Episode 5 Unpacking Economics with Steve Keen

01/25/22 • 67 min

In this episode, I chat with renowned heterodox economist Steve Keen about Economics.
We dive into the history of capitalism as a system of organisation, as well as the origins of the theories created to explain it and unearth the assumptions made by early theorists and the problems that these have created in our current system. We also talk about the nature of money, the 2008 financial crisis, how conventional economists understand the climate crisis, and what a realistic economic theory might look like.
To find out more about Steves work;
His Patreon
The Debunking Economics podcast
His books are; The New Economics Manifesto, and Debunking Economics.

Previous Episode

Episode 4- Robin Roels on Degrowth

In the past, economic growth has been strongly correlated with improvements in human wellbeing, and so economic growth is generally considered to be a good proxy measure for human wellbeing. But is growth always good? Can it continue forever? How are the benefits distributed? Has the measure become the target? What role do money and consumption play in living a good life? These are the kinds of questions that the degrowth movement seeks to answer. In this episode, I chat with Robin Roels about the degrowth movement. We explore the origins of the movement, some of its key ideas and principles, and some thoughts on alternative paradigms.

Limits to growth paper
Jason Hikels Less is More is a popular book on degrowth

Check out related podcasts
Energy and society with Richard Heinberg for more detail about our energy future
The Art of Frugal Hedonism with Annie Raser Rowland for what a degrowth lifestyle could look like

Have you got suggestions for further reading?
let me know!

Next Episode

Episode 6 Power, Prefiguring and the Margins with Fleur and Marco

In this episode, I talk with Fleur and Marco about power dynamics and pedagogies within social movements generally but is focused on our experience with Extinction Rebellion. One of the themes that lie at the heart of this discussion is about whose voices are heard. Fleur's research has focused on an understanding of social movements as places of learning and has looked at the role of the urgency narrative within the movement in reproducing the dominant logic, and how the pandemic brought marginal voices closer to the centre. Marco's research has focused on the role of power within the non-hierarchical organisation, and in particular, the power of facilitators to mitigate for power and make space for those who are less dominant in space.
In the systems change framework, in this episode, we look at how information flows (whose voices are heard) can influence the underlying paradigm we operate from, and some of the practices and forces that have helped to enable this.