Morals and Markets: New Economics' Podcasts

Morals and Markets: new podcasts demonstrate how economics intertwines with sex, morality and radical thinking

A new series of podcasts by Gresham College Visiting Professor Martin Daunton  has been launched offering fresh insights into economic issues from some of the country’s top academics.

The three, hour-long sessions explore different topics, including national debt, the role of sex, and whether our wealth was built on welfare states and social democracy.

Each podcast features a different guest: Richard Whatmore, a Professor of Modern History at St Andrew’s; economic historian Professor Avner Offer; and Victoria Bateman, Director of Studies in Economics at Cambridge.

Professor Daunton opens the series by focusing on debt and solutions to it, exploring Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations with Professor Whatmore. Discussions include whether economics relies on moral sentiments, and if there are parallels between the 18th century and the present day.

In the second session, Professor Offer looks at the differences between post-war growth and the 1970s, where market liberalism came in. The pair discuss how the shift came about, how the Nobel Prize in economics played a part, and what divides public and private sectors.

The final podcast sees Dr Bateman unpack issues related to sex and gender; arguing that the status and freedom of women are central to making the west rich, overtaking other parts of the world that had long been ahead. 

Professor Daunton said: “The language of economics dominates our thinking about society and politics as well as the economy, but the underlying assumptions are too rarely subject to critical analysis.

“In these podcasts, we probe at the changing approaches of economics to understand its moral norms – how they have changed over time and how they have been contested.

“Rather than being overwhelmed by the technical and often highly mathematical reasoning of modern economics, we expose the limits of its understanding of human motivation, gender relations, social behaviour and political outcomes.”

The three podcasts in the Morals and Markets series are available on YouTube (links below) and main podcast platforms. ·

Episode 1 – Martin Daunton and Richard Whatmore

Episode 2 – Martin Daunton and Avner Offer:

Episode 3 - Martin Daunton and Victoria Bateman

Further podcasts are planned and complement the College’s ongoing programme of lectures, all of which are free to attend.