Steve Keen and Phil Dobbie had very different ideas about Brexit a few years ago. Now they both agree it’s a vote that should never have happened? So, is it the impact of tariffs?? Is it the impact on foreign investment? Is it impacts on the supply chain? No, many of those things, Steve believes, will be overcome. It’s the one unsurmountable thing that was never discussed ahead of the vote – the one thing that is likely to kill the whole idea. Now they agree on one thing, Brexit will never happen. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

One of the constraints of MMT is that to create more government money you need to have a sovereign currency. That rules out countries in the Eurozone and developing nations heavily reliant on the US dollar. Yet the idea of a Green New Deal is to resolve the issue of climate change using MMT. How can you pursue a global issue with a protocol that only applies in certain parts of the world? And how do you apply it without going down the dangerous road of world government? Questions Phil Dobbie puts to Prof Steve Keen in this week’s Debunking Economics podcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Larry Randall Wray has suggested Modern Monetary Theory should be applied to create a Green New Deal. This week and next, Phil Dobbie talks to Prof Steve Keen about the idea of creating government money to tackle the climate emergency. Would it work? Is there a danger that public sector spending will crowd out private investment in innovative approaches to renewable energy? And what can we learn from the original New Deal, from Roosevelt just after the Great Depression? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

There’s a glimmer of hope that the US China trade war will ease a little. In other words, it won’t get worse. But even so, the tariffs and other conditions are being felt in both countries. Steve Keen, who is not a fan of global trade, admits this one is having a destructive effect on the global economy. So how will it end? Could Trump achieve his aim of drawing manufacturing back to the United States? If he does, how long will it take? And what happens in the meantime? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

At the Labour party conference recently, UK Shadow Chancellor outlined the policy aim of reducing the working week to 32 hours, with no loss in pay. It’s been lambasted by many, who see it as a way of reducing productivity and costing jobs as businesses fail against overseas competitors with a lower cost base. In this week’s podcast, Prof Steve Keen tells Phil Dobbie that the protagonists have got it wrong. The reason productivity has slowed is because companies are becoming too reliant on low cost labour. A rise in labour costs will encourage more investment in technology, which is what will increase productivity. It’s impossible to increase the productivity of low skilled labour because humans can’t improve their energy output without machines to help them. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Modern monetary theory tells us that we shouldn’t worry about government debt – that governments can create money to spend to projects that will create full employment. Even if that is the case, what happens when the money you need isn’t in your currency? It’s a question Phil Dobbie puts to Prof Steve Keen in this week’s Debunking Economics podcast. You can’t create foreign currency, but you might well need it to pay for your government expenditure. So how does Modern monetary theory work in practice, for small countries that need foreign currencies to buy the imports they need to grow their economy? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

There were times when men would leave their families to head for the hills and pan for gold. There were times when the value of currencies was tied to gold. These days, there aren’t so many discoveries and money is no long tied to the gold standard. Phil Dobbie asks Prof Steve Keen what is the use of gold today, and why do investors rush to it in times of uncertainty. And if it has nothing to do with monetary policy, why is most gold still locked up in the vaults of central banks? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

According to the World Health Organisation, Antibiotic resistance is rising to dangerously high levels in all parts of the world. New resistance mechanisms are emerging and spreading globally, threatening our ability to treat common infectious diseases. Sadly, the ROI of antibiotic research is now too low for most pharmaceutical companies to consider. In this week’s free edition of the Debunking Economics podcast Phil Dobbie and Prof Steve Keen talk about the failings of the free-market system and health provision. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Regular listeners will know that most money in circulation is created, bot by central banks, but by commercial banks when they issue loans. In this week’s podcast Phil Dobbie asks Steve Keen how fundamental this is to the slow growth, low interest economy the world has found itself in. Isn’t there a danger that banks will limit the supply when times are bad when, in fact, what the economy needs at those times is more money? Just how much influence do central banks have on the activities of commercial banks these days? Should there be more regulation to control how much money banks create? The answer is yes, but only for money created to fund certain times of loans. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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