23. Prof. Stephanie Kelton on MMT and the myth of budget deficits

Stephanie Kelton is a leading American economist and a Professor of Public Policy and Economics at Stony Brook University. Kelton was Chief Economist on the U.S. Senate Budget Committee and Economic Advisor to the Bernie 2016 presidential campaign. She's best known for being a pioneer of Modern Monetary Theory (MMT).

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22. Keynes v Hayek - LSE Lecture (Nicholas Wapshott)

Speaker(s): Nicholas Wapshott | Eighty years ago at the LSE, Friedrich Hayek launched an assault upon the new economic thinking of John Maynard Keynes. The clash was so bitter and vituperative that it scandalized the cloistered world of academia. Eighty years on, the differences between the two men have still not been finally resolved and their conflicting approaches to the economy continue to define the profound chasm between politicians of left and right. Nicholas Wapshott is a columnist for Reuters and regular contributor to Newsweek and The Daily Beast. He is the author of Keynes Hayek: The Clash That Defined Modern Economics and Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher: A Political Marriage. He is a former senior editor for The Times and the New York Sun and editorial consultant to Oprah Winfrey.

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21. Keynes v Hayek - LSE Debate

Speaker(s): Professor George Selgin, Professor Lord Skidelsky, Duncan Weldon, Dr Jamie Whyte | How do we get out of the financial mess we're in? Two of the great economic thinkers of the 20th century had sharply contrasting views: John Maynard Keynes believed that governments could create sustainable employment and growth. His contemporary and rival Friedrich Hayek believed that investments have to be based on real savings rather than fiscal stimulus or artificially low interest rates. BBC Radio 4 will be recording a debate between modern day followers of Keynes and Hayek. George Selgin is Professor of Economics at The Terry College of Business, University of Georgia. Selgin is one of the founders of the Modern Free Banking School, which draws its inspiration from the writings of Hayek on the denationalization of money and choice in currency. He has written extensively on free banking, the private supply of money and deflation. George Selgin is the author of The Theory of Free Banking: Money Supply under Competitive Note Issue (1988), Less Than Zero: The Case for a Falling Price Level in a Growing Economy (1997), and Good Money: Birmingham Button Makers, the Royal Mint, and the Beginnings of Modern Coinage (2008). Robert Skidelsky is Emeritus Professor of Political Economy at the University of Warwick. His three-volume biography of the economist John Maynard Keynes (1983, 1992, 2000) received numerous prizes, including the Lionel Gelber Prize for International Relations and the Council on Foreign Relations Prize for International Relations. He is the author of The World After Communism (1995) (American edition called The Road from Serfdom). He was made a life peer in 1991, and was elected Fellow of the British Academy in 1994. His latest book is Keynes: The Return of the Master. Duncan Weldon is a former Bank of England economist and currently works as an economics adviser to an international trade union federation. He has a long standing interest in and admiration for Keynes but also a respect for Hayek. He blogs at Duncan's Economic Blog. Jamie Whyte was born in New Zealand and educated at the University of Auckland and then the University of Cambridge in England, where he gained a Ph.D. in philosophy. Jamie remained at Cambridge for a further three years, as a fellow of Corpus Christi College and a lecturer in the Philosophy Faculty. During this time he published a number of academic articles on the nature of truth, belief and desire, and won the Analysis Essay Competition for the best article by a philosopher under the age of 30. Jamie then joined Oliver Wyman & Company, a London-based strategy consulting firm specialising in the financial services industry, for which he still works, as the Head of Research and Publications. Jamie has published two books: Crimes Against Logic (McGraw Hill, Chicago, 2004) and A Load of Blair (Corvo, London, 2005). Jamie is a regular contributor of opinion articles to The Times (of London), the Financial Times and Standpoint magazine. In 2006 he won the Bastiat Prize for journalism.He is on the advisory board of The Cobden Centre. The debate will be chaired by Paul Mason, economics editor of BBC 2's Newsnight and author of Meltdown: The End of the Age of Greed.

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20. Making Money (Fran Boait on money creation) - BBC Radio 4

David Grossman asks how and when money is created in the modern economy, how that influences asset prices and financial stability and hears about a radical Swiss idea for monetary reform. Joining the debate are Positive Money director Fran Boait and Professor Sir Charles Bean, former chief economist and deputy governor for monetary policy at The Bank of England.

