Fresh Economic Thinking

Cameron Murray
  • 4.8 (16)
  • SOCIETY & CULTURE
  • UPDATED WEEKLY

Cameron Murray is famous for questioning sacred cows and conventional wisdoms of both left and right. We chat about Cameron's latest Twitter battle and then delve into a controversy. Wide-ranging analysis - no topic out of bounds - inequality, regulation, housing, superannuation, lockdowns, tax, war, the meaning of life. www.fresheconomicthinking.com

  1. FET #74: How to think about scenarios in the Iran as an economist and scientist, with Paul Frijters

    12 APR

    FET #74: How to think about scenarios in the Iran as an economist and scientist, with Paul Frijters

    Economics can be thought of as the study of human conflict. Prices are one way to settle conflicts over who gets what. So how does an economist think about war, and emergent cultural and political forces that create conflicts amongst groups? Paul Frijters runs Academia Libera Mentis, a new education institution for minds that dare. He documents this grand education experiment here at his Subtack. Paul and I go way back. Paul was my PhD supervisor, and we co-wrote Rigged, a book that dives deep into the way political favouritism operates in Australia. He has studied the way human societies function, particularly how the underlying emotional drivers of greed and love generate loyal groups as well as fierce competition. He even has a book with Gigi Foster about that called An Economic Theory of Greed, Love, Groups, and Networks. This underlying understanding of humanity should be extremely helpful for assessing potential scenarios in major global events, like the war in Iran. Although I am very much on board with the economic thinking about greed, love and groups, I am very much in the dark about the history and current tensions driving this new conflict in the Middle East. Paul has recently lived in Saudi Arabia and has been studying the region in detail. So enjoy this chat and keep in mind how things have unfolded between when we recorded, on 16th March, and what is happening when you listen to it. You can find Paul’s academy website with details of upcoming open days and events here. As always, please like, share, comment, and subscribe. Thanks for your support. You can find Fresh Economic Thinking on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts. Theme: Happy Swing by Serge Quadrado Music—Creative Commons Licence CC BY-NC 4.0 This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.fresheconomicthinking.com/subscribe

    1hr 4min
  2. FET #73: Steve Keen on why economists are often blind to the macro cycle (plus housing and more)

    29 MAR

    FET #73: Steve Keen on why economists are often blind to the macro cycle (plus housing and more)

    One of the most requested guests on FET has been Professor Steve Keen. Steve has been a student of economics since the 1970s, and a critic of the oversimplifications of the neoclassical economic school. He was an academic at the University of Western Sydney for many years, and Head of School at Kingston University in the mid-2010s. One thing Steve taught me is to really think about the hidden assumptions in our economic models, which has been extremely valuable to me during my economic journey. Our conversation starts with Steve’s concerns about the Vietnam War draft, and moves on to his epiphanies about what was missing from economics education. We discuss his attempts to model the key insights of Hyman Minsky about the economic behaviour that generates macroeconomic cycles, and the state of the economic debate. Oh, and we talk about the very controversial issue of money creation by banks and the public Treasury! Find Steve’s YouTube channel here. Steve’s Debunking Economics podcast is here. And of course, Steve writes on Substack at Building a New Economics, which is where you can find his latest writings and conversations. As always, please like, share, comment, and subscribe. Thanks for your support. You can find Fresh Economic Thinking on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts. Theme: Happy Swing by Serge Quadrado Music—Creative Commons Licence CC BY-NC 4.0 This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.fresheconomicthinking.com/subscribe

    1hr 23min

  3. 15 MAR

    FET #72: Jim Penman on zoning, politics and fertility

    Most Aussie’s know Jim Penman’s face from the side of green trailers dragged through the suburbs as his franchisees mow lawns. But Jim is more than a businessman. He has written multiple books, has a PhD, and will run for election in Northcote, Victoria with the Libertarian party in November 2026. I wanted to find out what motivated Jim to run for politics, ask him about where he sees government waste and interference reducing our quality of life, and of course broach the topic of fertility, which he has a unique view on. It turns out that zoning and planning regulations are a big deal for Jim. Although we weren’t able to agree on much about this topic, we were able to break apart why our views differed. Find out more about Jim, his books, and try chatting with “AI Jim” at his website, jimpenman.com.au. Find him on X/Twitter here, and pre-order his new book Birth Rate Crisis here. Don’t forget about my upcoming Land and Housing Economics workshop on 9th and 10th June in Brisbane. Tickets here. PDF flyer attached below As always, please like, share, comment, and subscribe. Thanks for your support. You can find Fresh Economic Thinking on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts. Theme: Happy Swing by Serge Quadrado Music—Creative Commons Licence CC BY-NC 4.0 Interested in learning more? Fresh Economic Thinking runs in-person and online workshops to help your organisation dig into the economic issues you face and learn powerful insights. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.fresheconomicthinking.com/subscribe

