welcome to hard talk I'm Steven Sokka it
is a good time to be an economist who
swims against the tide of conventional
wisdom after all the last decade has
seen classical economics take a beating
the great financial crash wasn't
supposed to happen nor was the prolonged
eurozone stagnation and now the liberal
economic consensus tells us that BRICS
it will be a disaster but why should we
believe it well we shouldn't according
to my guess the influential contrary an
economist Steve King made all the
argument do any economists deserve our
trust.
Steve Keene
welcome to hard talk the ladder to be
here again you describe yourself as an
energy economist does that mean that you
just listen to what all of the sort of
bastions of economic collective wisdom
say from the US fed to the UK Treasury
to the IMF and you just think I'll say
exactly the opposite?
キーン
that wouldn't be a
bad strategy but now I've been oh
there's been an alternative of those
strands and economics throughout its
history going right back to the days
before we even had what we call the
economics back in the days of William
Petty and so on and I've been part of
that contrarian tradition which you can
probably date back to about 1810 right
and imagine looking to it since 1810 yes
the orthodoxy is changed somewhat it's
changed dramatically switch alone with
the orthodoxy we have now really began
in the 1870s but that orthodoxy
fundamentally saw capitalism as being a
system attends towards equilibrium now
it wasn't because of the people who
wrote their stuff believed I'm talking
about Jevons and Marshall and so on back
in those days but they didn't believe it
was possible to analyze the economy
unless you assumed it was an equilibrium
so what was a technical choice for them
back then efecto became a religion in
the night in the 20th century and that's
when I really my still really departed
and said capitalism whatever else it
might have as a strength equilibrium is
not one of them.
司会
but are you a capitalist.
キーン
in a fundamental sense yes.
I am I'm a
great fan of entrepreneurs and
innovators
I think capitalism is probably the
second best social system in history for
bringing about innovation and that's the
main thing we can say in favor of it
the first plug best buy through being
back in cro-magnon days by the way so
it's rudra matically better than
feudalism certainly better than straight
socialism and I think that's inherent
it's not just because of style and the
capitalism does give you more innovation
but it also does give you financial
bubbles and clumsy schemes and that's
the main thing that I'm attacking in
policy.
司会
right and I want to get to the
nitty-gritty of where you see the
particular problems and where you might
see things like Ponzi schemes developing
again but before we get there just one
more question about your mindset because
it just seems to be quite important to
establish how you think you call
yourself a contrary inand I come back to
this idea that there's something neat
jerk and very predictable about being a
contrarian because the whole idea is
that you take whatever the consensus is
and right now
the consensus going back to the
beginning my first question the
consensus is clearly around a form of
liberal economics than perhaps the IMF
epitomizes your knee-jerk reaction is
simply to think always that they're
wrong.
キーン
no I can analyze what they say and work
out whether they're right or wrong they
can be right by accident so in a lot of
ways.
most conventional economists these
days are in favor of government's
running budget deficits for example
which is not what you see coming out of
the political class so I find myself
happily signing petitions that Paul
Krugman I'd also have his name on
exactly the same issue so I'm not
concerned about every particular point.
it's really a suppressive analysis how
do you think about capitalism what
questions do you ask yourself about the
social system the direct then what
information you look forward to try to
understand how it operates they ask the
question can a disaggregated deregulated
system of markets which equilibrium
interesting question they prove that
it's not the case as it happens my
question is what caused the Great
Depression and can we avoid having
another one I think that's a better
question.
司会
right well it's a very big
question and I don't want to ignore it
but I want to start actually with some
very specific and then sort of actually
get to the bigger picture and the
specific thing I want to get to because
you've made a quite a lot of noise about
it and you swim against the tide and in
doing so is brexit why do you believe
that again
the collective wisdom from all the
organizations I've already mentioned but
in particularly the UK government itself
so most respected economists here and
the Institute for Fiscal Studies and
elsewhere - they all say that the brexit
decision is going to have a material and
damaging effect on the UK economy how
can you be so sure they're wrong.
キーン 5:00
well
I'm not actually my folk my reason for
voting for a brexit was not because I
thought it was going to be better for
the English economy than remain.
there
are good arguments that there can be a
certain amount of damage to the economy
from leaving this institutional
structure like the European Union my
main reason for voting for brexit was
opposing.
