We've talked about some incredibly poor countries on this channel before, but perhaps nothing as bad as the small East African country of Eritrea. This country is a complete military dictatorship, and has been called the North Korea of Africa. There are no free markets. No trading partners. Their debt to GDP ratio runs very high for one reason only: their country is in a critical region of the world for international shipping. But life really couldn't be much worse in Eritrea. Learn more about y...
Feb 15, 2024•17 min
Capitalism is the system that has helped the world become infinitely more wealthy than it has ever been in human history, but there are problems. A disregard for the drawbacks of production like waste, pollution and inequality are often cited by people who want capitalism to be replaced by social democracy, communism or even anarchy. But even communist countries like the USSR and China have reluctantly returned to capitalism. So, is capitalism inevitable? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit ...
Feb 10, 2024•16 min
The Davos Summit of the World Economic Forum (WEF) draws a lot of attention every year. Started by German engineer Klaus Schwab, the WEF the stated mission to "engage business, political, academic and other leaders of society to shape global, regional and industry agendas.” It's no wonder there are a lot of conspiracy hypotheses about the real motivations of such an organisation. But despite their image as the club of the wealthy elites, the reality is much less sinister, but could somehow be wo...
Feb 07, 2024•13 min
Apparently us guys think about the Roman Empire 5 times a day, but from an economic Perspective it's hard to see why. While they did build a lot of architectural monuments, their economy was actually rather pathetic by almost all metrics. Why was Rome, which had a large empire and notoriety throughout Europe for millennia after its demise, actually a very weak economy? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Feb 03, 2024•17 min
France's problems arguably go back 200 years to their slow and steady approach to adopting industrialisation. While many other countries can learn from France's strong protection for workers' rights, at the moment this has made France a very uncompetitive country with some of the worst brain drain across the EU. Why work in France for lower wages when they can make so much more in the UK, Germany and the US. Is France stuck at just being the place with fancy handbags and perfumes, or can it chan...
Jan 29, 2024•19 min
There is no more deadly area in the world than the DMZ between North and South Korea. Millions of mines, guns and surveillance prevent anyone from crossing. But if tensions were to somehow stop and North and South Korea reunite into one country, it would still be almost impossible to combine their economies. Why would we not be able to use the lessons learned by the reunification of East and West Germany? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...
Jan 26, 2024•20 min
Japan's economy has been stagnant for 2 decades, and while some economists look at this as an outlier, it might be something that just happens to all advanced economies, and Japan just got there first. After suffering the "lost generation", can Japan come back and recover growth, or is their fate one we will all eventually reach? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jan 12, 2024•19 min
Australia's biggest export is natural resources, and as we have talked about on the channel many times, this isn't always a great thing for an economy. Resources don't provide much value to the local economy, especially in Australia where mines are thousands of miles from residential centres, and they don't employ all that many people for the massive wealth they create. Australia lags far behind technological centres like the US, but somehow has a strong economy. How has it done this and what ca...
Jan 09, 2024•19 min
While California is famous for its industries, Texas has so many incredible advantages and opportunities that it could one day overtake the biggest state economy in the US. What possible issues could affect the rapidly growing Texan economy, and what could its future look like? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Dec 30, 2023•13 min
LinkedIn Jobs helps you find the qualified candidates you want to talk to, faster. Post your job for free at https://www.linkedin.com/ee . Terms and conditions apply. The EU represents the third largest economy globally, with a population of 447 million people and 20 member states. Its five largest countries are Germany, France, Italy, Spain, and Poland. However, the EU faces several significant economic challenges, including the debt crisis, Brexit, and tensions with major energy s...
Dec 28, 2023•16 min
LinkedIn Jobs helps you find the qualified candidates you want to talk to, faster. Post your job for free at https://www.linkedin.com/ee . Terms and conditions apply. There's a reason we include confidence and stability on our National Leaderboard. It might not be an easily measurable economic metric, but it can have a massive effect on a national economy. If people don't have confidence that a country is in good hands and will be managed well into the future, then they will stop inve...
Dec 26, 2023•17 min
LinkedIn Jobs helps you find the qualified candidates you want to talk to, faster. Post your job for free at https://www.linkedin.com/ee . Terms and conditions apply. The first video we did on this channel was about Norway, a country that has some of the wealthiest citizens in the world, as well as incredible economic management. They avoided the Dutch disease when they discovered offshore oil, but now they have discovered the world's largest reserves of phosphates. Could this strategic...
Dec 23, 2023•25 min
Check out our new YouTube Channel Context Matters: https://www.youtube.com/@context.matters The consequences of politicising economics can be deep and long lasting. We would all like to think that economists focus on data and remove the personal and political from their studies, but we are not naive enough to believe this is true. Politicians want to get elected, and economists want to bolster their careers. So what can happen when the people who are supposed to be studying and looking after the...
Dec 20, 2023•8 min
Italy is in trouble... but this doesn't seem to be a new thing. With mountainous protection from the north and great trade connections through the Mediterranean sea, Italy has been in an ideal geographic position that has benefitted the country economically for millennia. After a decade of stagnation, can Italy boom like it has in the past, or is this time different? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Dec 18, 2023•19 min
We all know that corruption is a bad thing. People in government or the public sector using their position to personally enrich themselves is a form of stealing, but in some situations this can actually help to grow an economy. But in what situations, and how long can corruption continue to grow an economy once it becomes more developed? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Dec 08, 2023•9 min
Most countries really want to bring in tourists for the big infusion of money into the local economy. But Bhutan makes it incredibly expensive to visit, and bans all visitors from climbing the parts of the Himalayan mountains that are within their borders. Why? Do they just want to protect their culture from tourists, with the hotels, photo spots and trouble that comes with them? And does make the people happier? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...