    1hr 14min
  4. FET #71: Crémieux on how bad science and fraud lead to bad policy

    1 MAR

    FET #71: Crémieux on how bad science and fraud lead to bad policy

    Jay Lasker, aka Crémieux on Twitter/X, has spent the past few years digging into bad science and its bad data, especially in health science. For example, the rise in autism is almost solely due to expanded diagnosis and the incentives to get a diagnosis. This is especially relevant for policies like the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) in Australia, which pays out on the basis of a diagnosis. Worse, because this idea of a rise in autism has become a global meme, people and politicians are already searching for answers and interventions to prevent it from getting worse! Before asking the question “Is the data correct and showing what we think?”, we jump to the question “What should we do about it?” Indeed, many of the troubling social trends that seem to capture our collective minds are pure data measurement artefacts. They aren’t real. We can stop worrying. Find Jay’s terrific Substack here. And for his excellent regular posting on Twitter/X find him here. As always, please like, share, comment, and subscribe. Thanks for your support. You can find Fresh Economic Thinking on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts. Theme: Happy Swing by Serge Quadrado Music—Creative Commons Licence CC BY-NC 4.0 Interested in learning more? Fresh Economic Thinking runs in-person and online workshops to help your organisation dig into the economic issues you face and learn powerful insights. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.fresheconomicthinking.com/subscribe

    1hr 5min
  5. FET #70: Tim Sneesby is a real life town planner. Why is he making housing so unaffordable?

    15 FEB

    FET #70: Tim Sneesby is a real life town planner. Why is he making housing so unaffordable?

    You may have heard that our town planning system of rules and institutions that govern land uses in cities and often across the country is stifling new housing production, causing high prices. But much of the commentary misunderstands how town planning rules operate. I chat with Sydney town planner Tim Sneesby about how the system works, from a strategic level of creating zones and desired outcomes at a broad level, including earmarking infrastructure locations, to the day-to-day operations of assessing applications against those broader plans. I also push a little on some of the potential perverse incentives—wouldn’t town planners prefer to create cumbersome rules to keep themselves in a job and make their roles valuable even if there is no (or negative!) social benefit from those rules? For example, this article notes a rise in town planners per new home developed and the economic cost of regulating so many aspects of building designs. Let me know what you think? All comments are personal views and not those of Tim’s employer or associated entities. As always, please like, share, comment, and subscribe. Thanks for your support. You can find Fresh Economic Thinking on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts. Theme: Happy Swing by Serge Quadrado Music—Creative Commons Licence CC BY-NC 4.0 Interested in learning more? Fresh Economic Thinking runs in-person and online workshops to help your organisation dig into the economic issues you face and learn powerful insights. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.fresheconomicthinking.com/subscribe

    1hr 2min

  6. 1 FEB

    FET #69: David Maywald explains how the war on masculinity affects health, education, and families

