Couverture de Invisible Handcuffs: Unchaining Economics

Invisible Handcuffs: Unchaining Economics

Invisible Handcuffs: Unchaining Economics

De : Katy Shields
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Invisible Handcuffs is podcast series and documentary-in-the-making, hosted by Katy Shields, about how we can free ourselves from the economic ideology driving our crises. Each week we speak with economists, experts and activists who are working to reclaim economics across education, academia, policy and in their communities. Alongside our weekly episodes we'll also be posting ad-hoc interviews, out takes and reflections from the documentary we are making, planned for release within the next year. To learn more and subscribe go to www.invisiblehandcuffs.com Science Sciences sociales
Épisodes
  • Episode 05: From Flat-Earth Economics to Social-Ecological Economics with Clive Spash

    Episode 05: From Flat-Earth Economics to Social-Ecological Economics with Clive Spash
    Jul 2 2026
    How can philosophy of science help us in the fight to reclaim economics? That is the topic of discussion in our latest episode of Invisible Handcuffs, where I was delighted to be joined by leading a social-ecological economist Clive Spash. This discussion brought a whole new language to problems with economics that I have long sensed, but been unable to put into words. We delve deep into philosophy of science which Clive argues is crucial not just for deconstructing mainstream economics - which Clive says is literally walking us into disaster - but also, if we wish to build a new economics that can offer viable alternatives to the extractive and exploitative economies we have today. We also take time to discuss Clive’s route into ecological economics via environmental activism, and then later, to social-ecological economics which integrates social justice, incorporating aspects such as ethics, decolonialism and care. We also discuss links with other heterodox economics disciplines with Clive explaining how he hopes social-ecological economics could become a unifying social science that informs new approaches seeking to meet genuine needs within the earth’s finite limits. – Note, this episode comes after a short and partly unplanned break due to heatwaves and other unforeseen personal circumstances. For the summer we’re going to be switching to a biweekly schedule and will also be posting ad-hoc context related to our upcoming documentary. To be sure to receive the latest content to your inbox you can sign up at www.invisiblehandcuffs.com. This also helps the algorithm ensure others find out work.
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    1 h et 13 min
  • Episode 04: Building real world economics with Steve Keen

    Episode 04: Building real world economics with Steve Keen
    Jun 11 2026
    This week we discuss the need to overthrow the current economic paradigm, and what a new one could look like, with Professor Steve Keen. Steve is a prolific writer, teacher, blogger and vlogger, known as one of few economists to have predicted the global financial crash and a thorn in the side of mainstream or neoclassical economics for over 50 years. A former professor of economics at Kingston university in the UK, today you’re most likely to find him on YouTube or one of his weekly online seminars talking about the crisis of capitalism and the various flaws in mainstream thinking that have led us here, as well as the new real world-tethered economics he is trying to build. I first came across his work when researching why the world had ignored the Limits to Growth. Steve had uncovered deep flaws in climate economics, the strand of mainstream economics used by to inform climate policies for governments around the world for decades, including to set spending priorities and carbon pricing. The godfather of climate economics, William Nordhaus, was also one of the core critics of the Limits to Growth. But while that study had warned of a potential collapse in civilisation this century, a trajectory we appear to be on track for, Nordhaus’ own model, developed two decades later model found quite the opposite. And yet it would be his model that would set the template for others, with Steve and I agreeing that this is a core reason for the decades and indeed ongoing delay in tackling the crisis. We talk about why economists in particular prefer the story that capitalism and technology will always save us even as they continue to exclude energy, without which no technology is possible, from their models. Let alone a habitable climate. We also link this to economists' misunderstanding of money creation which leads to chronic underinvestment in public goods, while private money creation (ie credit) stokes bubbles, inflates asset prices and will likely cause the next crisis. A health warning - this interview gets a bit technical in places, with Steve discussing some of the maths behind both mainstream models as well as the alternatives he is building. He even uses a software he’s developed, to explain his approach to real world economics. You can watch the video of this podcast on YouTube @invisible-handcuffs. I also include links to Steve’s Patreon site, his online course and other resources he mentions in the show notes. If this episode leaves you with more questions than answers do leave a comment on which ever platform you are viewing or listening to this episode. You can also subscribe and sign up for updates at invisiblehandcuffs.com. Many thanks to Steve for joining us for this insightful and wide-ranging episode.
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    1 h et 20 min
  • Episode 03: Why the fight to reclaim economics needs feminist economists with Emma Holten

    Episode 03: Why the fight to reclaim economics needs feminist economists with Emma Holten
    Jun 4 2026
    My guest this week is Emma Holten. Emma is a feminist economist from Denmark and the author of a best-selling book, Deficit. Feminist economics, as Emma explains, is the study of the unhidden but vital work of ‘reproduction’ - that textured, often unquantifiable work that goes into making everything else in life, including economic life, possible: care, repair, love, friendship, compassion. But, that which doesn’t lend itself to being monetised and moulded into the kinds of models used by economists today, which have to prove their contribution to economic growth, but without which, no economic growth would be possible. Emma was motivated to become a feminist economist after a life-saving stay in hospital made her acutely aware of the value of care that is so fundamental to human survival, let alone economic survival, but often missing from economic models. As she put it, every euro she earned and contributed to economic growth following that week is directly attributed to the care she received, often from nurses on close to minimum wage. In this interview we talk about the ‘origin story’ of modern economics, starting in the enlightenment era and how early (male) economists wanted to be able to make clean and neat rational models just like the Newtonian physics. The messy work of care, mostly done by women, didn’t make the cut. More intriguing - and importantly - though is how this is upheld today, how we have arguably gone backwards in the past decades, as neoliberal ideology has captured mainstream economics. Models like cost-benefit analyses, used across government departments, are predicated on being able to prove the short-term, upfront ‘return on investment’, not the longer-term, often hard-to-measure but crucial benefits of reproduction. Even where care work is paid, thanks further injustices hidden in our economic systems and models, it is often underpaid. This is possible partly because, enabling more (white) women to ‘join the professional workforce’ has required a hidden army of unpaid or underpaid (black, brown, migrant) women taking on the work of care. As such, the very ‘liberal’ movement that was meant also to liberate women and minorities, ends up reinforcing these very injustices. We end by discussing reactions by the economic mainstream. How, thanks to a generation of economists who have been schooled only in the orthodoxy, such economists are not used to have their assumptions challenged - leading to quite wild reactions to Emma’s book. Challenging these assumptions, Emma says, requires all hands on deck - within and outside of the heterodox economics movement. Find out more about Emma’s work here: https://www.emmaholten.com/ You can listen to our first two episodes and find out more about our project here: https://www.invisiblehandcuffs.com/
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    47 min
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