ICR204: Steve Keen, Avoiding the Next Financial Crisis

Today on the podcast, I'm joined by Professor Steve Keen, author of Can We Avoid Another Financial Crisis?

Steve is Professor of Economics and Head of the School of Economics, Politics and History at Kingston University.

We know what a major impact the global financial crash had on the global economy. It took most conventional economists completely by surprise. In fact, many economists had, shortly before the crash, declared the magical recipe for eternal economic stability had been discovered.

Steve Keen was one of the very few economists who anticipated the crash.

In his new book, Can We Avoid Another Financial Crisis?, Steve shows why the self–declared experts were wrong and how ever–rising levels of private debt make another financial crisis almost inevitable. Inevitable that is unless politicians tackle the real dynamics causing financial instability.

He also identifies the economies that have become ‘The Walking Dead of Debt’, and those that are next in line including Australia, Belgium, China, Canada and South Korea.

His book is a major intervention by a fearlessly iconoclastic figure, and it's been described as essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the true nature of the global economic system.

If you want to get a better understanding of global economics and shortcomings in the financial system, this is the podcast episode for you.

Welcome to Avoiding the Next Financial Crisis with Professor Steve Keen, in episode 204 of Informed Choice Radio.

Some questions I ask:

-Could you start by talking a bit about why these self-declared experts got it so wrong when it came to the global financial crisis?

-What signs ahead of 2008 were predicting a global financial crash and generally what signs predict a financial crash?

-Are there any underlying faults within the global economic system at the moment that lead you to believe that there might be another financial crisis?

-What do you think about the approach politicians take towards the economy in making sure it grows each year? Because politicians tend to take a quite short-term view of the world, and the economy I guess requires a bit more of a long-term view, so are politicians compatible with long-term economic planning?

-Are you hopeful about the future in terms of improvements to the understanding of these flawed economic models and some of the new models which are coming through?

 

Thank you for listening!

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