Debunking Economics - the podcast cover art

Debunking Economics - the podcast

Debunking Economics - the podcast

By: Steve Keen & Phil Dobbie
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 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. Economics Science Social Sciences
Episodes
  • Planning, egos and resources

    Planning, egos and resources
    Aug 13 2025
    Phil and Steve pick up from last week’s discussion about the merits of central planning. Last time they talked about how big companies, like Walmart in the US, plan centrally, yet free marketeers have a problem with that sort of coordination being applied to the free market. This week Phil asks how you can ensure that government planning can ensure resources are allocated effectively. For example, isn’t there a risk that you’ll use raw materials and labour to satisfy the wants of the very rich, before you have met the needs of the very poor? How do we arrive at a hybrid approach that works?

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    46 mins
  • The need for central planning

    The need for central planning
    Aug 6 2025

    In one of his many walks around his neighbourhood Phil has been listening to a book, The People's Republic of Walmart, by Leigh Phillips & Michal Rozworski. Basically, a contrarian economist and a journalist teaming up together. Could such a combination ever really work?


    The book highlights how part of Walmart’s success story was its meticulous central planning, in contrast to Sears, a business decimated by an adherence to a market based internal structure. 30 internal division competed for resources, including shelf space.


    Clearly, Walmart’s focus on delivery helped it succeed. So, shouldn’t the same approach be used in the broader economy? When should we choose planning over open market competition?


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    40 mins
  • Lessons from Lesotho on trade and alliances

    Lessons from Lesotho on trade and alliances
    Jul 30 2025
    Lesotho (pronounced ,li-su-tu0 is a small African nature that President Trump threatened with 50% tariffs, describing as a country nobody had ever heard of. Maybe that’s enough for his disciples to dismiss the hardship tariffs will place on the country, where youth unemployment is rife and the minimum wage is US$100 per month. Phil says twenty years ago America was trying to help countries like Lesotho, with tariff free trade to help the economy grow. Why? Because as Steve points out, if developing countries grow, they will buy more American goods. Cut their trade off at source and people suffer. Or Lesotho, and other developing nations, develop closer ties with China and expedites its path to being the largest economy in the world.

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    36 mins
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