Debunking Economics - the podcast

By: Steve Keen & Phil Dobbie
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  • Summary

  • Economist Steve Keen talks to Phil Dobbie about the failings of the neoclassical economics and how it reflects on society.

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    Copyright 2016 . All rights reserved.
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Economics Science Social Sciences
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Episodes
  • Bringing manufacturing home, the Japanese Way

    Bringing manufacturing home, the Japanese Way
    Mar 5 2025

    In a recent podcast Phil suggested that bringing manufacturing home to America won’t necessarily create jobs, because most factories will be automated. They just need one man and a dog, he said. The man to turn the machine on, and the dog to make sure he doesn’t touch anything else.


    That touched a nerve with Brian Hanley has spent his life refining manufacturing processes. The key ingredient suggests, is people. Elon Musk was the latest to try the lights out approach and realised it didn’t work.


    Instead, if the US wants to succeed with a competitive manufacturing sector, it needs to look to post-war Japan. Workers were an integral part of the refinement and adaptive nature of manufacturing processes, in part because of the company-based (rather than industry-speciifc) union structure. Listen in to find out how Japan’s adaptive approach is what’s needed if the US is to develop a successful manufacturing sector.


    Two books related to this, that Brian says should be required reading or every economist:

    - Kanban Just-in Time at Toyota by Japan Management Association

    - The Sayings of Shigeo Shingo by Shigeo Shingo


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    42 mins
  • Are we giving up on climate change?

    Are we giving up on climate change?
    Feb 26 2025
    Donald Trump, as the world’s highest profile climate change denier, has famously said, repeatedly, that he wants to drill baby drill, to make US energy even cheaper. It’s already half the price of Europe, and all the productivity benefits that provides. Phil and Steve talk about whether this the final nail in the coffin in a world which is paying lip service to the changes required. Is nuclear our only way to fast track a workable solution?

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    40 mins
  • The trade war has begun

    The trade war has begun
    Feb 19 2025
    Reciprocal tariffs could be coming to every OECD country if we believe everything Donald Trump says. He sees VAT as a tariff imposed on US imports, which means he wants to impose the same amount on those countries for goods they export to America. That would apply to every OECD country and, supposedly, the President has said there will be no exceptions. Does this mean a global trade war is just about to happen? Steve has been a supporter of protectionism as a way to aid growth, and understands the need for America to bring jobs back home, but not with the “bull in the China shop approach” that Trump is taking. But Phil asks whether the horse has already bolted. The web of international supply chains is well established and difficult to break. Haven’t we all benefited from lower cost goods? And even if you brought back production functions would automation mean few new jobs would be produced? In short, is Trump too late to make a difference. Will he just create chaos?

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    41 mins

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