Free lunch thinking (with Tom Bergin)

03/15/22 • 44 min

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Investigative financial analyst Tom Bergin cut his teeth investigating corporate wrongdoing. When he turned his attention to the economics profession, he learned that eight major economic theories—used by experts to shape policy across the globe—entirely lack factual basis. He joins the pod to explain how those theories wormed their way into dominant economic thinking, the evidence against them, and why he believes economists are finally starting to shift toward studying the world as it actually is.

Tom Bergin is an Investigative Financial Journalist for Reuters and the Author of Free Lunch Thinking: How Economics Ruins the Economy

Twitter: @tombergin_News

Previous Episode

Congress looks to the CBO for economic expertise. Is that a mistake? (with Mark Paul)

The Congressional Budget Office, the institution that furnishes cost-benefit analyses for federal legislation under consideration by Congress, has a really hard job. But some of the assumptions they rely on to predict economic consequences are just plain weird. Economist Mark Paul leads us through the strangest practices at the CBO, including their (untrue) claim that public investment is only half as productive as private investment and the complete lack of peer-reviewing of reports that can signal the death knell for a bill.

Mark Paul is an Economist at the New College of Florida and a Fellow at the Berggruen Institute.

Twitter: @MarkVinPaul

Next Episode

Did corporate greed break the supply chain? (with Rakeen Mabud)

While many Americans struggle to make ends meet, corporate America’s 2021 profits were higher than ever. So why are corporations making more money while supply chain issues are still driving up inflation for the rest of us? The Groundwork Collaborative’s Chief Economist, Rakeen Mabud, wants you to know that the supply chain is working exactly as it was designed: for maximum profit, rather than reliably getting goods to people. And that’s the problem.

Rakeen Mabud is the Chief Economist and Managing Director of Policy and Research at the Groundwork Collaborative.

Twitter: @rakeen_mabud

How We Broke the Supply Chain https://prospect.org/economy/how-we-broke-the-supply-chain-intro/

Corporations Raise Prices as Consumers Spend ‘With a Vengeance’

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/27/business/economy/price-increases-inflation.html

Opinion: Larry Summers Shares the Blame for Inflation https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/28/opinion/larry-summers-inflation.html

Inflation causing financial strain for nearly half of U.S. households, poll finds

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/12/02/inflation-gallup-financial-hardship/

Stock Buybacks Beat Capital Spending for Many Big Companies

https://www.wsj.com/articles/stock-buybacks-beat-capital-spending-for-many-big-companies-11631611802

The stock market is punishing Walmart and Target for keeping costs low while the rest of the corporate sector prioritizes profits and makes inflation worse

https://www.businessinsider.com/walmart-target-keep-prices-low-corporations-prioritize-profits-inflation-worse-2021-11

Website: http://pitchforkeconomics.com/

Twitter: @PitchforkEcon

Instagram: @pitchforkeconomics

Nick’s twitter: @NickHanauer