I call myself the groucho a
Marxist question I'm in a club do I want
to be here.
and the answer was no because
I think the EU is an incredibly not only
an effective club but a dangerous Club
for the health of Europe.
and it's going
to fall apart at some stage it might as
well be a start with a polite exit by
the English rather than a rude
by the French.
司会
novice dart we should say
the British not the English.
キーン
sorry about
that.
司会
that's okay learning but the point
is this you know we look at the impact
of bricks it we see and all the surveys
show it from business confidence to
investment decisions we see already that
the impact of uncertainty is quite
profound and that all of the growth
forecast for the future have been
downsized Britain is going to suffer .
yes
it's having some pain I mean some of
that pain is necessary a large part of
it is you need to unwind the housing
bubble you've got here which is as bad
as the one that I come from back in
Sydney.
there are elements like that that
have to happen.
but in terms of the the
current impact it's all upon uncertainty
now we try to say we were certain before
bricks at and uncertain after it's the
age of uncertainty on that.
司会
from the
resurgence of answer that is that we
lived with and that actually the British
economy benefited from one was the
single market it meant Terra free trade
and rights are usually important because
now without if we actually negotiate the
same deal the Americans have we go from
having no terrible diversity and that's
the nature of the uncertainty you have
you know you've said very confidently
I'm sure that we're going to get if we
go into a sort of third party deal with
the European Union I'm sure we're going
to get a great tariff agreement with
them and indeed with the rest of the
world - how can you comes back the
dependability economists acknowledge
that.
キーン 7:00
because tariff walls used to be a
big issue back in the 50s and 60s and
one thing my anti profession has done is
demolished tariff walls around the world
tariffs used to average 30% you know
what the average tariff is between the
America and the European Union now 2%.
司会
you know what the likely tariff is if we
go to this third party status on cars
for example one of the most important
expansion UK at least 10% .
キーン
10% is sent
Empire car is a really big deal and our
currency has fallen by 15 and 20 percent
there are ups and downs in both of these
processes and a large part of what's
happened to England in the last 30 or so
years something in comparison to Germany
is a deindustrialization of the country.
now partly that's because you've had an
overvalued exchange rate in my opinion.
that exchange rate plunged after brexit
and is likely to remain low so yes
you're going to face a maybe a tariff on
cars of 10 percent be looking about a
general reduction in your export prices
of 20%.
so there are swings and
roundabouts which weren't taken account
of by the mainstream.
司会
look at the way the
British economy works I mean a very
significant chunk of national GDP come
from the City of London yeah from the
financial sector banking insurance and
all the rest that goes with it there are
significant institutions like deutsche
bank are already saying they are
fundamentally reviewing their investment
commitment strategic commitment to the
UK because of the brexit decision
financial services are going to take a
real hit.
キーン
not as because people make up
because the main reason that there of
the financial sector is located here is
one number one the int language you and
I both using English is a language of
international trade it won't become
German or French or Italian or anything
else in the meantime
also most contracts are negotiated in
English law and that's a major strength
financial sector gets out of locating
here that it won't get in Frankfurt
now they'll talk about it they're good
at talking up how deadly the world the
world's going to be ruined they leave
the country tomorrow that's the
financial sector is very good at causing
a panic.
but in fact making a final
action deciding to move all their
facilities from here to Frankfurt no I
can't see that happening I can see them
change but wait a minute that's that's
their business law.
司会
and they have to take
seriously the words that come out of
Paris for example or the words that come
out of the mouth of the the German
Finance Minister Wolfgang schäuble err
you know these are people in Europe who
are saying look apart from anything else
to ensure the stabilization of the rest
of the European Union to ensure we stay
together we have to send a very clear
message about Britain that if you leave
you suffer the consequence.
キーン
and look what
they've done to Joe to Greece and Spain
that is not the behavior of a democratic
system that is authoritarian back well
you can call it what you like but do you
account you're not a politician you're
an economist you have to come
I'm not
going to be an economic Chamberlain
what
do you mean
キーン
I'm not going to be somebody
who says we have to stay there for the
sake of peace in our time and lock
ourselves into a policy system which is
actually causing the collapse of Europe
that's what the European Union in
particular the euro is doing the sooner
the euro has ended the better for the
state of the global economy and as
painful as it will be in transition the
better will be for the countries of
Europe.
