This Is How Prejudice Can Hinder the Economy
Odd Lots
Bloomberg
4.5 • 2K Ratings
🗓️ 31 December 2020
⏱️ 37 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Economics is all about improving living standards, but rarely does the dismal science deal with social justice or talk about how a lack of it could actually hinder growth. In this episode, UBS Global Chief Economist Paul Donovan discusses how prejudice and labor markets are intertwined, and why discrimination can restrict development. Donovan describes how historical technological advances have often increased racism, sexism and other forms of prejudice as people sought out scapegoats to blame for lost jobs and wealth. He also describes how the current 'fourth industrial revolution' is fomenting more blame, and what economists can do about it.
Odd Lots listeners are eligible for a 25% discount on the hardback or eBook edition of Paul Donovan’s new book, Profit and Prejudice: The Luddites of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, via the Routledge website by using the offer code “OL25” at checkout.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | There's so much news happening around the world that we're somehow supposed to stay on top of. |
| 0:05.5 | That's why we launched The Big Take. It's a daily podcast from Bloomberg and I Heart |
| 0:11.4 | Radio that turns down the volume a bit to give you some space to think. |
| 0:16.5 | I'm Wes Kossova. |
| 0:18.0 | Each weekday I dig into one important story and talk about why it matters. |
| 0:23.7 | Listen to the big take on the I Heart Radio app, |
| 0:26.6 | Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen. Hello and welcome to another episode of the Odd Lots Podcast. I'm Joe Wiesenthal. |
| 0:45.0 | I'm Tracy Allaway. |
| 0:46.0 | And I'm Joe Weisenthall. |
| 0:49.0 | So Joe, I think at this point one of the themes that has been emerging from 2020 is the idea that we are seeing a number of trends that were already underway really accelerate. |
| 1:01.0 | 100%. |
| 1:04.0 | Yeah, and one of those trends is something that again, |
| 1:09.0 | we saw even before this year, and I would say we really saw it come into play after the financial |
| 1:14.2 | crisis. It's the idea that the economics profession or the study of economics, the |
| 1:21.0 | field of economics, the field of economics is missing something fundamental or perhaps could be applied in a different way to, I guess, achieve a better outcome for human well-being. |
| 1:35.8 | Is that a good way of putting it? |
| 1:38.0 | Go further. |
| 1:39.1 | I mean, yes, but go further. |
| 1:43.0 | Well, I think in the aftermath of the financial crisis, there was a lot of criticism |
| 1:47.2 | trained on economists that not only had they missed this massive imbalance |
| 1:51.6 | that ended up nearly taking down the financial system, but also that economics |
| 1:56.9 | had somehow lost its way in its actual purpose. |
... |
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