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The David McWilliams Podcast

The David McWilliams Podcast

By: David McWilliams & John Davis
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Summary

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
  • Fixing a Broken Economic System with Mariana Mazzucato (Live from Kilkenomics)
    Nov 12 2026
    Recorded live at Kilkenomics 2026, UCL economist Mariana Mazzucato joins us to discuss her new book, The Common Good Economy, looking at why the state is always the one bandaging up after the market. She sets out her five-point compass for doing it differently, plus an analysis of the $7 trillion share buyback binge, why the AI bubble is really a financial bubble, and her blunt verdict on Ireland.

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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    41 mins
  • John Burn-Murdoch on Why Hard Work No Longer Pays (Live from Kilkenomics)
    Nov 10 2026
    Recorded live at Kilkenomics, we’re joined by the FT’s John Burn-Murdoch, the most interesting data journalist writing today. Wealth inequality’s share may not have budged in 40 years, but incomes haven’t kept pace with wealth, so working your way from the middle to the top has gone from hard to basically impossible. That’s why young people are piling into crypto, gambling and tech stocks, not fecklessness, but a rational bet when the conveyor belt has stopped. We get into the pensions time-bomb (today’s retirees take out 3-4 times what they paid in, millennials will get back about €1 for €1), why a youthquake alone can’t fix it, and why the AI jobs story isn’t layoffs but a hiring freeze that hits the young hardest. Plus the one growth sector AI can’t touch: human interaction. And yes, hackers cooking Europe’s supermarket fridges.

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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    35 mins
  • The AI Reckoning: When a Trillion-Dollar Bet Meets Rising Rates
    Nov 5 2026
    The AI story has flipped from a technology story to a credit story, and that changes everything. Anthropic’s bonds have been downgraded to junk, Elon Musk says credit markets are closing to anything with “AI” attached, and half a trillion dollars was wiped off Alphabet in a single day. We dig into the uncomfortable data: outside the Magnificent Seven, AI has delivered almost zero productivity payoff to corporate America, revenue per worker is flat across the other 493 S&P companies. Then the real danger: if inflation forces the Fed to push rates from 4% to 6.5% to crush it, an overvalued AI market smashes straight into rising rates driven by a war in Iran. Plus why Christine Lagarde’s early exit from the ECB might have one eye on the French presidency.

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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    35 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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