    Has the cultural and political pendulum swung too far in favour of women? That’s the argument made by David Maywald in his new book, The Relentless War on Masculinity. He doesn’t argue that women have done this. But even men in power are still fighting the battles of many decades ago. David looks at education and health outcomes, noting that women became the majority of university students four decades ago. There are four ways in which the cultural and political bias is expressed, called the Four Horsewomen. Once you understand them, they are hard to miss. * Misandry — the hatred of men, as well as the systemic contempt for men. * Gamma bias — the psychological tendency to interpret male and female behaviour through different lenses. A man who asserts himself is labelled aggressive, while a woman doing the same is praised as confident. A mother who works long hours is celebrated for her ambition, while a father who does so is criticised for neglecting his family. * Gynocentrism — societies that focus on women, are primarily concerned with female perspectives and interests, and take a feminine point of view. * Gaslighting — convincing men that their concerns are imaginary. Speak up about family law bias, and you’re told you must hate women. Question the “gender pay gap” narrative, and you’re accused of being sexist. David explains how to perceive these biases by whether the same judgment would be made regardless of the gender of the person being observed. As a father with two sons reaching adulthood, the most interesting data point was that young men (aged 15-24) only sit behind men over 65 in the strength of their views about traditional gender roles. Perhaps the pendulum is swinging back. Here’s a chart showing these trends, courtesy of analysis by e61 Institute. Finally, an excerpt from the book is in the article below at David’s Substack. As always, please like, share, comment, and subscribe. Thanks for your support. You can find Fresh Economic Thinking on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts. Theme: Happy Swing by Serge Quadrado Music—Creative Commons Licence CC BY-NC 4.0 Interested in learning more? Fresh Economic Thinking runs in-person and online workshops to help your organisation dig into the economic issues you face and learn powerful insights. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.fresheconomicthinking.com/subscribe

    1hr 6min
  7. FET #68: Mark Changizi on the Hidden Logic Behind Emotion, Language, and Social Order

    18 JAN

    FET #68: Mark Changizi on the Hidden Logic Behind Emotion, Language, and Social Order

    During the COVID panic one of the sane voices was congitive scientist Mark Changizi. He saw the resulting panic as an emergent social and cultural phenomenon, and went as far as to sue the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) for directing social media companies to censor what they deemed as misinformation. In this conversation, Mark talks of his intellectual journey, from mathematician and physicist to congitive scientist. He describes the overarching view of human perception and coordination as evolved tools and how leads to social patterns that would be replicated in any civilised large scale cooperative creatures. Would aliens also be debating free markets and communism? Here’s one example of evolved traits. Why do humans perceive visual illusions rather than have an accurate visual receptor? Because our visual perception evolved to anticipate outcomes, not accurately represent the light hitting the eyeballs. This was a fascinating discussion, and stay tuned for Mark’s comments on academia and his life since leaving academia 16 years ago. His latest book is called Motorcycle Mind, and I would recommend his previous book Expressly Human. Please find Mark at the following. Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@markchangizi X: https://x.com/MarkChangiziWebsite: https://www.changizi.com As always, please like, share, comment, and subscribe. Thanks for your support. You can find Fresh Economic Thinking on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts. Theme: Happy Swing by Serge Quadrado Music—Creative Commons Licence CC BY-NC 4.0 Interested in learning more? Fresh Economic Thinking runs in-person and online workshops to help your organisation dig into the economic issues you face and learn powerful insights. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.fresheconomicthinking.com/subscribe

    1hr 12min
  8. Supply starts when speculation ends: Searching for a theory of housing production

    4 JAN

    Supply starts when speculation ends: Searching for a theory of housing production

    Wouldn’t it be great if we had a coherent way of understanding the economics of housing supply? You might be surprised, given the confidence of the prognostications of public commentators, that most don’t have a broadly accepted economic theory of why homes are built. It’s all ad hoc and often contradictory. Here, Tim Helm walks through the main empirical patterns that need to be explained by our economic theory of housing supply, and steps through why most current approaches are a poor fit. A good written explanation is here. Thanks for listening. As always, please like, share, comment, and subscribe. Thanks for your support. You can find Fresh Economic Thinking on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts. Theme: Happy Swing by Serge Quadrado Music—Creative Commons Licence CC BY-NC 4.0 Interested in learning more? Fresh Economic Thinking runs in-person and online workshops to help your organisation dig into the economic issues you face and learn powerful insights. Fresh Economic Thinking is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.fresheconomicthinking.com/subscribe

    44 min
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4.8
out of 5
16 Ratings

About

Cameron Murray is famous for questioning sacred cows and conventional wisdoms of both left and right. We chat about Cameron's latest Twitter battle and then delve into a controversy. Wide-ranging analysis - no topic out of bounds - inequality, regulation, housing, superannuation, lockdowns, tax, war, the meaning of life. www.fresheconomicthinking.com

Information

  • Creator
    Cameron Murray
  • Years Active
    2021 - 2026
  • Episodes
    124
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Cameron Murray
  • Show Website
    Fresh Economic Thinking

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