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The David McWilliams Podcast

The David McWilliams Podcast

By: David McWilliams & John Davis
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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.

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David McWilliams Politics & Government
Episodes
  • The Five Scariest Numbers in the Global Economy (A Halloween Special)

    The Five Scariest Numbers in the Global Economy (A Halloween Special)
    Oct 29 2026

    For Halloween, we start with Ireland’s first witch trial: Alice Kyteler, the Kilkenny moneylender who buried four husbands and skipped town, leaving her servant to burn at the stake in 1324. For a real scare, we dive into the five numbers that should keep you up at night. The Shiller index at 41 (last seen in 1999, just before the dot-com crash), global government debt at 94% of GDP, The US paying $1 trillion a year just to service its debt, more than its defence budget, the 10-year Treasury yield at 5.36%, a 24-year high and oil at $110, 80% up on last year, thanks to the Strait of Hormuz. If it all goes pear-shaped, the question is simple: who’s the witch?


    Use code WITCH at kilkenomics.com for 20% off tickets all day October 30th & 31st

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    35 mins
  • Is France the Canary? The End of the Centre and Europe’s Generational Revolt

    Is France the Canary? The End of the Centre and Europe’s Generational Revolt
    Oct 27 2026
    A week of rioting in France, but we argue it’s no blip. Marine Le Pen is polling around 35%, with the next candidate on just 14%, and she could become the first ever to win outright in the first round. French public spending is 57% of GDP (31% in Ireland, and above anything the Soviet Union managed), over-65s have gone from 12% of the population in 1968 to 25% today, and bond yields have jumped from 3.4% to 4.8%. We unpack the poly-crisis behind it: the 68ers versus their grandchildren, diesel prices and the ghost of the Gilets Jaunes, a left captured by the educated elite, AI anxiety, and half of French schools missing a teacher. Plus 68% of French voters say democracy isn’t delivering, Meloni getting outflanked on her right, and whether the European project survives the generation that built it.

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    43 mins
  • The World’s First AI Minister: Can Democracies Make Haste Slowly? with Evan Solomon

    The World’s First AI Minister: Can Democracies Make Haste Slowly? with Evan Solomon
    Oct 22 2026
    Canada has appointed the world’s first minister for AI, and Evan Solomon joins us to explain why. Canada invented modern AI through Hinton, Bengio and Sutton, then watched big tech harvest it. Now Ottawa is subsidising up to 80% of compute for home-grown firms and has put €150 million behind Bengio’s “safe by design” AI. How do slow, deliberate democracies regulate a technology teaching itself at lightning speed? Plus Carney’s coalition of middle powers, why Trump is the best thing to happen to Canadian nationalism, and “ancestral intelligence.”

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    45 mins
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All stars
Most relevant
The shows are like listening to your smart mates chatting in the pub. So easily informative 👌

With McWilliams economics is entertaining

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Each podcast full of diverse interesting info, interviews from around the world, liberally smattered with informative chats and jests between David and John. My go to podcasts despite no knowledge/ training in economics or anything related!

Favourite podcast

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Incredible content, so informative and delivered with fantastic energy and humour. A great podcast for anyone interested in Irish, UK and global economics and politics.

Incredibly Interesting and Funny

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