Episode 61: The Public Interest Economy by Bronwyn Kelly (Chapter 2 - Parts 3 to 6)

Episode 61: Bronwyn Kelly reads Part 3 to 6 of Chapter 2 of her latest book, The Public Interest Economy: the path to wellbeing, security and sustainable consumption in a democratised Australian economy.Chapter 2 is called Deploying money so that it can make Australians safe. It describes a project of reform of the macroeconomic policy and governance arrangements for Australia’s economy so that in future all Australians can be assured of their prosperity through the achievement of full employment and price stability. Parts 1 and 2 of this chapter foreshadowed the need for a reduction of the degree of independence currently enjoyed by the Reserve Bank of Australia, suggesting that it is an economic governance arrangement that is not in the public interest and is fundamentally anti-democratic. Parts 3 to 6 begin explaining how that economic governance arrangement should be replaced with a new integrated approach to macroeconomic management led by the Treasury via the use of functional finance – a marcoeconomic management system devised in the 1940s in line with Keynesian economics. This system can function as a counter to the failures of neoliberal and neoclassical economic theories. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bronwynkelly.substack.com