Economic Rockstar

Connecting Brilliant Minds in Economics and Finance

113: Jonathan McEvoy on Globalisation, National Autonomy, Capitalism and the Economic Resonance in Timeless Songs

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113: Jonathan McEvoy on Globalisation, National Autonomy, Capitalism and the Economic Resonance in Timeless Songs

Jonathan McEvoy is currently an undergrad student of economics at Waterford Institute of Technology in jonathan-mcevoy-economic-rockstarIreland.

He was recently recognised for being in the top 5% of the Business School at W.I.T, earning the honour of being on the Deans List for Academic Achievement.

Jonathan has a unique understanding of the world around us and, together with his love of economics, has a unique perspective on the economics discipline.

Jonathan’s desire to discover and explore the multitude of economic thinking, from Keynesianism to Marxism, has resulted in him creating a blog called Economics – Thoughts of a Student which can be found at jonathanmcevoy888.blogspot.com.

His recent career history has prepared him well to be great public speaker and communicator.

Jonathan is also an athlete and a top soccer player, having spent time with English Premier League clubs Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur.

Jonathan’s interests also include Health, Human Rights, Politics, Civil Rights, Poverty Alleviation and Science and Technology.

Economics:

In this episode, Jonathan discusses and mentions: production possibility frontier, comparative advantage, production, services, efficiency, technology, foreign direct investment, tariffs, income, vertical farming, externalities, capitalism, profit, inequality, welfare, labour costs, GDP, economics of war and economics of romance.

Economists:

In this episode, Jonathan discusses and mentions: Adam Smith, John Maynard Keynes, Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels and David Ricardo.

In this episode you will learn:

  • about the balance required between globalisation and national autonomy.
  • about Ireland’s role in CERN.

  • whether future-tech will improve humanity’s standard of living?

  • how economics and technology are inextricably interlinked.
  • why economists and technologists should increase collaboration for the betterment of society.
  • how the world’s production possibility frontier can move outward to reach once unimagined and unattainable outcomes.
  • whether ‘planetisation’ can be a reality.
  • the use of songs to capture the economic and social setting of an era.
  • and much much more.

People Mentioned in this Episode:

Links:

Where to Find Jonathan McEvoy:

Books:

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091: The Age of Em by Robin Hanson

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091: The Age of Em by Robin Hanson

This is Robin Hanson’s second appearance on the Economic Rockstar podcast. I previously spoke to Robin about his work in episode 073. If you find this interview interesting, check out the other episode. You’ll love it.

This is the Book Review from Amazon:

“Robots may one day rule the world, but what is a robot-ruled Earth like?

Many think the first truly smart robots will be brain emulations or “ems.” Scan a human brain, then run a model with the same connections on a fast computer, and you have a robot brain, but recognizably human.

Train an em to do some job and copy it a million times: an army of workers is at your disposal. When they can be made cheaply, within perhaps a century, ems will displace humans in most jobs. In this new economic era, the world economy may double in size every few weeks.

Some say we can’t know the future, especially following such a disruptive new technology, but Professor Robin Hanson sets out to prove them wrong. Applying decades of expertise in physics, computer science, and economics, he uses standard theories to paint a detailed picture of a world dominated by ems.

While human lives don’t change greatly in the em era, em lives are as different from ours as our lives are from those of our farmer and forager ancestors. Ems make us question common assumptions of moral progress, because they reject many of the values we hold dear.

Read about em mind speeds, body sizes, job training and career paths, energy use and cooling infrastructure, virtual reality, aging and retirement, death and immortality, security, wealth inequality, religion, teleportation, identity, cities, politics, law, war, status, friendship and love.

This book shows you just how strange your descendants may be, though ems are no stranger than we would appear to our ancestors. To most ems, it seems good to be an em.”

Click here to win a copy of Robin Hanson’s book:

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Book:

The Age of Em: Work, Love and Life when Robots Rule the Earth

Links:



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068: Daron Acemoglu on Why Nations Fail and Why Inequality Exists Between Countries

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068: Daron Acemoglu on Why Nations Fail and Why Inequality Exists Between Countries

Daron Acemoglu is the Elizabeth and James Killian Professor of Economics at Massachusetts Institute of daron acemoglu economic rockstarTechnology in Boston.

Daron’s principal interests are political economy, development economics, economic growth, technology, income and wage inequality, human capital and training, and labour economics.

Daron was the winner of the 2005 John Bates Clark Medal awarded to economists under forty judged to have made the most significant contribution to economic thought and knowledge.

His most recent works concentrate on the role of institutions in economic development and political economy.

Daron received his M.Sc. in Econometrics and Mathematical Economics and his Ph.D. from the London School of Economics.

Daron is co-author of ‘Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty’ which can be found at whynationsfail.com

Markets are the foundation of long run economic growth but only if they are under guard by inclusive institutions – Daron Acemoglu

Economics: 

In this interview, Daron mentions: capitalism, marxism, inequality, inclusive institutions, extractive institutions, property, public finance,  rights, risks, cliometrics, econometrics, labor, technology, human capital, inequality, creative destruction and comparative advantage.

Economists: 

In this interview, Daron mentions: James Robinson, George Akerlof, Thomas Picketty, Douglass North and Joseph Schumpeter.

In this episode you will learn:

  • why nations fail and others prosper.
  • why Daron despises the term capitalism refereeing it as ‘and ugly term’.
  • why macro variables are second order to the type of institution when explaining the prosperity of a country.
  • why we should study political systems in an economics course.
  • how economic decisions get made.
  • if democracy is good for economic growth.
  • how Daron first became interested in institutions while growing up under a political dictatorship in Turkey.
  • if the political economy or the type of institution of a country explain inequality.
  • what explains inequality within a nation.
  • about Daron’s mixed views on philanthropy.
  • why empires, such as the Roman, Ottoman and British, collapse and whether we could witness the collapse of other institutions.
  • why China will ultimately fail in its present institutional form.
  • what China must do to maintain its economic growth.
  • about the Ireland and how its economy transitioned over the last 100 years.

I think, on the contrary, extractive institutions have great staying power – Daron Acemoglu

Books:

  • ‘Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty’ by Daron Acemoglu.
  • Why the West Rules–for Now: The Patterns of History, and What They Reveal About the Future by Ian Morris.
  • War! What is It Good For? Conflict and the Progress of Civilization from Primates to Robots by Ian Morris
  • The Dynamics of Ancient Empires: State Power from Assyria to Byzantium by Ian Morris
  • The Secret of Our Success: How Culture Is Driving Human Evolution, Domesticating Our Species, and Making Us Smarter by Joseph Henrich

Where to Find Daron:

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