Jim Stanford, the author of the popular Economics for Everyone (from which the cartoon to the left is taken), and I spoke at a double bill on the global debt crisis for the venerable Sydney institution “Politics in the Pub” last night.
We had a full house for an provocative evening on why the Dismal Science is neither necessarily Dismal, nor anything close to a Science, and why the debt crisis is still with us.
Jim, as well as being an outstanding non-orthodox economist, is also a very engaging speaker–as I whispered to the Chair (Professor Frank Stilwell, from Sydney University’s Department of Political Economy) while Jim spoke, he was a very hard act to follow!
I did my best, though as Jim noted, the “No Powerpoint” rule that Politics in the Pub enforces meant that I didn’t have my usual guide on what to say next, and I rambled somewhat. Jim on the other hand prepared his own “Pre-Powerpoint” guide and gave a much more well structured talk.
Jim is in New Zealand right now, on a self-funded sabbatical from his employer the Canadian Auto Workers Union. If you enjoy what you see in the video below, you can follow Jim’s work by visiting his blog, reading his posts on the Progressive Economics Forum, and read the occasional papers he writes for the Post Autistic Economics Review.
The video is lengthy–our talks and the question time afterwards lasted over two hours–but entertaining, and it opens with two songs by the Solidarity Choir.
Steve Keen’s Debtwatch Podcast