Jon Erickson: “Illusions, Power and the Political Economy”

(Conversation Recorded on October 6, 2022.)

On this episode, Nate is joined by Sustainability Science and Policy Professor Jon Erickson. He and Nate dive into Jon’s new book The Progress Illusion: Reclaiming our Future from the Fairytale of Economics, which covers the economic myths that have shaped our modern reality. How can we reshape the narrative and shift the paradigm towards different economic systems that promote human and ecological well-being over material consumption?

About Jon Erickson

Jon Erickson is the David Blittersdorf Professor of Sustainability Science & Policy at the University of Vermont. He has published widely on energy & climate change policy, land conservation, watershed planning, environmental public health, and the theory and practice of ecological economics. He advised presidential candidate Bernie Sanders on economics and energy issues.

Show Notes & Links to Learn More

00:38 – Jon Erickson Works, Info + Newest Book – The Progress Illusion: Reclaiming our Future from the Fairytale of Economics

05:12 – Isolationism and Reductionism

07:17 – University trends towards more progressive ideas

08:16 – E.O. Wilson – Consilience

11:57 – Evolutionary biology

13:44 – Neoclassical economics – utility

15:35 – Heterodox Economics, Orthodox Economics

16:02 – Ecological Economics

17:38 – Economics attempts to become Newtonian

18:32 – John Kenneth Galbraith

19:10 – Carbon Pulse

19:29 – Deep Time Graphic

21:45 – Michael Douglas speech in the movie “Wall Street”

23:05 –Economics, Ecology, Ethics – Herman Daly

24:11 – The Progress Illusion: Reclaiming our Future from the Fairytale of Economics

24:35 – The field of Ecological Economics is very young

30:45 – Nate’s Superorganism paper

32:20 – Donella Meadows Shifting the Paradigm

35:38 – Conservative movement funded the academy starting in the 50s

36:40 – Josh Farley – Circular Firing Squad

36:48 – Bernie Sanders

37:14 – Bernie Sanders record for amendments on bills

38:28 – Marxism, Socialism

39:10 – The US Economy is built on the tradition of democratic socialism

39:17 – Gar Alperovitz, democratization of wealth

40:40 – Autocratic Socialism

40:45 – Martin Luther King – Socialism for the rich, capitalism for the poor

42:40 – Henry George, Karl Polanyi, The Great Transformation

43:06 – The Econocene, Richard Norgaard

44:08 – Occupy Wall Street, Walk out of Gregory Mankiw’s class at Harvard

46:23 – Alfred Kahn – Tyranny of Small Decisions

47:14 – Shifting Baselines

49:16 – Stages of growth in a forest

52:09 – Nordhaus – Nobel Prize in Economics Winner

54:01: Cambridge economist Ha-Joon Chang 

59:25 – People were drawn to both Sanders and Trump because of anti-establishmentarianism

1:00:57 – Timothée Parrique + TGS Podcast

1:04:40 – Seeing someone else do altruistic things makes us 300% more likely to be altruistic

1:05:08 – Josh Farley (TGS Episode)

1:08:01 – Frankly Series

1:09:20 – David Christian, Big History

1:11:35 – Dan Kahan study at Yale University (climate science acceptability)

1:14:58 – The Invisible Gorilla Video

Teaser photo credit: Kings’ Fairy Tale, 1909, by Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis By Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis – ciurlionis.eu, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=18576612