Dec 05, 2023•16 min
If unintended consequences aren't considered, there can be a real and deadly trade-off between economic benefit and human wellbeing. Making poor policy decisions that may seem like economic opportunities can and have lead to famines, economic collapse and people losing their livelihoods, homes and lives. This is why economics is so important, and poor economic decision making can literally be fatal for millions of people. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...
Dec 04, 2023•16 min
We're exploring South Korea's impressive economic transformation, from an agrarian backwater to a global powerhouse. Home to internationally recognized companies and cutting-edge industries, South Korea is a fascinating case study for economists worldwide. In this video, we'll examine the drivers of South Korea's potential growth in the next decade, the obstacles that could undermine its entire economic system, and why this is all so important for the rest of us outside South Korea for our own e...
Nov 30, 2023•16 min
We've avoided talking about the gender pay gap for a long time because, frankly, it's an emotional topic. But this year's Nobel Prize in Economics (Sveriges Riksbank Prize) was awarded to Claudia Goldin for her work explaining the gender pay gap using historical data and taking the emotion out of the equation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Nov 27, 2023•14 min
Argentina's prosperity used to rival the US, but now it is bouncing between economic highs and lows. In just decades, it's seen rapid growth and dire crashes five times. What keeps derailing this nation's economy, and can it break the cycle, and what can we learn from their unique economic situation? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Nov 23, 2023•17 min
Deng Xiaoping's reforms in the 80s transformed Shenzhen, a small town near Hong Kong, into an economic powerhouse. China's rapid growth lifted millions from poverty but did it grow too quickly to be sustainable? Now China faces deflation, and experts are worried that this could spell the end of the economic miracle. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Nov 20, 2023•17 min
Poland defies European economic trends by having one of the fastest-growing economies on the continent. While many European nations face stagnation, Poland shines, even outperforming its former Soviet counterparts, including resource-rich Russia. Despite historical challenges and its unique geopolitical situation, Poland's success offers insights for struggling economies worldwide, although it faces hurdles ahead. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...
Nov 08, 2023•20 min
There's a massive cost that every developed economy has to deal with that nobody talks about... Infrastructure maintenance. It sounds boring but all of those developments that governments love to talk up can end up costing a fortune to maintain. So what can we do about this and why is this such a problem? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Nov 01, 2023•17 min
Sometimes as economists we need to analyse complex decisions to understand what the outcomes might be. On the more baffling end of the scale we have Saudi Arabia spending billions on football, golf and Formula 1 stars who are mostly a little past their prime to come and play in the largely unknown Saudi leagues. Is this simply sports-washing (a PR stunt) or is there something more clever going on? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...
Oct 25, 2023•16 min
LinkedIn Jobs helps you find the qualified candidates you want to talk to, faster. Post your job for free at https://www.linkedin.com/ee . Terms and conditions apply. Niger's coup has set a lot in motion. It's rich in uranium which has gotten France involved, and China's belt and road initiative was set to draw oil from Niger, which could help grow their desperately poor economy, and somehow Russia's Wagner group is involved. But with its suspended membership of ECOWAS, things are about t...
Oct 18, 2023•18 min
LinkedIn Jobs helps you find the qualified candidates you want to talk to, faster. Post your job for free at https://www.linkedin.com/ee . Terms and conditions apply. Trade wars are costing the world trillions of dollars every year, but far less attention is paid to the movement and control of the movement of skills and labour. It is much easier than ever before to take an education and move to a country where workers can benefit personally, but at a certain cost to the country that train...
Oct 12, 2023•22 min
LinkedIn Jobs helps you find the qualified candidates you want to talk to, faster. Post your job for free at https://www.linkedin.com/ee . Terms and conditions apply. Brunei is a welfare state, where the government basically pays for everything from national defence to schools, energy to heavily subsidised housing. But their oil reserves are running out and they aren't diversifying their export industry quickly enough to prepare for the day when they no longer have a free lunch. Learn mor...
Oct 11, 2023•13 min
LinkedIn Jobs helps you find the qualified candidates you want to talk to, faster. Post your job for free at https://www.linkedin.com/ee . Terms and conditions apply. We wanted to highlight the paradox of global economic growth alongside isolated national crises. Why do certain economies like Lebanon, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan face collapse when the global economy is reaching unprecedented highs? We'll identify common factors behind these failures, and discuss potential solutions to safegua...
Oct 06, 2023•16 min
LinkedIn Jobs helps you find the qualified candidates you want to talk to, faster. Post your job for free at https://www.linkedin.com/ee . Terms and conditions apply. Economists can't seem to decide if we need more or fewer children? Does overpopulation drain Earth's resources too much or does an ageing population threaten economies? What challenges does either option present and can we solve this paradox? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...
Oct 04, 2023•15 min
LinkedIn Jobs helps you find the qualified candidates you want to talk to, faster. Post your job for free at https://www.linkedin.com/ee . Terms and conditions apply. AI raises concerns for jobs and society. As machines surpass human abilities, a growing number of complex jobs are being outsourced to machine who can do better work for a lower cost. This prompts questions about how economic systems can adapt to most people having a net negative economic value." Learn more about your ad cho...
Oct 02, 2023•13 min
