The David McWilliams Podcast

David McWilliams & John Davis

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.

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.

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687 episodes
Updated Today
Explicit

Episodes687

Newest first

Today · 35 min
What Does The Ceuta Incident Mean For Europe?
This week, we’re diving into a story that wasn't on anyone’s bingo card: 50,000 people breaching one of the most fortified borders in the world in a single weekend. We’re talking about "demographic warfare," the new reality where migration is weaponised to pull the strings of global politics. From the lanyard class in Brussels to the average dude on the street, the gap over immigration is turning into a chasm, and the European Union is starting to fray at the seams. We look at the geopolitical axis between Washington, Tel Aviv, and Rabat, and ask the big question: can the European project survive when its borders become the ultimate battlefield? To understand the economy, you have to understand human nature. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Thursday · 36 min
Prometheus Abides
Is AI our new Prometheus, or have we just opened Pandora’s box? We dive into the risks of "techno-feudalism," why the "middleman" being replaced by robots is actually just us, and why 3,000 years of Greek wisdom might be more useful than a Silicon Valley algorithm. It’s a bit of mythology, a bit of economic history, and a reminder that while intelligence is great, wisdom is what keeps the social fabric from fraying. As the Big Lebowski says, the dude abides. Join us. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
July 28 · 39 min
The €133 Billion Black Hole: Why Ireland Can’t Track Its Spending
Theoretical physicist Matt Fenlon joins the podcast to expose the systemic lack of transparency in Irish public expenditure. As the state budget doubles to €133 billion, Fenlon discusses the black hole in procurement, the surge in opaque consultancy fees, and how a Golden Thread of data could finally bring accountability to government spending. This conversation explores why the Irish state struggles to measure value for money and what happens when a bureaucracy becomes larger than the political class meant to manage it. Check out the spending tracker discussed in the episode at: statespend.ie. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
July 23 · 44 min
Rich Country, Broken State
Ireland has cash coming out of its ears, and nothing to show for it. Sinead O'Sullivan is back to expose the wild dysfunction inside the Irish state: no one is accountable, nothing gets finished, and the same problems get "solved" over and over again. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
July 21 · 41 min
Spain Won Again, 500 Years Later
Spain beat Argentina 1-0 in a scrappy, dirty World Cup final, in what felt like 500 years of history playing out on a pitch in New Jersey. We use the final as an excuse to ask the big question: why did Spain's colonies end up poor and England's end up rich? Silver, slavery, the Inquisition, and the invisible thread that still connects a Buenos Aires slum to a New Jersey kitchen. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
July 16 · 40 min
Is AI About to Crash the Global Economy?
History says yes. We rewind to 1873, when a stock market wobble in Vienna triggered a global railway crash that took down banks, empires and 80% of world lending in a matter of months, and ask whether we're staring straight at a rerun. AI spending is now bigger than the entire US defence budget, the same handful of companies are quietly funding each other in a circle, and China is quietly open-sourcing the whole thing to undercut Silicon Valley. If it pops, it'll pop between now and October. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
July 14 · 42 min
Mbappé vs Le Pen: The Battle for France
On this 14th of July, as Les Bleus face Spain in the semi-final, France is heading into a political crisis that could reshape Europe because where France goes, Europe usually follows. We dig into why Marine Le Pen is now the favourite for the presidency, why the French football team has become her loudest critic, and, with France on the brink, why a World Cup win might yet influence politics in a way that few sporting achievements have ever done before. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
July 9 · 41 min
England V Norway: A Tale of Two Oil Discoveries?
Norway turned North Sea oil into $2 trillion in the bank. Britain turned it into tax cuts, unemployment cheques and a housing bubble. We unpack the tale of two oil finds, why one country nailed it and the other blew it, and what it says about how nations really make, and lose, their fortunes. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
July 7 · 38 min
Alexander Hamilton: How a Caribbean Orphan Built America
