

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.

How remote islands (Inishmore vs Île d’Île/Île de Ré) survive and even prosper by shifting from commodity wealth (cod/salt) to an experience economy driven by authenticity, culture, and memorable…
18 Sep 2025 · 37m · 7 chapters
Whether cooperative housing—modeled on Denmark and examples in Vienna/UK—could address Ireland’s housing affordability crisis, and how that connects to homelessness.
16 Sep 2025 · 35m · 9 chapters
AI-driven tech investment bubble risk, using historical stock manias (radio/RCA, dot-com) and linking it to today’s “Magnificent Seven” concentration; plus a warning about deepfake scams enabled by…
11 Sep 2025 · 38m · 11 chapters
France’s debt and political instability, the risk of a “large Greece” scenario, and whether turmoil could trigger a Sixth Republic that would reshape France’s presidency and Europe’s institutions.
9 Sep 2025 · 39m · 9 chapters
Highlights from Minefield’s live recording at Electric Picnic 2025, using a music-festival setting to discuss economics, money, and culture.
4 Sep 2025 · 46m · 14 chapters
The episode argues that the U.S. is sliding toward “American Peronism,” using Argentina’s 20th-century collapse as the main analogy.
2 Sep 2025 · 41m · 14 chapters
Germany’s 2015 refugee crisis and its 10-year aftermath, framed by historian Katja Hoyer; how “Wir schaffen das” (“We can do this”) changed German society, politics, economics, and the rise of the…
28 Aug 2025 · 37m · 17 chapters
Ireland’s housing market is rising because the Irish state has become the dominant buyer of new homes, effectively “nationalising” demand and pushing prices up despite claims it’s trying to reduce…
26 Aug 2025 · 34m · 13 chapters
Ukraine’s likely peace deal with Russia (under Trump/Putin/EU dynamics) and the argument that Ukraine’s best long-term option is to become a “garrison state” (highly militarized but still potentially…
21 Aug 2025 · 41m · 16 chapters
Dutch disease in Ireland—how long-running dominance by foreign multinationals (especially tech/pharma) allegedly “elbows out” small Irish businesses, enlarges the public sector, and leads to state…
19 Aug 2025 · 39m · 12 chapters
The episode explains “Dutch disease” and applies it to the U.S. argument that America’s “windfall” is not commodities but global demand for American debt, which raises the dollar and crowds out real…
14 Aug 2025 · 40m · 19 chapters
The episode argues that “easy money” is seducing Wall Street and the White House into embracing crypto, framing it as a “Godfather” style shift from old finance to a new, lucrative racket.
12 Aug 2025 · 27m · 9 chapters
Japan’s late-1980s property/asset boom turning into a long balance-sheet recession and deflation, then the country’s later public-debt sustainability, and what it implies for China, Taiwan, and…
7 Aug 2025 · 41m · 20 chapters
A two-part discussion of Japan’s economic history, framed by the 80th anniversary of the 1945 atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
5 Aug 2025 · 43m · 22 chapters
The episode argues that Ireland’s record emigration of young people is driven largely by housing costs (rents and house prices), which also reduces risk-taking and startup dynamism, contributing to…
31 Jul 2025 · 33m · 12 chapters
The EU’s trade tariff negotiations with Trump, arguing the EU didn’t “surrender” but accepted 15% tariffs on European goods to avoid a worse all-out trade war and buy time; includes implications for…
29 Jul 2025 · 33m · 9 chapters
Part two of a podcast on the Yugoslav wars, focused on how the Srebrenica massacre (30th anniversary) helped trigger a shift in US policy and led to the Dayton Accords, while arguing that ethnic…
24 Jul 2025 · 47m · 15 chapters
The episode argues that Ireland’s economic model is at risk because of rapid shifts in US foreign and economic policy, especially tariffs and potential US-EU trade retaliation.
22 Jul 2025 · 38m · 22 chapters
A discussion of the “ghosts of Yugoslavia” linking European economic/political complacency to the 1990s Yugoslav wars, with emphasis on Srebrenica (July 1995), the end of the war (Croat counterattack…
17 Jul 2025 · 42m · 19 chapters
Ireland’s immigration levels and work visas, and how they interact with housing supply, house prices, and public-sector capacity; also a broader discussion of potential US-EU tariff conflict and EU…
15 Jul 2025 · 33m · 14 chapters
The “economics of immortality,” using Irish myth (Oisín and Tír na nÓg) and Oasis lyrics as a springboard to critique Silicon Valley “don’t die” longevity culture, its billion-dollar industry, and…
10 Jul 2025 · 30m · 14 chapters
Trieste, Italy—how it became a late-19th/early-20th-century “city of the future” through the Suez Canal, finance, and multicultural tolerance; why that dynamo later collapsed; and where a comparable…
8 Jul 2025 · 38m · 10 chapters
The episode “Who Killed the Living City?” (The Best One Yet) argues that Dublin’s dereliction isn’t caused by “bad people” but by bad incentives that make refurbishment and city living financially…
3 Jul 2025 · 39m · 14 chapters
The episode argues that “financialization” and technology are turning art into “content” optimized for profit, causing cultural stagnation by favoring franchises, catalog reuse, and familiarity over…
1 Jul 2025 · 31m · 13 chapters