New Economics Podcast
New Economics Foundation
Award-winning podcast about the economic and political forces shaping our world, with Ayeisha Thomas-Smith and guests. Brought to you by the New Economics Foundation – the independent think tank and charity campaigning for a fairer, sustainable economy.
Episodes
Mentioned books

May 21, 2019 • 40min
A Beginner's Guide to Neoliberalism: 7 – Changing the Rules
It’s been 4 years since Kirsty Styles and James Meadway told the story of neoliberalism, from Hayek to Thatcher to the end of history.
But now, the band is back together, alongside NEF chief executive Miatta Fahnbulleh. It’s 2019, the world is on fire, and it’s time to change the rules.
Music by Christian Bjoerklund, Mr Frisby's Beat Pocket, and Chris Zabriskie.
Enjoying the show? Tweet us your comments and questions @NEF!
The award-winning Weekly Economics Podcast is brought to you by the New Economics Foundation – the UK's only people powered think tank. Find out more at www.neweconomics.org

May 13, 2019 • 13min
A Beginner's Guide to Neoliberalism: 6 - The Alternatives
Kirsty Styles and James Meadway talk about the alternatives to neoliberalism.
This episode was recorded back in August 2015, which feels like a million years ago. We still think it's worth listening to, but a lot has changed since then.
The good news is, James and Kirsty will be back for a brand new update episode next week, bringing us bang up to date on the alternatives.
Enjoying the show? Tweet us your comments and questions @NEF!
The award-winning Weekly Economics Podcast is brought to you by the New Economics Foundation – the UK's only people powered think tank. Find out more at www.neweconomics.org

May 7, 2019 • 13min
A Beginner's Guide to Neoliberalism: 5 - The End of History?
James Meadway and Kirsty Styles discuss how neoliberalism lives on today.
This episode was recorded back in August 2015 and a lot has changed since then. The good news is James and Kirsty will be back for a brand new episode in a couple of weeks’ time, telling the story of the backlash against neoliberalism over the past few years.
Enjoying the show? Tweet us your comments and questions @NEF!
The award-winning Weekly Economics Podcast is brought to you by the New Economics Foundation – the UK's only people powered think tank. Find out more at www.neweconomics.org

Apr 29, 2019 • 12min
A Beginner's Guide to Neoliberalism: 4 – Acceptable in the 80s
James Meadway and Kirsty Styles explain how neoliberalism took hold in the UK in the 1980s.
Enjoying the show? Tweet us your comments and questions @NEF!
Music by Chris Zabriskie (www.chriszabriskie.com), sanmi (www.freemusicarchive.org/music/sanmi) and Christian Bjoerklund (www.freemusicarchive.org/music/Christ…n_Bjoerklund) used under Creative Commons Licence.
The award-winning Weekly Economics Podcast is brought to you by the New Economics Foundation – the UK's only people powered think tank. Find out more at www.neweconomics.org

Apr 22, 2019 • 13min
A Beginner's Guide to Neoliberalism: 3 – World Domination
James Meadway and Kirsty Styles explain how neoliberalism came to dominate economies around the globe.
Enjoying the show? Tweet us your comments and questions @NEF!
Music by Chris Zabriskie (www.chriszabriskie.com), sanmi (freemusicarchive.org/music/sanmi/) and Christian Bjoerklund (freemusicarchive.org/music/Christian_Bjoerklund/) used under Creative Commons Licence.
The award-winning Weekly Economics Podcast is brought to you by the New Economics Foundation – the UK's only people powered think tank. Find out more at www.neweconomics.org

Apr 15, 2019 • 12min
A Beginner's Guide to Neoliberalism: 2 – The House That Hayek Built
Economist James Meadway and journalist Kirsty Styles continue their 6-part miniseries about neoliberalism. In part 2, they tell the story of how the once obscure ideas of theorist Friedrich Hayek moved from the fringe to the mainstream, ushering in the age of neoliberalism.
Enjoying the show? Tweet us your comments and questions @NEF!
Music by Chris Zabriskie (www.chriszabriskie.com) and sanmi (www.freemusicarchive.org/music/sanmi/) used under Creative Commons Licence.
The award-winning Weekly Economics Podcast is brought to you by the New Economics Foundation – the UK's only people powered think tank. Find out more at www.neweconomics.org