250 years on, we ask the question: would America even exist without Alexander Hamilton? We tell the story of the French-speaking outsider who created the dollar, faced down the states, and set the world's biggest economy in motion, before being murdered in one of history's strangest duels. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
July 6 · 31 min
Ireland's Silent Sell Off and the Employee Ownership Solution
Every day that the Irish Financial Service Centre is open, they're selling an Irish business into foreign ownership. Since 2018, overseas acquirers have spent over €100 billion buying up Irish companies. I'm joined by Alan Coleman to look at why this is happening. We look at employee ownership trusts as a solution already working in the UK and Canada, the tax barriers holding it back in Ireland, and the surprising historical Irish precedent for the idea. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
July 2 · 32 min
The Death of the American Dream
SpaceX just IPO'd, surged, and torched billions of small investors. It's the new American economy. From prediction markets to crypto to day-trading teens, we look at how the US quietly turned itself into the world's biggest casino, and why young Americans are gambling because they've given up on working. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
June 30 · 41 min
The Man Who Broke the Global Economy
Alan Greenspan just died at 100, and he might be the most consequential person of the last 30 years that nobody talks about. We unpack the wild story of the jazz clarinettist turned Fed chairman, the Ayn Rand cult he came from, the "Greenspan Put" that quietly rigged Wall Street, and why his fingerprints are all over Ireland's 2008 crash. Plus a strange historical twist: was Alan Greenspan related to the Jewish teenager whose shooting triggered Kristallnacht? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
June 24 · 35 min
Why Did Brazil Never Make It?
The country of the future has been stuck in the future for 100 years. We dig into Brazil's wild economic story; slavery, the secret "whitening" immigration policy that sent millions of Italians south, and why Brazilian football carries the weight of a whole nation's identity. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
June 23 · 40 min
The EU Is Cracking
Europe just got overtaken, and it knows it. From a bar in Brussels, we unpack the ancient fault line tearing the EU apart, why China's rise has spooked the continent more than anyone admits, and why the "European way of life" might already be slipping away. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
June 18 · 44 min
World Cup Series: Haiti
Haiti just qualified for its first World Cup in 50 years, and they come from the poorest country in the Americas, a place where gangs run the capital and the average person earns $45 a month. We trace how the world's first successful slave revolution ended up here: French gunboats, a 120-year debt, ecological collapse, and an island where one half (the Dominican Republic) is racing ahead while the other is forgotten. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
June 16 · 42 min
Could Canada Have A Brexit Moment?
Mark Carney is being hailed as the new leader of the free world. While he's facing down Trump abroad, his real headache is at home, Alberta, Canada's Texas, is gearing up for a referendum that could split the country in two. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
June 11 · 40 min
Inside the World Cup's Narco State
We head down Mexico way to unpack the country hosting the World Cup, a $1.8 trillion economy living side by side with one of the most powerful criminal networks on earth. Drugs, guns, avocados, and the politics tying Trump and Sheinbaum together whether they like it or not. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
June 9 · 40 min
Why Social Democracies Win World Cups
The FT's Simon Kuper joins us to kick off our World Cup series, on why tiny social democracies keep producing the best football teams, why FIFA is laundering reputations for dictators, and why this tournament will say more about geopolitics than any leaders' summit this year. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
June 4 · 29 min
The Coming Water Crisis
Forget oil. The real fight is over the world's most precious and least understood commodity; water. We're joined by Paul O'Callaghan of BlueTech Research to explain why two billion people still can't get safe drinking water, why Saudi Arabia is quietly draining Colorado, and why Ireland's biggest strategic advantage might just be the rain we love to complain about. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
June 2 · 41 min
Why Trump Is About to Come for Ireland
Made in Kinsale, sold in America, the Ozempic boom is making Ireland rich and dangerously exposed. We unpack how three companies now pay nearly half our corporate tax, and what happens when Trump finally notices. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.