

Macrodose
Planet B Productions
Your weekly fix of everything economics. Hosted by James Meadway.
Episodes
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Jun 11, 2023 • 17min
Understanding Inflation w/ Isabella Weber
MACRODOSE EXTRA takes you behind the scenes to go in-depth with some of the leading voices from the world of economics.
Subscribe today at patreon.com/macrodose to hear the full version of this interview, as well as all our fascinating chat with Kojo Koram about the economic legacies of Empire, and our recent conversation with Richard Seymour about the making of political subjectivities in an era of climate breakdown.
You’ll also gain access to our upcoming interviews with housing reporter Vicky Spratt, and economist Ann Pettifor.
Our guest today is Isabella Weber. Isabella is an economist working on inflation, China, global trade and the history of economic thought. She is an Assistant Professor of Economics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, a Berggruen Fellow, and an Associate in Research at the Fairbank Center, Harvard University.
In this interview we discussed her most recent research into the causes of inflation. Greedflation? Excuse-flation? Sellers' inflation? What does it all mean, and are the mainstream starting to change their tune?

Jun 7, 2023 • 18min
Doughnut Economics
On this week’s Macrodose, James Meadway breaks down: planetary boundaries - are there quantifiable limits to our exploitation of nature? (1:09) The hype around American tech company Nvidia (7:39), and a listener question - what’s the best way to fund universities (15:25)?
A massive thank you to all of our existing Patreon subscribers, your support keeps the show running and we are very grateful. If you have the means and enjoy our work, head over to patreon.com/Macrodose and subscribe today.
We want to hear from you! Leave a comment or get in touch at macrodose@planetbproductions.co.uk

Jun 4, 2023 • 47min
UNLOCKED The End of Capitalism? The economics of crisis w/ Yanis Varoufakis
To celebrate our 6 month anniversary, we're unlocking some of our favourite Macrodose Extra episodes from our Patreon. For many more like this, head over to patreon.com/Macrodose and subscribe today!
MACRODOSE EXTRA takes you behind the scenes to go in-depth with some of the leading voices from the world of economics.
In this episode, James Meadway talks to Yanis Varoufakis about the crisis facing the U.K economy, austerity 2.0 and the era of Cloud Capitalism.
Varoufakis is an academic, economist and politician. He formerly served as the Greek Minister of Finance from January to July 2015 in the Syriza government of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, and is currently a sitting member of the Greek Parliament for MeRA25, a progressive political party which he founded it in 2018.Yanis is also a founder of the Progressive International - seeking to ally and organise progressive movements worldwide, and DiEM25 - a transnational movement to reform the European Union.

Jun 2, 2023 • 53min
UNLOCKED Robots and Foucault: the economics of work w/ Sarah Jaffe
To celebrate our 6 month anniversary, we're unlocking some of our favourite Macrodose Extra episodes from our Patreon. For many more like this, head over to patreon.com/Macrodose and subscribe today!
MACRODOSE EXTRA takes you behind the scenes to go in-depth with some of the leading voices from the world of economics. In today's episode, James Meadway speaks to labour journalist Sarah Jaffe about the wave of strikes we’ve seen this year - from nurses, rail workers and posties here in the U.K, to teachers, Amazon workers, and Starbucks employees over in the United States. What’s new about the latest wave of labour action and why is it happening now?
Sarah is the author of two wonderful books - Work Won't Love You Back: How Devotion to Our Jobs Keeps Us Exploited, Exhausted and Alone (2021), and Necessary Trouble, Americans in Revolt (2016). She is also a co-host of Dissent magazine’s Belabored podcast, as well as a columnist at The Progressive.

Jun 1, 2023 • 14min
A Planetary Fever-Dream: reflections on eco-socialism w/ Richard Seymour
Richard Seymour, author and broadcaster, discusses the politics of climate breakdown and the need for transformative politics. The conversation explores the importance of mass democratic mobilization and educating desire to address climate change. The potential of nuclear energy as a low carbon emission solution is also explored along with reflections on the pandemic and political and relational issues in addressing ecological concerns.

May 31, 2023 • 22min
Tory price caps?
On this week’s Macrodose, James Meadway breaks down: the possibility of price caps on essential goods from the Tories (2.07), Rachel Reeves’ speech in Washington DC to lay out her vision for the economy, are Labour turning to Bidenomics (9.44)? And a listener question - how do we balance the need to grow more food in Britain, with the need to build more houses (16.18)?
This week at Macrodose we’re celebrating our six month anniversary. We’ve really enjoyed bringing you Macrodose each week and this wouldn’t have been possible without you!
A massive thank you to The Lipman-Miliband Trust for supporting our work. Their help has been a major step towards this show being sustainable in the long term but we still need your help. If you have the means, head over to patreon.com/Macrodose and subscribe today.
We want to hear from you! Leave a comment or get in touch at macrodose@planetbproductions.co.uk

May 24, 2023 • 16min
Is there WIFI in here?
On this week’s Macrodose, James Meadway breaks down: the looming prospect of another summer of droughts, what’s next for the UK's failing water systems (0:43), last year’s mass broadband cancellations (4:52) and a listener question - what are some good examples of countries taxing assets properly (9:50)?
A massive thank you to The Lipman-Miliband Trust for supporting our work. Their help is a major step towards this show being sustainable in the long term but we still need your help. If you have the means, head over to patreon.com/Macrodose and subscribe today.
We want to hear from you! Leave a comment or get in touch at macrodose@planetbproductions.co.uk

May 17, 2023 • 18min
Greedflation
On this week’s Macrodose, James Meadway breaks down: Greedflation - what is it and what are the mainstream missing (0:46), the impact of sanctions on developing economies (7:50) and a listener question - what should we be pushing to see from the next Labour manifesto (12:15)?
You can find CEPR’s report on sanctions here: https://bit.ly/42WCb0x
A massive thank you to The Lipman-Miliband Trust for supporting our work. Their help is a major step towards this show being sustainable in the long term but we still need your help. If you have the means, head over to patreon.com/Macrodose and subscribe today.
We want to hear from you! Leave a comment or get in touch at macrodose@planetbproductions.co.uk

May 10, 2023 • 18min
No-deposit mortgages???
On this week’s Macrodose, James Meadway breaks down: the return of no-deposit mortgages and what they show us about our housing market (1:07), how the steep drop in China’s imports could spell trouble for the rest of the world (6:36) and what the return of El Nino might mean for inflation and interest rates across the globe (13:29).
A massive thank you to The Lipman-Miliband Trust for supporting our work. Their help is a major step towards this show being sustainable in the long term but we still need your help. If you have the means, head over to patreon.com/Macrodose and subscribe today.
We want to hear from you! Leave a comment or get in touch at macrodose@planetbproductions.co.uk

May 3, 2023 • 56min
The King’s Gambit: the economics of Charles Windsor w/ James Butler
On a special episode of Macrodose, James Meadway is joined by James Butler to discuss the coronation of Britain’s new King. What makes Charles III tick? What are the ideological influences behind the new King? And what does that mean for the future of our economy?
A massive thank you to The Lipman-Miliband Trust for supporting our work. Their help is a major step towards this show being sustainable in the long term but we still need your help. If you have the means, head over to patreon.com/Macrodose and subscribe today.
For any questions or queries, leave a comment or get in touch at macrodose@planetbproductions.co.uk