Keen On

Not everyone believes in the promise of economic growth. We’ve done KEEN ON shows in the past with “degrowth” advocates like Tim Jackson and Jason Hickle who argue that we need to get beyond the false promise of ever expanding wealth. Our guest today, however, is anything but a sceptic of capitalist economics. Jon Moynihan is a Conservative member of the House of Lords, a vocal supporter of BREXIT, and an unashamed follower of the free market economic principles of Friedrich Hayek & Margaret Thatcher. In his new book, Return to Growth: How to Fix the Economy, the entertaining and combative Lord Moynihan argues that critics of economic growth tend to be what he calls “pampered Oxford Dons” who have no real understanding of the needs or ambitions of ordinary people. By the way, tomorrow’s guest on the show will be the Oxford trained economist Daniel Susskind who, as it happens, has a new book out entitled Growth: A History and a Reckoning. So more views about the value of the idea of economic growth over th