司会
just a final point on Europe
we'll move on but one of your best
friends in the world of economic
thinking is the former greek Finance
Minister Yanis varoufakis I've had him
in the studio and he said you know what
clearly I have a lot of problems with
the European Union but I still think
fundamentally it would be the wrong and
a dangerous decision for the UK to leave
the euro.
キーン
that's where you're honest and
I differ on a political front rather
than economic the honest is going to
attend and see him I admire him for it
trying to find ways that currently
dysfunctional systems can be made to
work that's what he tried to do with
what he called his modest proposal for
reforming the euro which if it had been
taken on board would have been far far
better for Greece and for most of Europe
than what actually was done I just don't
think it can fade well scoffs I'm sure
blur to think outside the auto the broad
framework he's inside and I it's like
telling somebody reform a marriage from
inside don't leave your husband persuade
him not to bash you anymore I'm sorry
from what you're even saying here is
they're going to bash us more if we try
to leave so let's not leave that is a
very failed strategy for the long term
if you're going to continue getting
bashed as a result of staying where you
are.
司会
and your analysis is that the
European Union and me in particular the
eurozone are absolutely doomed no
question inhuman.
キーン 11:11ゴドリー
I believe so I'm going
right back to win godly another classic
contrarian English economist who wrote
in 1992 that the given the way the euro
has been defined the only outcome is
going to be immigration as an
alternative to starvation or death now
you wrote that in 1992 when it was ink
was still drying on the Maastricht
Treaty and people would have seen him as
complete extremist that is one of the
most prescient articles ever written
that's the state we're in now I'm simply
carrying on from wind-god his work and
saying we should never have joined the
euro should never been created letter D
created.
If a country or region has no power to devalue, and if it is not the beneficiary of a system of fiscal equalisation, then there is nothing to stop it suffering a process of cumulative and terminal decline leading, in the end, to emigration as the only alternative to poverty or starvation.
funnily enough while you predict
meltdown for the European Union that
isn't the real driver of your conviction
that there is going to be before too
long another financial crisis across the
world I mean that is driven less by a
particular political event like the
breakup of the European Union for you
it's driven much more by your analysis
that the world is still drowning in debt.
キーン
private debt yes right and that's what's
ignored by the mainstream which is one
reason I call myself an antique
economists they are slowly coming around
to realizing the important
of private debt but fundamentally they
ignore it and say government that's the
problem
my argument is and it comes from Harman
Minsky's work in Irving Fisher before
him is that private debt is a major the
growth in private that is a major source
of demand in the economy but that demand
comes with the cost of your debt level
rises and there's a tendency in
capitalism for the debt level to rise
over time to the point where you have so
much that you can't service it anymore
and you have a crisis like we're going
through.
司会
where you see can't services
anymore
but the fact is it's very easy
to service because right now interest
rates are lower than they've ever been
before in some countries there pretty
much negative and also governments are
making the money supply more sort of
easy to to get your hands on there which
I'm sure.
12:50
キーン
they actually they're pumping
up the money they're popping up the
money in the banking systems.
and
internal circulation not in our actual
pockets they should be doing it has a
knock-on effect that's the odd no it
doesn't nothing like it this is again
bad it was doing quantitative easing
unless they were convinced that actually
print really as they do is.
キーン
they
convinced by reaches the real economy
and they're wrong they're convinced by
it and they're wrong in the Bank of
England is now saying that in its own
research papers if we go back to they
think about money creation and the
modern economy
they say boosting reserves does not
create extra money in the private
monetary system so it's a fail it's it's
not a sensible policy.
司会
well you're
absolutely convinced they're wrong but
let us be honest you've been wrong to
you look I mean this a prio harshness
obsession that's rude let's occupy seen
you have with private debt and levels of
private debt around the world yeah
you've had it for some time I mean you
had it in Osseo home country Australia
you said back in 2010 that Australia's
property market was heading for a crash
she said prices are going to fall by up
to 40% and because of the degree to
which Australians are leveraged into
their property market it's going to kill
the Australian economy well you're dead
wrong Australia hasn't had a recession
for what 25 years.
