Mainstream Economics, Gender, and the Call for a Multi-Colored Global New Deal

This podcast episode delivers a scathing critique of mainstream economics, arguing that its failures extend far beyond the absence of a gender perspective, encompassing issues like financial markets, government spending, monetary policy, climate change, and intellectual property rights. The speaker contends that these systemic errors persist because the discipline often serves existing power structures—class, corporate, and patriarchal—thereby reaffirming and justifying imbalances that are ultimately counterproductive for humanity. A significant part of this critique highlights how the demographic homogeneity of economic leadership, predominantly rich white men, leads to a disconnect from the realities faced by the majority of the world's population, including women, people of color, and the working poor.\n\nThe analysis further delves into the methodological flaws within economics, particularly its failure to adequately scrutinize the underlying assumptions of its models, such as perfect competition or full employment, which are known to be invalid. This leads to the advocacy of policies that are irrelevant or harmful. The speaker criticizes economics for pretending to be a natural science, which fosters an insular, arrogant approach, marginalizing alternative perspectives and leading to "trivial pursuits" rather than a genuine understanding of economic reality. The discipline's arrogance is evident in its treatment of other social sciences, its belief in social engineering through flawed models, and even in empirical research methods like Randomized Control Trials (RCTs), which are described as having a neocolonial element by treating people, especially in developing countries, as "lab rats."\n\nTo rectify these deep-seated issues, the episode advocates for a fundamental shift towards a gender-aware economic policy, moving beyond mere tokenism or symbolic gestures. Key recommendations include liberating both paid and unpaid labor, recognizing women's right to work, and addressing time poverty by valuing "relational time." Macroeconomic policy must adopt a "do no harm" principle, avoiding pro-cyclical fiscal austerity measures that disproportionately affect women, particularly cuts to essential public services and public wage bills. The speaker also calls for a shift from regressive to progressive taxation, including taxes on extreme wealth, financial transactions, and multinational corporations, alongside significant public investment in universal, high-quality public services with fair wages and conditions for women workers.\n\nUltimately, the episode proposes a comprehensive "Multi-Colored New Deal" to address interconnected global crises. This includes a "Green Deal" for environmental sustainability, a "Blue Deal" to tackle critical water access issues, a "Purple Deal" to recognize, reward, reduce, and represent the care economy (both paid and unpaid), and a "Red Deal" to aggressively combat escalating inequalities in income, assets, and access to essential services, including the persistent North-South inequality. Achieving this ambitious, gender-inclusive global new deal necessitates a radical rethinking of the international architecture, including trade rules, financial regulations, and intellectual property rights, demanding unprecedented international cooperation and ambition to ensure not just economic justice, but the very survival of the species.

"the absence of a gender perspective is only one of the many things that is wrong with mainstream economics at the moment"

"too much of it is in the service of power certainly class and corporate power but also patriarchal power"

"we do not give enough attention to the assumptions that underlie the models that a particular model generates these outcomes"

"economics is pretending to be a science a natural science kind of thing when it's not"

"there's a lot of arrogance certainly in terms of approach to other disciplines but there's also the arrogance of economic policy"

"if your lived experience is different you will be much more able to bring a different angle to a particular discussion"

"it's extraordinary how much this discipline is dominated by the north atlantic"

"we really have to avoid that [tokenism] we do not get away with just doing minor gestures that don't improve the actual condition of women"

"we have to liberate both work and free time"

"avoid imposing fiscal austerity measures in general and do not make them pro-cyclical"

"being green is not good enough... we really have to make it a green and blue deal but everything I've said so far also suggests that it has to be a purple deal... and finally of course it also has to be read"

"a neglect of care actually can create complete lack of resilience in an economy"

"all of these efforts to have a multi-colored new deal require an appropriate international architecture which is why this new deal has to be global"