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Professor Kristen Ghodsee teaches Russian and East European studies at the University of Pennsylvania. She is known for her ethnographic work in post-soviet countries where she studies gender relations and other legacies of 20th century communism. In her book, Why Women Have Better Sex Under Socialism, she argues that when the state steps in to support families with reproductive labour and care work, women are able to gain financial independence which leads to more egalitarian and fulfilling romantic relationships. In this episode, Sofia and Professor Ghodsee discuss how exactly socialist state intervention impacted women's working lives behind the iron curtain, what this tells us about capitalism and what neoclassical economics has to do with any of this. Read her original op-ed here: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/12/opinion/why-women-had-better-sex-under-socialism.html Access the full text: https://www.boldtypebooks.com/titles/kristen-r-ghodsee/why-women-have-better-sex-under-socialism/9781568588896/ Check out her future work: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Everyday-Utopia/Kristen-R-Ghodsee/9781982190217 Follow us for more updates: https://www.instagram.com/expandingeconomics/?hl=en Find out more at https://the-expanding-economics-podcast.pinecast.co

In this episode we are joined by Michael Babcock; Ph.D. candidate at McGill University where he studies natural resource development and teaches Ecological Economics. After taking Michael's class myself, I felt that the way I viewed the discipline of economics and the world more broadly had been drastically changed. Economists of the future must be thinking about how we will go on to power society and the impacts that have on the environment, Ecological Economics provides an opportunity for us to update our economic thinking and goals to be better suited to what is arguably the most pressing issue of our time.

For the last few episodes the Expanding Economics team has been discussing inflation, crashing markets, and whatever other economic problems we uncovered along the way. This time, we wanted to hear from someone outside of the group and see how their economic perspective differs from ours. On this episode, we are joined by fellow economics undergrad Georges Rigas to see how well our education has (or has not) equipped us to discuss some of the most pressing economic questions of the moment. We hope you enjoy it - if you are interested in being our next podcast episode, contact us with a pitch! expandingecon.mtl@rethinkeconomics.org

In this episode Sofia and Andrew discuss NIMBYism and why it is pervasive and harmful to the Canadian housing market. After months of consecutive record breaking highs, Canadian housing prices have finally begun to show signs of decline in response to rising interest rates, but what caused this boom in the first place? Has housing just become another speculative asset or do prices reflect market fundamentals of too much demand and constricted supply?

Welcome back to the Expanding Economics podcast, in part three of our series on inflation, we delve into the economic history of inflation to better understand why it is a problem and how we keep getting ourselves into this situation. We discuss post-WW1 Germany, the 1970s oil crisis, and how the low inflation in the decades since led us to where we are today. Finally, we ask ourselves the age-old question that has been dividing economists for decades... "is inflation a monetary phenomenon?".

This episode is part two of a three-part series on inflation. As inflationary pressures continue to rise throughout the world, we look at how we got here, what it signals for future economic outcomes and what economic theory does or does not have to say about it.   In this episode, we discuss the current oil crisis and what it signals as to the future of regards to natural resources, energy and the sustainability movement. How does our systematic dependency on oil effect consumers? Who gets disproportionately affected? Will this crisis expedite the energy transition or is this just wishful thinking?   While there are no easy solutions in the short run, we find it essential to think about how this current crisis is yet another sign to take action and rethink the way we power our lives.   Thanks for listening and stay tuned for part three!

Welcome back to the Expanding Economics Podcast!   This episode is part one of a three-part series on inflation. As inflationary pressures continue to rise throughout the world, we look at how we got here, what it signals for future economic outcomes and what economic theory does or does not have to say about it.   In part one we start with the impact of the pandemic and government fiscal policies on supply chains, aggregate demand and employment. To what extent was government intervention necessary to help keep the economy afloat and what trade-offs had to be made and could we have done better? While there are no clear-cut answers, in this episode we attempt to make a start at dissecting such issues.   Thanks for listening and stay tuned for part two!

Montreal is an international hub for artificial intelligence research, with the world’s largest academic AI research community. Industry has quickly followed, with leaders in big tech such as Microsoft establishing research labs in Montreal. In this episode, we unpack the current state of the local AI industry and AI governance with scholar Ana Brandusescu to understand the impacts of this industry on the city of Montreal.  If you would like to read more of Ana’s work, you can check out her website, https://www.anabrandusescu.com/ or follow her on Twitter @anabmap.

While many universities are divesting from fossil fuels in response to the climate crisis, McGill University continues to invest about $40 million in oil and gas. The student activists at Divest McGill have been working hard since 2012 to change this, but McGill’s Board of Governors is not budging. In this episode, we discuss why fossil fuel divestment is important for the environmental justice movement, why institutions often claim that financial investments are not a political issue, and why McGill refuses to divest. We talk to Noah Fisher, a student activist at McGill, and Dr. Darin Barney, a former faculty representative on the Board of Governors, who resigned from the board along with Dr. Derek Nystrom in 2019 when McGill’s Committee to Advise on Matters of Social Responsibility (CAMSR) once again refused to divest. You can learn more about Divest McGill on their website, divestmcgill.com. Darin Barney’s work can be found at darinbarneyresearch.mcgill.ca and griersonresearchgroup.ca.

In this episode, we dive into a topic that is ignored by many economists: the role of race and group identity in economics. We have an obligation to acknowledge how, by externalizing race, economic theory upholds racist systems and perpetuates socially unequal outcomes. Our economic status quo fails to support black lives, especially amidst economic shocks such as the COVID-19 pandemic. We speak with Joelle Gamble, principal of the reimagining capitalism team at Omidyar Network, to better understand how racial bias is deeply rooted in economics— in our conception of the “economy”, its focus on objective outcomes, and in the assumptions embedded in economic theory. Part 2 of our 2 part series examining the role of the economy in serving public interest

There has been a sense of urgency to restart the economy, given that measures to limit the spread of COVID-19 have simultaneously caused a major slowdown of economic activity. Some politicians, such as Lt. Governor of Texas Dan Patrick, have gone as far as promoting human sacrifice in the hopes of saving economic life. This sort of rhetoric that favours the economy over human life brings into question what the function of “the economy” is, if it does not fundamentally serve as a system of human subsistence and existence. In this episode, we speak with scholar of critical theory and post-autonomist thought, Burç Köstem, about whether the economy exists as a distinct social sphere, and whether it really is at odds with public health. Part one of a two-part series examining the role of the economy in serving public interest.

In our second episode, we spoke with Julian Karaguesian, economic history professor at McGill University. We discussed how the neoclassical school of thought came to dominate economics as we know it and shape global capitalist society at large. Get in touch at expandingecon.mtl@rethinkeconomics.org

Most university economics students are exposed to mainly one school of economic thought: neoclassical economics. For students to have an education that promotes critical thinking and an understanding of economic events and policies, they must gain exposure to alternative perspectives, the so-called 'heterodox' schools. The Expanding Economics Podcast aims to shift the focus in economics and incorporate concepts such as environmentalism, clarity and social justice in economic thinking. In our first episode, we discuss the modern framework of university economics education, the dominance of neoclassical economics, and its drawbacks. We are joined by Professor Chris Barrington-Leigh and undergraduate students Lucy Everett, Maanav Sunderaraman, and Claire Downie to wrap our heads around what should be changed in university economics.