issue. Individual pensions often fall short of the required amount and governments struggle so much with the liability of future pension costs that they keep pushing back the age at which we can retire. Professor Steve Keen believes we have got the whole approach to retirement wrong in so many ways. For a start, by encouraging savings we are pulling money ou...

Bitcoin was an interesting development in the history of money – a currency created from an algorithm. In this edition of the Debunking Economics podcast Professor Steve Keen explains to Phil Dobbie how Bitcoin works. They also discuss how other new currencies could be used to manage online transactions and the threat that could create for the banking sector. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy...

In previous podcasts Professor Steve Keen has said the availability of energy is the key driver of growth. It fuelled the industrial revolution and inhibits growth in societies without sufficient access to it. In this podcast Phil Dobbie asks whether that justifies President Trump’s approach to energy policy – to make it cheaper, local and more readily available, with less controls on its producti...

Do we need population growth to enjoy economic growth? Phil Dobbie puts the question to Professor Steve Keen, who argues it’s not necessary and it’s a misnomer that cannot be sustained. Yet many countries see immigration as the only way of sustaining growth, including Kevin Rudd’s pitch for a Big Australia back in 2010. As he saw, and recent politics demonstrates, high immigration is not a popular...

There’s an argument that economics can never be science because it involves the behaviour of humans. You can’t apply empirical rules in the way you do with physical sciences. In this episode of the Debunking Economics podcast Phil Dobbie asks Professor Steve Keen whether this means economics should never be seen as a science. Steve says economics can be a science, if economists behaved like scient...

Australians talk of giving everyone a fair go. But it has different meanings for different people. For some, it implies freeing up the ability for people to get on with making a dollar without government interference. For others, it means the government offers the opportunity for all, presumably through subsidies and access to education. In this edition of the Debunking Economics podcast Phil Dobb...

Most of us tend to have a vague notion of what Keynes stood for. Why, even neo-classic economists seem to be using his theories to rescue the economy from the ravages of the global financial crisis. So, what is post-Keynesian economics, and how does it differ from the theories espoused in The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money . In this podcast, Professor Steve Keen explains to Phil...

Okay, this is a deliberately provocative title, but it relates to how the increase in two income households hasn’t necessarily made us better off. Hasn’t it simply reduced real wages and increased asset prices, particularly houses? How much different would the world be if only one member of the household went to work – man or woman. Phil Dobbie talks to Professor Steve Keen about the negative impa...

Governments everywhere are preoccupied with keeping their spending under control. We are conditioned into thinking about the massive levels of interest being paid on the money that our governments owe. In this edition of the Debunking Economics podcast Professor Steve Keen explains to Phil Dobbie why we should quit worrying – governments can create money through their central banks. He explains th...

The G20 is meeting in Berlin right now. With expectations of any constructive outcomes set to low, maybe there’s a better way forward. In this edition of the Debunking Economics podcast Phil Dobbie and Prof Steve Keen work through four ideas that could change the way the economy works – for the better. Phil suggests ideas related to climate change tariffs and a global minimum wage, whilst Steve lo...

In this edition Prof Steve Keen explains to Phil Dobbie how tax levels are really more to do with the government controlling the level of inflation in the economy and less to do with raising revenue to pay for their own expenses. Yet, few people see it that way. Once you do, it makes sense to see tax as an instrument that manages the strength of the economy, in unison with interest rates. Look at...

The world’s Central Bankers have been meeting up in Portugal this week and seem to have colluded on the idea of raising interest rates sometime soon. It looks like the UK, Europe and Canada are in on it but, Professor Steve Keen reckons, they’ll soon be eating humble pie. Any rise in rates right now will quickly be reversed, because the bankers are ignoring the role of credit. Find out why that is...

Automation, it seems, is taking its toll. For example, based on its turnover Amazon employs less than half the staff levels of the broader retail sector – and they are driving efficiency gains all the time. So, is the answer to tax robots – one of the ideas from failed French Presidency candidate Benoît Hamon. No, says Professor Steve Keen. He suggests to Phil Dobbie that the solution is a univers...

The EU and IMF have just bailed out Greece again, so it can avoid defaulting on the interest payments for its 300 billion Euro debt. The lenders will receive their payments, whilst Greece continues to live through tough austerity measures in the vain hope of the economy recovering at some point. That seems unlikely – GDP per capita is sliding and the smarter folk are leaving the country. Phil Dobb...

It’s the catch cry for those who like to spread fear – Corbyn in power would take Britain back to the 1970s, when Britain experienced runaway inflation, the three day week, class hatred and soviet style stagnation. Yet, as Prof Steve Keen explains to Phil Dobbie in this free edition of the Debunking Economics podcast, the downturn in the seventies was less to do with government policy and more to...

In the UK salaries are now rising slower than inflation – which means living standards are going backwards. Around the world salaries seem to have stagnated, even though unemployment is low. Conventional economic theory suggests that more competition for employees should push wages higher. Phil Dobbie asks Professor Steve Keen why that’s not happening. The cause, Steve suggests, is to do with the...

Professor Steve Keen has predicted a house price crash in Australia before, but this time he is more certain than ever. Even the Reserve Bank of Australia has been flagging concerns about the country’s rising household debt and inflated house prices. In this edition of the Debunking Economics podcast Phil Dobbie asks Steve why he is so certain this time, and what can be done about it. Hosted on Ac...

UKIP released its manifesto this week. It’s a glossy production with a range of arguments designed to appeal to the disenfranchised UK worker. But do they stack up economically? In this podcast Phil Dobbie talks with Professor Steve Keen about some of their plans, including zero net migration, changes to VAT, getting rid of inheritance tax, redirecting foreign aid to the NHS and ways of helping sm...

Conventional neoclassic economics assumes the economy will always arrive at an equilibrium, yet central banks spend an inordinate amount of time speculating on when they should next move interest rates, and in what direction. In this edition of the Debunking Economics podcast Phil Dobbie asks Professor Steve Keen what interest rate decisions are intended to achieve and if they have their desired e...

A Debunking Economics listener asked for a podcast on the role of Shadow Banks. In particular, he wanted to know if shadow banks create money in the same way as conventional banks. The quick answer is, no, because they are not able to create deposits – but they do increase the ability for banks to extend more loans. Phil Dobbie talks to Prof Steve Keen about the role of shadow banks and asks, do t...

Economists have always seen wealth as a function of capital and labour. In effect, people and machines create things which makes them money. But Steve Keen believes there’s a far more important consideration – energy. In this free edition of the Debunking Economics podcast he points out how the industrial revolution was founded on the availability of energy and ongoing wealth creation is being dri...

Imagine if shares had a use by date. If you pass the shares issued by a company on to a secondary market, the clock starts ticking. What would that do to the valuation of shares – and why do we need to worry about it? Phil Dobbie discusses the concept with Professor Steve Keen, investigating what the impact would be on share markets and the companies that trade on them. Hosted on Acast. See a...

A big chunk of the trades that happen in shares are sold short. In other words, the trader takes a punt that the price will go down. In effect you sell something that you don’t own yet – like shares in the company – and you sell it to some mug who buys it off you at today’s price. Then when the price has gone down, you buy it at the lower price and deliver on your promise. Phil Dobbie asks Steve K...

London and the southeast accounts for a third of the UK’s gross disposable household income. The rest of the country somehow scrapes by. But it’s clear to see why. The proximity to other businesses means investment in London creates a greater return than any other region. In this edition of the Debunking Economics podcast Phil Dobbie asks Professor Steve Keen whether the government should be invol...