Apr 8, 2019 • 14min
A Beginner's Guide to Neoliberalism: 1 – The Basics
For the next 6 weeks, we’re doing something a bit different. We’re telling the story of neoliberalism, from the beginning. We call it A Beginner’s Guide to Neoliberalism.
We first ran the series back in 2015, but it’s as relevant as ever. It’s presented by the journalist Kirsty Styles alongside James Meadway, who at the time was chief economist at the New Economics Foundation.
In part 1, James and Kirsty start with a history of our economic system, the difference between capitalism and neoliberalism, and examine how neoliberalism came to dominate modern day economics.
Enjoying the show? Tweet us your comments and questions @NEF!
Music by Chris Zabriskie and sanmi used under Creative Commons Licence.
The award-winning Weekly Economics Podcast is brought to you by the New Economics Foundation – the UK's only people powered think tank. Find out more at www.neweconomics.org

Mar 18, 2019 • 34min
What explains the knife crime epidemic? With Gary Younge
Knife crime is at a nine-year high. Everyone agrees: something must be done.
Some politicians want more police on the streets, or tougher sentences. Others want cuts to mental health services to be reversed. One MP has suggested every knife in Britain should have a built-in GPS tracker – good luck with that.
But knife crime it is a complex issue, and young people’s lives depend on policymakers getting it right. So today, Ayeisha Thomas-Smith is taking a big-picture look at the issue with one of the journalists who’s covered it more than perhaps any other: the Guardian’s editor-at-large, Gary Younge.
Enjoying the show? Tweet us your comments and questions @NEF!
Produced by James Shield. Music this week is by Candlegravity and Podington Bear, used under Creative Commons licence.
The award-winning Weekly Economics Podcast is brought to you by the New Economics Foundation. Find out more at www.neweconomics.org

Mar 13, 2019 • 33min
How to shockproof the economy
It’s hard to listen to the news at the moment without hearing some kind of warning about economy. Nearly all of those warnings focus on one thing – Brexit. It’s true that lots of people think Brexit is risky – but in the clamour to define what Brexit means, could we be blindsided by something else?
Obviously it’s difficult to predict exactly how and when another shock to the economy might happen. But is there more we could be doing to get the economy ready for whatever might be around the corner?
Guest host Hanna Wheatley is joined by NEF's Head of Economics Alfie Stirling and Senior Economist Sarah Arnold.
Enjoying the show? Tweet us your comments and questions @NEF!
Produced by James Shield.
The award-winning Weekly Economics Podcast is brought to you by the New Economics Foundation – the UK's only people powered think tank. Find out more at www.neweconomics.org

Mar 4, 2019 • 36min
Rewind: Can we bring down house prices without crashing the economy?
We’re away this week, but in the meantime thought we’d listen back to one of our favourite episodes from last year.
If house prices are too high for people to be able to buy houses, how can we bring them down? And can we do it without upsetting homeowners and crashing the economy?
Beth Stratford is a PhD student at Leeds University. Last February she published a blog post at OpenDemocracy that was so interesting we knew we had to get her on the podcast to talk about it. She argues it just might be possible to lower house prices without crashing the economy.
Joe Beswick, head of housing and land here at the New Economics Foundation, joined Beth and Ayeisha Thomas-Smith, to chat through the idea.
We hope you enjoy! And we’ll be back next week with a brand new episode.
Enjoying the show? Tweet us your comments and questions @NEF!
Produced by James Shield and Huw Jordan.
The award-winning Weekly Economics Podcast is brought to you by the New Economics Foundation – the UK's only people powered think tank. Find out more at www.neweconomics.org


