ICR132: Cahal Moran, The Econocracy

My guest for this episode of Informed Choice Radio is Cahal Moran.

Cahal is chairman of the Post-Crash Economic Society.

The Post-Crash Economics Society is a group of economics students at The University of Manchester. It is their belief that the content of the economics syllabus and teaching methods could and should be seriously rethought.

He became a member of the PCES after becoming dissatisfied with the narrow and abstract nature of economics education during his undergraduate degree.

Cahal is a co-author of The Econocracy: The perils of leaving economics to the experts.

One hundred years ago the idea of 'the economy' didn't exist. Now, improving the economy has come to be seen as perhaps the most important task facing modern societies.

Politics and policymaking are conducted in the language of economics and economic logic shapes how political issues are thought about and addressed. The result is that the majority of citizens, who cannot speak this language, are locked out of politics while political decisions are increasingly devolved to experts.

The Econocracy explains how economics came to be seen this way - and the damaging consequences. It opens up the discipline and demonstrates its inner workings to the wider public so that the task of reclaiming democracy can begin.

In this episode of Informed Choice Radio, I speak to Cahal about how an economics education is failing to equip experts with the tools they need, why economics should be more of an art form, and why we need to start talking about economics in a more accessible way.

Welcome to The Econocracy with Cahal Moran, in episode 132 of Informed Choice Radio.

Some questions I ask

- How did you get into the field of economics and become a Phd student studying that particular field?

- What does a traditional economics education look like, what are they being taught these days?

- Would you argue that economics needs to be both an art and science?

- What an readers expect from the book, what subjects does it cover?

- Hows the book and the movement being received at university, what do your professors think?

-Why did the general public stop trusting the experts when it came to economics?

Thank you for listening!

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