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19. How Money Works (Ben Dyson) - BBC Radio 4

Ben Dyson, founder and director of Positive Money, tells how his disillusionment with mainstream economics led him to campaign for a proper understanding of how money works as the first step in fixing a failed banking system.

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18. Cassandras of the crash (the people who predicted it) - BBC Radio 4

Ten years ago, in autumn 2008, the world watched as the biggest financial meltdown in history unfolded. The crash plunged the world into recession, lost millions of families their homes and its shadow still hangs over our politics today. And when the Queen went to the London School of Economics, she asked the question everyone wanted the answer to: why did no one see it coming?

In this programme Aditya Chakrabortty, senior economics commentator at the Guardian newspaper, chairs a discussion between four economists who can claim they did: Raghuram Rajan, former governor of the Reserve Bank of India; Steve Keen, professor of economics at Kingston University in London; Ann Pettifor, director of PRIME, Policy Research in Macroeconomics and council member of the Progressive Economy Forum; and Peter Schiff, American stockbroker and investor. They warned financial crisis was imminent, they wrote books and papers, they even told the powerful to their faces - and they got nowhere. They showed intellectual bravery of a kind that isn't often celebrated, and it cost some of them dearly.

Call them four "Cassandras" - cursed, as Greek myth has it, to utter prophecies that were true but never believed. Had they been heeded we may have averted what the then chief US central banker, Ben Bernanke, calls "the worst financial crisis in global history, including the Great Depression".How did they see it when no one else did? Why didn't others listen? And what happens next?

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17. Shaking the Magic Money Tree (money creation) - BBC Radio 4

During the 2017 general election, Theresa May argued there was "No magic money tree" to pay for the things some voters wanted. Although she was chided for being unsympathetic to various worthy spending claims, a more fundamental criticism could have been levelled at the Prime Minister: There is indeed a Magic Money Tree!! Since the financial crisis, no less than £435billion of new money has been created through the policy of "quantitative easing", equivalent to a fifth of Britain's annual GDP. In this programme, financial journalist Michael Robinson finds out what happened to this staggering sum of money, and evaluates its effect on the lives of us all.

With the help of expert testimony, Robinson explains how this controversial policy works, effectively creating money at the push of a button. But as he also finds out, the new funds are only indirectly injected into the wider economy, typically through big institutional investors lending to companies. Few of these transactions, it turns out, have involved the kind of 'real world' investment that might be expected to stimulate the productive economy and generate growth. Indeed, almost all of them have been within the financial sector itself, and many people argue that the returns on QE have been astonishingly small.

Moreover, the influx of cash has inflated the price of assets and led to a relative widening of the gap between rich and poor, which now threatens to upset our economic and political order. Even QE's deliberate objective to lower interest rates has also served to make homes and shares more expensive, while those already holding such assets have seen the greatest benefit. Britain's own 'Magic Money Tree' might have saved the economy from meltdown almost a decade ago, but it seems its many side-effects might have been far less beneficial.

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16. Economics With Subtitles - Interest Rates

In this edition, Ayeisha and Steve make sense of interest rates. Why did they lead to coffins full of car keys getting sent to the US Federal Reserve? What factors affect what you have to pay on your loans? And what do your film choices say about why you decide to borrow? Producers: Simon Maybin & Phoebe Keane Presenters: Ayeisha Thomas-Smith & Steve Bugeja.

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15. The Entrepreneurial State - Mariana Mazzucato

Where do the boldest innovations, with the deepest consequences for society, come from? Many business leaders, entrepreneurs, and libertarians claim that the private sector leads the way always, and government at best follows by decades and at worst impedes the process with bureaucratic regulations. Mariana Mazzucato proves otherwise.  Many of the most profound innovations—from the Internet and GPS to nanotech and biotech —had their origin in government programs developed specifically to explore innovations that might eventually attract private sector interest.  Ignoring this entrepreneurial risk taking role of government has fuelled a very different story about governments role in the economy, and also fuelled the dysfunctional dynamic whereby risk is socialised—with tax payers absorbing the greatest risk--- but rewards are not. Mazzucato will argue that socialization of risk, privatization of rewards is not only bad for the future of innovation eco-systems but also a key driver of inequality. What to do about it?  Mazzucato is a professor of the Economics of Innovation at UCL and author of The Entrepreneurial State: debunking private vs. public sector myths.