キーン
and what it's done and
the provide that recession is to borrow
an additional 50 percent of GDP over the
debt level that had back in 2000.
司会
and so
what I would say because the Australian
economy is motoring at 3 percent growth
right now it's got unemployment of 5
percent inflation rate of 1 percent
Australians by and large are pretty darn
happy and they so are Americans in 2007
up till July these things come to a
crunch and the reason that isn't just a
case of said they were coming to crush 6
years and they borrowed
way out of it you said in fact letters
yeah I could be mind embarrassing you
you said I am going to walk from
Canberra to Australia's highest mountain
225 kilometers if I'm wrong on this
issue and you were dead wrong you had to
put your walking boots on and take my
the expiry of that particular bed is
2023 well why didn't you have done the
Walker is shot the property lovey up I
worked very effective
I think they felt that you were saying
that the crash was coming and that's why
you felt as soon as you say property is
going to fall over the property lobby
goes for you like a mad dog and I went
in as an academic expecting to have even
academic standard debates and they can
be pretty nasty but the property Lobby
does to fight anybody who goes against
their mantra is to attack uni grounds so
the guy who told me that you were never
going to appease you were never going to
tailor your message given the place I
got up on the second page of The Sydney
Morning Herald courtesy of that walk and
rub their noses in it alright
well let's
talk China then you know if we're going
round Steve King's predictions and the
degree to which they're not coming true
you for quite a while have been saying
that the Chinese economy is heading for
a massive fall to its right now it's
growing at a pretty steady CPU center
you know the unemployment rate is in
China right now well I don't know that
anybody can believe just exactly I know
it's four point zero nine percent has
been for the last seven years the the
statistics that matter that coming out
of China are talking about a crunch and
the government's response to that is to
try to pump the economy up again now I
do say they can get they can manage to
do that because they have such an
amalgam of a private in the state system
they can flip from private funding to
government funding very easily but they
still have massively over invested and
they are still suffering a dramatic
decline and demand in many sectors of
the economy and they can't sustain the
same rate of growth what's the time.
司会
what
is an it for you an acceptable level of
privately held debt individual and
business held debt in a sustainable
economy what level can it be.
about 60 to
80 percent of GAAP
60 to 80 percent yet most countries are
well over hundreds exactly if you look
at in the normal collapse look the thing
is no they
is the doom and gloom but but things
aren't as bad around the world generally
as you suggest like what has happened
and there's a lot of learners and
they're not so that is because countries
outside Europe are actually doing
government spending despite talking
about running a surplus and it's good
that they're doing that spending but
what's actually happened is credit
demand has collapsed if you look at the
rate of growth of a deck which is credit
changing debt is minute that was running
an America at about 15 percent of GDP on
average for the five years before the
crisis it's now running at less than
three percent on average there's been a
collapse in demand and that's why I've
got stagnation around the globe
so all getting ourselves in that
situation Australia and China are
approaching it right now
well funnily
enough your list of the countries we
should expect the next massive new debt
crisis to beginning yeah including will
China in Australia you have numbers one
and two but then you go through
countries that I think many of us would
find very surprising Sweden you say
South Korea yep Canada and perhaps most
bizarre of all Norway you know one of
the richest countries in the world with
a massive sovereign wealth fund and oil
reserves and gas reserves to die for I
know well I'm going on is the level of
debt they've accumulated how fast that
debt is growing which tells you how
important creditors to their economy and
the trend in that credit which is
actually negative in most of those
countries the interesting one to me was
actually South Korea I didn't expect to
see that South Korea has really had a
housing bubble and that housing bubble
has got it over there collapse and
demand it's getting for its exports to
China right now well how long then till
this catastrophe strikes it's not it
won't be a catastrophe on the same scale
as the American one because it's many
more diversified families but I think
some of those seven or went at the same
time we beat or when a total loss of
confidence we're talking about countries
which were equivalent about one-third of
the global GDP they won't all go at the
one time but if they did yes it would be
off the scale of the American downturn
in 2008 so is that a is that a
possibility or are you just enjoying the
