Debunking Economics - the podcast
Economist Steve Keen talks to Phil Dobbie about the failings of the neoclassical economics and how it reflects on society.
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- Update frequency
- every 7 days
- Average duration
- 34 minutes
- Episodes
- 471
- Years Active
- 2016 - 2025
Trump is half way to Keynes’s answer to deficits
In 1944, at Bretton Woods, 44 countries agreed to make the US dollar the world's reserve currency. This decision inflated the dollar's value, making American exports expensive and imports cheaper. Do…
00:42:34 |
Wed 16 Apr 2025
Trump. Has he lost his mind?
It’s clear that President Trump lied to the American people about his reciprocal tariffs. Many of the countries he is imposing tariffs do not impose anywhere near those numbers on imports from Americ…
00:37:48 |
Wed 09 Apr 2025
Should we tax the rich?
It’s often the easy excuse on how to fix the problems of wealth inequality - just tax the rich more. Former trader turned YouTuber economist Gary Stevenson argues regularly that it’ll fix a lot of th…
00:44:05 |
Wed 02 Apr 2025
Will Trump drive us to a better tax system?
It’s likely that many countries around the world will face import tariffs in retaliation for imposing a value-added-tax on American goods sold in their own country - alongside other goods, taxed equ…
00:39:11 |
Wed 26 Mar 2025
There is no energy transition happening
Are we kidding ourselves when we talk about an energy transition? Sure, we are using more renewables than ever before, but the planet is also using more fossil fuels than ever before. Phil asks Stev…
00:35:08 |
Sun 23 Mar 2025
Is there a ceiling to economic supremacy?
Donald Trump is doing everything he can think off to improve the US economy. Tariffs, cutting government spending, bringing manufacturing back home, accessing more resources and lowering the cost of …
00:36:01 |
Wed 12 Mar 2025
Bringing manufacturing home, the Japanese Way
In a recent podcast Phil suggested that bringing manufacturing home to America won’t necessarily create jobs, because most factories will be automated. They just need one man and a dog, he said. The …
00:41:45 |
Wed 05 Mar 2025
Are we giving up on climate change?
Donald Trump, as the world’s highest profile climate change denier, has famously said, repeatedly, that he wants to drill baby drill, to make US energy even cheaper. It’s already half the price of Eu…
00:40:17 |
Wed 26 Feb 2025
The trade war has begun
Reciprocal tariffs could be coming to every OECD country if we believe everything Donald Trump says. He sees VAT as a tariff imposed on US imports, which means he wants to impose the same amount on t…
00:41:06 |
Wed 19 Feb 2025
Do we need a reserve currency?
The new US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent recently re-iterated the US desire to remain as the world’s reserve currency, because they like a strong dollar that’s in demand worldwide. Burt he also sa…
00:41:28 |
Wed 12 Feb 2025
More on how money is created
Phil asked Steve a lot last week about how bank create money through the loans they issue. But he has been, it’s fair to say, a little less convinced about how government deficits create money. So pr…
00:35:37 |
Wed 05 Feb 2025
Coinucopia’s thriving banking sector
Steve and Phil have described the island of Coinucopia in previous editions of the podcast. It started as a place where only coins were legal tender, and the supply of coins didn’t increase. They exp…
00:45:50 |
Wed 29 Jan 2025
Reeves off track on growth
Rachel Reeves, the UK Chancellor, has fallen into the debt-trap argument. She says she is focused on growth, but she is also determined to balance the budget. Cuts to government spending is part of t…
00:37:03 |
Wed 22 Jan 2025
The population clock
There are, its estimated, 8.2 billion people on the planet. The UN projects that the world's population will reach 9.7 billion by 2050 and 11.2 billion by 2100. We won’t reach that, says Steve Keen. …
00:39:51 |
Wed 15 Jan 2025
When Coincupia starts to allow loans and bank notes
Last week Phil introduced us to the island of Coinucopia, where only a limited supply of gold coins could be used to keep the economy functioning. But the island is suffering from very slow economic …
00:44:20 |
Wed 08 Jan 2025
The cash only economy where economics works
This week Phil introduces Steve Keen to the fictional island of Cornucopia. It’s a simple place, where the only trade takes place with gold coins. Banks are not allowed to give loans, and the money s…
00:30:15 |
Wed 01 Jan 2025
Is income disparity essential for growth?
Elon Musk has been moaning that he pays too much tax. He wants to keep more of the $14 billion or so that he earns each year. But has he got a point? Do we need to the opportunity to become incredibl…
00:42:32 |
Wed 25 Dec 2024
What do central banks do?
When central banks declare a new interest rate, how does that magic into existence? Steve explains how they trade in bonds, to drive yields close to their target rate. If they are buying up bonds hel…
00:39:00 |
Wed 18 Dec 2024
Banks, reserves, lending and money supply
There’s a common myth around banks. That banks are the intermediaries who collect deposits from customers, keep a bit in reserve, then lend out the rest at a higher interest rate. That argument then …
00:45:14 |
Wed 11 Dec 2024
Government debt, bonds and money supply
Does government debt expand the supply of money? According to Modern Monetary theory, yes it does. It’s all down to simple double-entry book-keeping and an understanding of the role of financial equi…
00:42:18 |
Wed 04 Dec 2024
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