John Kay On Smaller Government And Business Failure, And Why Greed Is Dead

John Kay is one of the UK’s leading economists. His books on the tax system, corporate strategy and banking have been widely praised. He helped establish the Institute of Fiscal Studies, is a fellow at St. Johns College Oxford, and was the first dean of Oxford’s Saïd Business School. In this podcast we discuss:

1. The importance of science for policymakers and why they do not use it more
2. The problem with the focus on short-term earnings
3. Why people are pro-social rather than individualistic
4. Why the 1970s failed and later why neo-liberalism failed
5. Why productivity could be under-estimated
6. The problem with the rights movements
7. The need for decentralization and disciplined pluralism
8. How the EU helps the creation of smaller states
9. Why regulation is helping big banks
10. The importance for businesses not to obsess about profits
11. Recent book that influenced John: The Secret of Our Success (Joseph Henrich)