Recorded on: Jun 9, 2025
Description
Economics departments around the world teach a narrow boundary story of the way our world works. A narrative of infinite growth driven by consumption and money, which has dominated our culture and unknowingly shaped the way we live. But does this story really reflect our biophysical reality – or the full scope of humanity’s role within it?
In this week’s Frankly, Nate identifies 10 myths being taught in business schools today, and the massive implications these misconceptions hold for society. From the way we define value and the boundaries of success to the idolization of self-interest and human ingenuity, these so-called laws of economics were developed in a different world than the one we inhabit now. By exposing the unquestioned myths that are perpetuated in MBA education, Nate aims to sow the seeds of an economic system rooted in the real world – which may one day become a reality.
What would it take for the long-held “immutable truths” of economic theory to be questioned, and eventually changed to better reflect our material limits? How do we redefine “success” in a way that does not posit GDP as the main indicator of human or economic well being? Most importantly, if we shed ourselves of these delusions, how might we reimagine an economic system that centers the well-being of citizens, the health of the planet, and all of the species we share it with?
Show Notes & Links to Learn More
05:01 – Externalities
08:04 – Humans as social primates
09:33 – A typical look at the standard supply curve
10:28 – Alan Blinder
11:48 – Nate’s PhD Paper
13:17 – Overview of the Cobb-Douglas function
13:57 – Steve Keen: “Labor without energy is a corpse; capital without energy is a sculpture.”
14:51 – check oil prices today
19:30 – more on the “Carbon Pulse”
21:14 – deep look into Endogenous Money post-2010
21:59 – Bank of England: “Money Creation in the Modern Economy” article and video
23:05 – Ponzi Scheme / Bernie Madoff references
26:35 – further reading on debt productivity: “Debt and Growth: A Decade of Studies;” “The Impact of Public Debt on Economic Growth”
27:30 – U.S. Debt Ceiling
27:57 – Lehman Brothers bankruptcy, Bear Stearns bailout
28:58 – common view on GDP + importance
30:56 – Healthcare spending in the U.S. vs other countries
35:15 – topsoil depletion, groundwater/fossil aquifer depletion, coral reef death
36:18 – Adam Smith and the “invisible hand”
39:22 – Planetary Boundaries