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14. The Value of Everything - Mariana Mazzucato

Professor Mariana Mazzucato (PhD) holds the Chair in the Economics of Innovation and Public Value at University College London (UCL), and is Founder and Director of the UCL Institute for Innovation & Public Purpose (IIPP). She is winner of the 2014 New Statesman SPERI Prize in Political Economy, the 2015 Hans-Matthöfer-Preis, and the 2018 Leontief Prize for Advancing the Frontiers of Economic Thought. She was named as one of the ‘3 most important thinkers about innovation‘ by the New Republic. She advises policy makers around the world on innovation-led inclusive growth and is currently a member of the Scottish Government’s Council of Economic Advisors; the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network Leadership Council; and SITRA’s Advisory Panel in Finland. She is currently a Special Advisor for the EC Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation, Carlos Moedas, and has recently authored a high impact EC report Mission-Oriented Research & Innovation in the European Union. She is also a Special Advisor to the Secretary General of the OECD, Angel Gurría, for the OECD’s New Growth Narrative. Her highly-acclaimed book The Entrepreneurial State: debunking public vs. private sector myths was on the 2013 Books of the Year list of the Financial Times. She is co-editor of Rethinking Capitalism: Economics and Policy for Sustainable and Inclusive Growth. Her new book The Value of Everything: Making and Taking in the Global Economy is published by Penguin. Recorded at The Tabernacle in London in May 2018.

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13. Economics With Subtitles - Inflation

Economics with Subtitles is your everyday guide to economics and why you should care. In this show, Ayeisha and Steve make sense of inflation. They’ll explain how hyperinflation is affecting how Venezuelans have sex, why you can’t afford a ticket to see your favourite band in concert anymore and why a sale on sofas isn’t always a good thing. Producers: Simon Maybin & Phoebe Keane Presenters: Ayeisha Thomas-Smith & Steve Bugeja.

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12. Fixing Finance - Adair Turner and John Kay at the RSA

In this exclusive ‘in conversation’ event at the RSA, Adair Turner and John Kay will respond to each other’s work and to the sometimes contrasting, sometimes complementary conclusions and policy recommendations they arrive at – and tackle the key questions: What does ‘good’, socially useful finance look like? Is banking too important to be left just to bankers? Do we need to revisit our understanding of money and debt? Or should we stop treating finance as special and demand that a much simpler industry conform to the same market disciplines as other industries? What are the regulatory and institutional reforms that we’d need to enact to get us there?

RSA

11. The productivity puzzle - Andy Haldane LSE Lecture

Speaker(s): Andrew G Haldane | Productivity growth has weakened across a number of economies over recent years, particularly in the UK. Does this reflect a slowing of innovation? What role can public policy play in supporting productivity growth? Andrew G Haldane is the Chief Economist at the Bank of England. He is also Executive Director for Monetary Analysis, Research and Statistics, and a member of the MPC. Andrew has responsibility for research and statistics across the Bank. Andrew has an Honorary Doctorate from the Open University, is Honorary Professor at the University of Nottingham, a Visiting Fellow at Nuffield College, Oxford, a member of the Economic Council of the Royal Economic Society, a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences and a Member of the Research and Policy Committee at Nesta. Andrew is Chairman and co-founder of Pro Bono Economics, a charity that matches volunteer economists with charitable projects. Andrew has written extensively on domestic and international monetary and financial policy issues and has published over 150 articles and four books. In 2014, TIME magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world. 

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10. Did Keynes have a better plan for exchange rates? (SK)

Economies are susceptible to the vagaries of international exchange rates. In theory, in the long term exchange rates find a level that helps balance the prices of goods across borders. In reality the mechanism is more volatile than that, as we’ve seen in the fall in the value of Sterling in response to Brexit and the rise in the US dollar with the expectation of Trump's spending program. In this podcast Phil Dobbie talks to Prof Steve Keen about Keyne’s plan to create a more stable method of determining exchange rates – one that didn’t rely on the US dollar or the value of gold. Is it time to revisit Keynes' thinking? Recorded on 10th January, 2017

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9. Does QE benefit the poor as well as the rich? (SK)

The US Federal Reserve is getting rid of it, the European Central Bank has talked about it and could go next. Quantitative Easing, it seems, is falling out of favour. But was it doing any good anyway? In this podcast Phil Dobbie asks Professor Steve Keen whether QE helps the broader economy or just the financial elites? Vitor Constancio, the Vice President of the European Central Bank has said that QE reduces inequality because it creates jobs for low income workers. Is he right?

