

150 episodes
by David McWilliams & John Davis · English
The aim of this weekly podcast is to make economics easy, uncomplicated and accessible. With the world at a political, technological and financial tipping point, economics has never been so important to all of us and yet, it’s made inaccessible and complicated by so many. I’ve always thought what is complicated is rarely important and what is important is rarely complicated. That will be our motto. Every week we are going to tease out some big economic or political issue facing us, not just here in Ireland but in Europe and further afield. Globalisation has brought us all together. We all face similar challenges whether you live in Dublin, London, Minnesota or Milan. If you would like to enjoy all of our content ad-free and have early access to episodes, subscribe to DMCW+ on Apple Podcast. You can also find our early access ad-free episodes on Spotify by searching for the David McWilliams Podcast Premium Feed on the app or by clicking here. Want to join our crew? Join at davidmcwilliams.ie/crew, where you can enjoy ad-free listening, as well as exclusive bonus content such as premium episodes, our macroeconomics course, early access to episodes and pre-sale access to tickets for Dalkey Book Festival & Kilkenomics. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The episode argues that Ireland’s “Celtic Tiger” credit-and-housing boom began dying around August 2006 (not just in 2008) and that its banking system never truly recovered.
20 Aug 2026 · 35m · 10 chapters
Rule-breaker stock investing—how David Gardner of The Motley Fool believes ordinary investors can beat market averages by buying “top dog” companies early, holding for years, and embracing losses.
18 Aug 2026 · 45m · 21 chapters
Irish housing policy and planning objections, using Dunsink (a large Fingal County Council site near the M50) as a microcosm of why Ireland can’t build enough homes.
13 Aug 2026 · 35m · 9 chapters
US intervention in currency markets—selling euros to buy Japanese yen to prop up the yen—framed as a symptom of US debt fragility and the breakdown of coordinated postwar rules (G7-style…
11 Aug 2026 · 34m · 11 chapters
The episode argues that AI-driven efficiency will trigger global deflation (falling prices and wages), colliding with record public/private debt and leading to defaults, bankruptcies, and financial…
6 Aug 2026 · 36m · 13 chapters
The “Ceuta incident” (50,000+ migrants breaching a fortified Spanish border in Morocco/Ceuta, with 80–90 deaths reported) and what it signals for Europe—especially “demographic warfare,” EU…
4 Aug 2026 · 35m · 14 chapters
Climate-change wildfires in France (evacuations, burned area, economic disruption), then AI’s risks and job displacement, framed through Greek mythology’s Prometheus/Zeus and the “fire” lesson,…
30 Jul 2026 · 37m · 14 chapters
Ireland’s public spending “black hole” in procurement—rising budgets (planned ~€133B, nearly double since 2017) but weak data, no central contract register, and no “golden thread” linking tenders to…
28 Jul 2026 · 39m · 15 chapters
Ireland’s public-sector “delivery inability” in infrastructure and services despite high revenues, arguing reforms fail due to structural lack of accountability and institutional capacity.
23 Jul 2026 · 45m · 25 chapters
After the World Cup final (Spain vs Argentina), the hosts use the match to discuss how Spanish vs British colonial economic systems shaped long-run prosperity differences between Latin America and…
21 Jul 2026 · 41m · 13 chapters
Whether the AI boom is a sustainable growth wave or a bubble that could trigger a major US/global financial crash, drawing parallels to the 1873 railway-linked crash and later crises.
16 Jul 2026 · 41m · 17 chapters
The episode argues that France’s 2027 presidential election is a “ticking clock” driven by economic strain, political disillusionment, and immigration/Islam tensions—set against Bastille Day and the…
14 Jul 2026 · 43m · 24 chapters
A comparison of Norway vs the UK (“England”) after North Sea oil/gas discoveries—why Norway built a massive sovereign wealth fund while the UK squandered its windfall, and what that means for…
9 Jul 2026 · 41m · 13 chapters
The episode argues that Alexander Hamilton was the most consequential founding father because he stabilized the post-Revolution economy and helped shape the United States’ long-term financial power.
7 Jul 2026 · 38m · 12 chapters
The episode argues that Ireland is undergoing a “silent sell-off” of Irish businesses to foreign owners, transferring ownership, IP, job security, and profits abroad.
6 Jul 2026 · 32m · 13 chapters
The episode argues that Alan Greenspan’s legacy helped produce “casino-ization” of the American economy: instead of steady work and upward mobility, many young Americans gamble via gambling, day…
2 Jul 2026 · 33m · 11 chapters
Alan Greenspan’s legacy and “Greenspanism” in the U.S. economy—libertarian/free-market ideology fused with central-bank interventions that, critics argue, fueled inequality and financial instability.
30 Jun 2026 · 42m · 18 chapters
A World Cup dispatch on Brazil’s economic fragility and the long economic/social impact of slavery, including how Brazilian football became a rare integrated space.
24 Jun 2026 · 35m · 13 chapters
A discussion of “the future of Europe” framed through global power shifts and the World Cup, arguing the EU is a long-running “truce” between Germanic/Teutonic and Roman/Latin cultures rooted in the…
23 Jun 2026 · 40m · 11 chapters
The episode (World Cup Series: Haiti) argues that Haiti’s World Cup qualification is a striking underdog story set against extreme poverty and political collapse.
18 Jun 2026 · 45m · 14 chapters
The episode is about Canada’s political and economic response to Donald Trump and whether Canada could face a “Brexit moment,” especially via Alberta’s potential secession.
16 Jun 2026 · 43m · 12 chapters
Mexico’s “narco state” and how World Cup-scale infrastructure, politics, and the economy are entangled with drug cartels—contrasted with Mexico’s formal/industrial growth and U.S.-driven trade.
11 Jun 2026 · 41m · 12 chapters
Using the World Cup as a lens on economics and geopolitics, arguing that Western European “social democracies” (e.g., Netherlands, France, Germany, Spain) dominate because municipal, cheap, universal…
9 Jun 2026 · 41m · 22 chapters
The economics and politics of water scarcity—why water is a “hidden architecture” of modern life, how it’s priced and allocated, and what solutions (reuse, recycling, efficiency, sponge-city design)…
4 Jun 2026 · 29m · 14 chapters