publicity that comes with and oh my god
the roofs falling I think it's a
possibility I put my neck out on that
particular book which is coming out next
year as you know to actually have those
predictions there so if I'm proven wrong
it's in print so is another walk you're
going up another mountain if you could
it really might try the English ones are
about as low as the Australian
now let
let's before we end get to your
prescription for what works you know you
say quantitate you know wave one
generalizes around the world central
banks have essentially used quantitative
easing to try and stimulate their
economies you say that doesn't work it
doesn't trickle down or filter through
to real people yeah making real spending
decisions so what does what
people's
quantitative easing has been to them
backwards like positive money in England
and so on which rather than get by
buying bonds off the banks which just
puts money in the banks reserve accounts
at the central bank
but I'd it or however you get hold of it
well you talk about writing off debt
yeah yeah I do
you think government
should go to people who've spent too
much money by new Telly's
and no idea
you say just give him a pass and write
off their debt now I'm saying my what I
call in modern-day G I believe where it
goes to people whether or not they're in
debt because we do just the debt people
who went into debt you're rewarding
moral hazard which is a good point
get the Gulf gang joy blue would say to
you when you say to him you know what
was it going to people that doesn't
understand money Wolfgang schäuble and
mainstream economists in particular are
still coming to grips with what money
actually is how dare you say that to a
man who's overseen one of the most
successful periods in the German economy
of you know classify
euro the euro was
given them a nine percent trade surplus
there cauterizing southern Europe with a
monument you'll be made pure leeches in
Paris like death they've their surplus
went from zero percent of GDP is a trade
surplus to nine percent during the times
a year Oh without the euro they would be
in a totally different City
so you don't
regard Germany as a model for anything
good at all and
nothing rip you can't
duplicate we can't run a trade deficit
surplus okay well not everybody can
clearly because people go by as well as
sell that's why there's the balance is
zero for trade ya all right so you're
saying no we don't just write off
people's private debt we actually give
money to everybody which they've got
what they call helicopter yeah check it
out the back of a helicopters and
people
in debt would have to use to pay their
debt down those not in debt go to come
in and actually you'd force them to we'd
actually go through bank accounts put it
into somebody's back account if there's
debt that cancels the debt if there's no
debt they get a cash injection
balance that using open money my open
market operations just isms stop too
large an increase in the money supply
occurring but use that to actually boost
domestic activity and reduce private
debt
was the Christ
and forgive me if is an
impossible but you you think this works
for governments which are running
massive public deficits and indeed
massive national debt as well you know
the Nigerians they still give out money
to everybody
the main danger is the
trade deficit that's the one you've got
to look at that's the most important
deficit you need to control but
governments should run deficits most of
the time with the mistake we make is
believing the government should run a
surplus or be balanced but governments
are one of two ways of creating money
the banks of the other way if the
government doesn't create money we give
our too much from the bank's ended up in
the sort of crisis were in now.
you I
think we'd have to admit that at the
moment this idea of helicopter money
being the key to getting government's
out at well not governments but nations
out there slow growth is it's still
somewhat controversial.
キーン
finally it
wouldn't be anywhere near as successful
at Milton Friedman hadn't invented the
phrase himself something some 40 years
ago so I'm going to think I'll call
Milton for that business what I'm
getting at now toward the end of this
interview is whether anybody should take
anything any economist says seriously
that's a very good question and I've in
my actual my book debunking economics by
start by saying if we all committed
collective how to carry including me the
world would be a better place yeah
because you know you're somewhat cheeky
and that you slag off all other
economists and say you know why the the
the profession that I'm part of has been
wrong for so long
that's why I'm an anti economist but in
the end you're still an economy.
キーン
yeah I'm
trying to get us to thinking of the
modern complex systems worried about the
economy catch up with what's happened in
genuine sciences that have adopted the
idea of the world being a complex system
and having to think about things which
are dynamic out of equilibrium and for
God's sake take money into account in
economic theory which currently they do
not do if we do all those I'll become an
economist .
