『Invisible Handcuffs: Unchaining Economics』のカバーアート

Invisible Handcuffs: Unchaining Economics

Invisible Handcuffs: Unchaining Economics

著者： 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 社会科学 科学
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  • Episode 07: What economists get wrong about risk, technology and progress with Luke Kemp

    Episode 07: What economists get wrong about risk, technology and progress with Luke Kemp
    2026/08/14
    In what way might economists’ flawed understanding of progress be driving the many risks we face today? This episode's guest is Luke Kemp, Research Affiliate at the Cambridge Center for the Study of Existential Risk and author of the best-selling, critically acclaimed book Goliath’s Curse, The History and Future of Societal Collapse. Luke actually trained and worked as a climate economist. Indeed he was drawn to researching civilisational collapse when he saw that climate economic models were tending to look only at average trajectories and not so-called tail risks — these are the worst case outcomes which may have a smaller probability, but could be potentially catastrophic. But to understand civilisational risk he realised he had to define what civilizations actually are. And this is where his work actually becomes highly relevant for understanding the ways in which economics is going wrong today, and how we might be able to fix it. Many of us, not just economists, equate civilisation with progress. That Hobbesian idea that life was nasty, brutish and short until the civilising force of states and empires came and liberated us. But when Luke started to dig into these periods he found contradictory evidence. Rather than being times of human flourishing, health and wellbeing actually tends to fall overall, while ecological degradation, resource conflicts, inflation, violence all tend to rise. So they were not really civil times in the sense we might understand the word today — but structured around what Luke terms dominance hierarchies - dominance of humans over nature, men over women, rich over poor, master over slave. It might have been good for elites, who got to hoard all the wealth and power — but not the broader population. Indeed, when these civilisations fall, most people tend to be better off. Hence Luke developed his preferred term: Goliaths. Well, today Luke claims we’re living in a Global Goliath, the period that effectively started with the industrial revolution. And this is where we make the link with economics, because much of economics takes the hockey-stick view of human progress as effectively starting a few hundred years ago, with industrialisation, which led to this massive expansion in the global economy, in wealth and so-called progress. And no doubt, a lot of good has come out of it. Especially since WWII life expectancy, nutrition etc has improved. But again, that’s not the whole story. Luke has found that for much of the industrial revolution, like past “Goliaths”, life was pretty terrible for most people, in many ways worse than before. It wasn’t until democratic struggle — labour movements, suffragettes, civil rights movements — that populations more broadly were able to benefit from the innovation, from this “progress”. So what does that mean for today? In my earlier discussion with economist Steve Keen we talked about how economists’ obsession with innovation as the key driver of growth overlooked that all technology requires energy. Luke's analysis helps us see that part of the reason why economists ignored and continue to ignore energy and nature stems from the idea that we can dominate nature, as well as a view of history effectively written by elites who have benefited from innovation and growth. Not only do such models ignore nature, but they ignore the social movements so critical to ensuring that innovations benefit people more broadly. And they also ignore the externalities —because each technology brings new problems. And yet today we still see economic models betting on innovation as the core means of producing growth, with growth overall necessarily assumed to be good, whatever the risks — not least as concerns AI — Luke's latest area of research, which we get to towards the end of the discussion. If you enjoy this episode, please like and share far and wide and consider a free or paid subscription at invisiblehandcuffs.com.
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    1 時間 1 分
  • Episode 06: How Eurocentrism in economics locks women and the Global South in crisis with Bhumika Muchhala

    Episode 06: How Eurocentrism in economics locks women and the Global South in crisis with Bhumika Muchhala
    2026/07/28
    Our latest episode of Invisible Handcuffs I was delighted to be joined by Bhumika Muchhala, Political Economist and Senior Advisor at Third World Network as well as Part-Time Faculty at The New School. Our discussion centres on the problem of Eurocentrism in economics, and its impact on a region where neoliberal economics is arguably doing most damage: the Global South. Eurocentrism refers to the global dominance of western ideas and ideologies in economics and by default — in our international trade and financial institutions. In our discussion Bhumika argues that while the violence and looting of political colonisation in the Global South (home to 80-88% of the world’s population, spanning central and southern America, Africa, central and south-east Asia) may be over — it has been replaced by 'economic colonisation'. We talked about one institution in particular — the IMF — with Bhumika explaining this is a ‘kitchen table’ issue in the Global South, even though it is countries in the Global North — especially the US and Europe — that hold most sway, with the lion’s share of voting rights and powers to appoint its leadership. This Euroecentric dominance shows up in IMF loans conditions couched in terms like ‘market liberalisation’ and ‘fiscal discipline’ — whose lineage can be traced back to neoliberal economists like Milton Friedman and the Chicago School. These conditions force austerity on countries already struggling to provide basic services, while demanding ‘investibility’ like cuts to labour protections, corporate taxes and environmental red tape. In short, they underpin extraction and ongoing ‘unequal exchange’ — the transfer of cheap resources and labour from South to North thanks to permanently weakened currencies and a need to sell resources for foreign currency to pay back their loans. As Bhumika explains, this is then compounded by western credit rating agencies who downgrade countries as soon as public spending rises, even if the cause stems from elsewhere (like Covid-related healthcare spending). This drives up the cost of debt and puts countries at risk of default, forcing them back to the IMF. And thus, the vicious debt-austerity cycle repeats. The numbers on debt stress in the Global South today that we discuss are truly shocking with debt repayments in many countries now vastly outstripping spending on health, education, public infrastructure or welfare — let alone climate. And yet that’s even not the worst part. Because according to Bhumika, also a decolonial feminist scholar, the real ‘shock absorbers’ of IMF- and market-imposed austerity are women, with Bhumika also explaining the 'triple jeopardy' of diminished access to essential services, loss of livelihoods, and increased unpaid work and time poverty. We end by talking about the need not just for economic justice but epimestic justice. This means enabling a plurality of though schools both in economic thinking and in knowledge creation more broadly. Bhumika ends by giving her view on some possible issues around which we might be able to unite, across Global North and South. This episode marks the first in a set that will delve more deeply into the ways in which the neoliberal status quo in economics is upheld and reinforced. You can stay tuned for more episodes by subscribing at www.invisiblehandcuffs.com.
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    1 時間 16 分
  • 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
    2026/07/02
    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 時間 13 分
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