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8. Is a trade deficit a bad thing? (SK)

In this podcast series Prof Steve Keen has repeatedly argued the importance of keeping an economy in surplus. But, Alex Howlett, a regular listener and Patreon supporter, asks why this might be. He suggests a trade surplus is a good thing, because it means companies overseas are willing to accept your currency. The more currency you generate, the more you can buy. To a point. Phil Dobbie asks Steve, what’s wrong with Alex’s hypothesis?

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7. Monetary v fiscal policy - which one works best? (SK)

Central banks like to control inflation using monetary theory (managing the cost of borrowing) as their way to control inflation and unemployment and avoid recessions. Whereas Keynes argues that government spending is the way to avoid recessions – pump prime the economy and “she’ll be right mate”. In this week’s podcast Phil Dobbie asks Prof Steve Keen if monetary policies ever worked – and isn’t there a danger of fiscal policy racking up too much debt? 

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6. Inflation - New Economics Foundation

Kirsty Styles chats to James Meadway, Senior Economist at the New Economics Foundation (NEF), about the Bank of England's inflation report and what it means for the UK economy and real wages in 2015. Jargon of the week: Inflation and deflation Listener question of the week: What are hedge funds? Links: Matthew Whittaker, “Boom time for wages?”, Resolution Foundation blog (17 February 2015).

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5. The Economist asks - who was Adam Smith?

Anne McElvoy investigates the life of the Scottish philosopher now known as the father of modern economics. What does an author who died in 1790 have to teach us about trade wars and crony capitalism in the 21st century? And which American television villain kept a copy of “The Wealth of Nations” on his bookshelf?

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4. Inflation - is it a good thing or a bad thing? (SK)

Recently the inflation rate in the UK hit one percent. It’s a long way from the high teens of the late seventies and early eighties. In this inaugural episode of The Debunking Economics Podcast, Phil Dobbie suggests that low inflation is a good thing. It means prices aren’t going up. But, Prof. Steve Keen suggests there’s one reason we should be welcoming higher inflation. He also discusses the role of inflation in monetary decisions made by Reserve Banks around the world. Recorded October 21st 2016.

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3. GDP a brief but affectionate history - Diane Coyle LSE Lecture

Why did the size of the U.S. economy increase by 3 percent on one day in mid-2013 - or Ghana's balloon by 60 percent overnight in 2010? Why did the UK financial industry show its fastest expansion ever at the end of 2008 - just as the world's financial system went into meltdown? And why was Greece's chief statistician charged with treason in 2013 for apparently doing nothing more than trying to accurately report the size of his country's economy? The answers to all these questions lie in the way we define and measure national economies around the world: gross domestic product. Diane Coyle (@diane1859) is a professor of economics at the Cambridge University. She runs the consultancy Enlightenment Economics, and as well as a regular blog, she is the author of numerous books, including The Economics of Enough and The Soulful Science: What Economists Really Do and Why It Matters. Her latest book is GDP: A Brief but Affectionate History.

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1. Economics With Subtitles - GDP

From the BBC Economics With Subtitles series. In this edition, Ayeisha and Steve look at how we quantify economic success. Should dodgy drug deals be included? What is Steve's contribution to GDP? And should we ban people who pinch too many of your crisps?

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2. Economics With Subtitles - Government Debt

From the BBC Economics With Subtitles series. In this edition, Ayeisha and Steve look at how we quantify economic success. Should dodgy drug deals be included? What is Steve's contribution to GDP? And should we ban people who pinch too many of your crisps?
https://archive.org/download/2.ECONOMICSWITHSUBTITLESGOVERNMENTDEBT/2.%20ECONOMICS%20WITH%20SUBTITLES%20-%20GOVERNMENT%20DEBT.mp3