司会
there's a serious point here
about whether we can afford to listen to
experts you Udacity brexit debate yeah
Michael Gove a senior brexit politician
and the Conservative Party said you know
what we've been listening to do it to
experts too long and particularly in it
economics yes where you know it's
nominally a science but it's so much
predicated on human behavior it seems
that forecasting the future is pretty
much impossible.
キーン
it's chicken entrails
stuff but thing is every time you have
not presented that way no I know that's
why I'm saying it there's an antique
economist in your show but if you look
if you every time you hop inside a plane
you trust the engineers knew how to
design something aerodynamically so to
takeoff and land safely and you don't
even need to think about it because
every damn time
it works okay engineers have our experts
scientists or experts climate scientists
are experts economists unfortunately
wear that mantle without having earned
it because the economy will check over
whether the economists right a good
theory or a bad theory this is that
momentum to the economy but they've led
us into a very bad alley which I've been
warning about for four decades now.
司会
in the end I'm wondering why I should
believe either of you.
キーン
I believe that we
need to reform economics first that we
can agree on then say how do we reform
it and then it comes down to a question
of how do you model the macro economy
what do you do and economics can learn a
lot from mother sciences that has been
neglecting in particular what I'm
calling complex systems analysis which
has grown up in the last 40 years ever
since
a guy called Lorenz built the first
non-equilibrium complex model of the
weather which we now watch in ground
detail on our TV shows every every every
night where weather report the accuracy
of meteorology has improved dramatically
over the last five decades the economics
has ignored what's happened there they
should borrow what they have done and
apply them in the structures of the
economy.
司会
interesting thought to end on
Steve Keen thank you very much for being
- thank you Andy
you
----
キーン 5:00
well I'm not actually my folk my reason for voting for a brexit was not because I thought it was going to be better for the English economy than remain there are good arguments that there can be a certain amount of damage to the economy from leaving this institutional structure like the European Union my main reason for voting for brexit was opposing.
I call myself the groucho a Marxist question I'm in a club do I want to be here and the answer was no because I think the EU is an incredibly not only an effective club but a dangerous Club for the health of Europe and it's going to fall apart at some stage it might as well be a start with a polite exit by the English rather than a rude by the French.
novice dart we should say the British not the English.
private debt yes right and that's what's ignored by the mainstream which is one reason I call myself an antique economists they are slowly coming around to realizing the important of private debt but fundamentally they ignore it and say government that's the problem my argument is and it comes from Harman Minsky's work in Irving Fisher before him is that private debt is a major the growth in private that is a major source of demand in the economy but that demand comes with the cost of your debt level rises and there's a tendency in capitalism for the debt level to rise over time to the point where you have so much that you can't service it anymore and you have a crisis like we're going through.
…there's a serious point here about whether we can afford to listen to experts you Udacity brexit debate.
yeah Michael Gove a senior brexit politician and the Conservative Party said you know what we've been listening to do it to experts too long.
and particularly in it economics yes where you know it's nominally a science but it's so much predicated on human behavior it seems that forecasting the future is pretty much impossible.
キーン
it's chicken entrails stuff but thing is every time you have not presented that way no I know that's why I'm saying it there's an antique economist in your show but if you look if you every time you hop inside a plane you trust the engineers knew how to design something aerodynamically so to takeoff and land safely and you don't even need to think about it because every damn time it works okay engineers have our experts scientists or experts climate scientists are experts economists unfortunately wear that mantle without having earned it.
because the economy will check over whether the economists right a good theory or a bad theory this is that momentum to the economy but they've led us into a very bad alley which I've been warning about for four decades now.
司会
in the end I'm wondering why I should believe either of you.
キーン
I believe that we need to reform economics first that we can agree on then say how do we reform it and then it comes down to a question of how do you model the macro economy what do you do and economics can learn a lot from mother sciences that has been neglecting in particular what I'm calling complex systems analysis which has grown up in the last 40 years.
ever since a guy called Lorenz built the first non-equilibrium complex model of the weather which we now watch in ground detail on our TV shows.
every every every night where weather report the accuracy of meteorology has improved dramatically over the last five decades the economics has ignored what's happened there.
they should borrow what they have done and apply them in the structures of the economy.
司会
interesting thought to end on Steve Keen thank you very much for being - thank you Andy you
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