{"id":60,"date":"2026-01-29T09:56:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-29T09:56:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.edgehill.ac.uk\/csr\/?page_id=60"},"modified":"2026-03-04T22:31:55","modified_gmt":"2026-03-04T22:31:55","slug":"knowing-the-economy","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/blogs.edgehill.ac.uk\/csr\/knowing-the-economy\/","title":{"rendered":"Knowing \u201cThe Economy\u201d?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Aidan Jolly<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>PhD student, Edge Hill University<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignright size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"614\" height=\"644\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.edgehill.ac.uk\/csr\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/435\/2026\/01\/AidanJolly.jpg\" alt=\"Head shot of Aidan Jolly\" class=\"wp-image-61\" style=\"width:289px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.edgehill.ac.uk\/csr\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/435\/2026\/01\/AidanJolly.jpg 614w, https:\/\/blogs.edgehill.ac.uk\/csr\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/435\/2026\/01\/AidanJolly-286x300.jpg 286w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 614px) 100vw, 614px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Once upon a time, I studied Economics. I entered another world, where my everyday experience of living on limited means had no relevance to what I was being asked to study. My \u2018Microeconomics\u2019 tutor tried to convince me that consumers make \u2018rational\u2019 decisions. It didn\u2019t help that when he got frustrated, he strode around the room waving a golf club. My conclusion was not that I was wrong, but that he didn\u2019t do the shopping. In Macroeconomics lectures I learnt that consumption and production flowed in a virtuous self-maintaining circle. I remember wondering what happened when arms manufacturing siphoned off some of this production into warfare, breaking the circle through mass destruction. I got short shrift as an answer. Many years later, reading Kate Raworth\u2019s \u2018Doughnut Economics\u2019, I realised I was not alone in asking these questions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The fairy tales are still being told, but we feel their wrongness. We tightened our belts in 2008 as absurd sums of money were poured into the property market, allegedly to restart the circular flow of money around \u2018the economy\u2019. Our experience was completely at odds with the language used by Bankers and Chancellors. My current PhD research has used drama to unpick this, playing with our assumptions about finance. Working with a group of local participants, we looked at the \u2018strangeness\u2019 of money, and discovered that many of our intuitions about economics are right; and also that some key ideas are completely wrong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To begin with what\u2019s wrong, government messaging on economics is that nations run like households, and must balance income and expenditure. Not surprisingly, participants agreed with this \u2013 at the everyday level, we do have to manage this way. As Dickens put it in David Copperfield \u201cAnnual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen nineteen and six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery\u201d. But this intuition is being mobilised to legitimate the disproportionate impact of \u2018austerity\u2019 on poorer people. It turns out that governments <em>can<\/em> create money (if they have a Central Bank). Post World War 2, this was called \u2018Keynsianism\u2019; but now the idea is so contrary to neo-liberal dogma that it had to be relabelled \u2018Quantitative Easing\u2019 after the 2008 crash. Had QE been invested in local infrastructure or health projects rather than property speculation, our world might now be very different.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What do we know that\u2019s right? Our observation that we are being stolen from and that the gap between the top 1% and the rest of us is huge and widening is true. So is our feeling that government ministers are misleading us. They dismiss our lived experience and present \u2018The Economy\u2019 as though it is a single \u2018thing\u2019 that can be scientifically controlled and understood, except when it can\u2019t, like the weather. This is a fairy story with roots in the 18<sup>th<\/sup> Century \u2018Enlightenment\u2019, told so successfully that it is facilitating an accumulation of wealth on a scale not seen for 100 years. Rather than wait for this to \u2018trickle down\u2019, our response is to create new stories about plural \u2018economies\u2019 of socially useful production, care, co-operation and mutual support. We don\u2019t have to wait for changes in Government policy, which will probably never come; we can build these ourselves. And we can start now.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Aidan Jolly PhD student, Edge Hill University Once upon a time, I studied Economics. I entered another world, where my everyday experience of living on limited means had no relevance to what I was being asked to study. My \u2018Microeconomics\u2019 tutor tried to convince me that consumers make \u2018rational\u2019 decisions. It didn\u2019t help that when [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2448,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-60","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Knowing \u201cThe Economy\u201d? - Centre for Social Responsibility<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.edgehill.ac.uk\/csr\/knowing-the-economy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Knowing \u201cThe Economy\u201d? - Centre for Social Responsibility\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Aidan Jolly PhD student, Edge Hill University Once upon a time, I studied Economics. I entered another world, where my everyday experience of living on limited means had no relevance to what I was being asked to study. My \u2018Microeconomics\u2019 tutor tried to convince me that consumers make \u2018rational\u2019 decisions. It didn\u2019t help that when [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.edgehill.ac.uk\/csr\/knowing-the-economy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Centre for Social Responsibility\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-03-04T22:31:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.edgehill.ac.uk\/csr\/files\/2026\/01\/AidanJolly.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.edgehill.ac.uk\/csr\/knowing-the-economy\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blogs.edgehill.ac.uk\/csr\/knowing-the-economy\/\",\"name\":\"Knowing \u201cThe Economy\u201d? - Centre for Social Responsibility\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.edgehill.ac.uk\/csr\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.edgehill.ac.uk\/csr\/knowing-the-economy\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.edgehill.ac.uk\/csr\/knowing-the-economy\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/blogs.edgehill.ac.uk\/csr\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/435\/2026\/01\/AidanJolly.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-01-29T09:56:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-03-04T22:31:55+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.edgehill.ac.uk\/csr\/knowing-the-economy\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/blogs.edgehill.ac.uk\/csr\/knowing-the-economy\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.edgehill.ac.uk\/csr\/knowing-the-economy\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blogs.edgehill.ac.uk\/csr\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/435\/2026\/01\/AidanJolly.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/blogs.edgehill.ac.uk\/csr\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/435\/2026\/01\/AidanJolly.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.edgehill.ac.uk\/csr\/knowing-the-economy\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/blogs.edgehill.ac.uk\/csr\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Knowing \u201cThe Economy\u201d?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.edgehill.ac.uk\/csr\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blogs.edgehill.ac.uk\/csr\/\",\"name\":\"Centre for Social Responsibility\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/blogs.edgehill.ac.uk\/csr\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Knowing \u201cThe Economy\u201d? - Centre for Social Responsibility","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/blogs.edgehill.ac.uk\/csr\/knowing-the-economy\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Knowing \u201cThe Economy\u201d? - Centre for Social Responsibility","og_description":"Aidan Jolly PhD student, Edge Hill University Once upon a time, I studied Economics. I entered another world, where my everyday experience of living on limited means had no relevance to what I was being asked to study. My \u2018Microeconomics\u2019 tutor tried to convince me that consumers make \u2018rational\u2019 decisions. It didn\u2019t help that when [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/blogs.edgehill.ac.uk\/csr\/knowing-the-economy\/","og_site_name":"Centre for Social Responsibility","article_modified_time":"2026-03-04T22:31:55+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/blogs.edgehill.ac.uk\/csr\/files\/2026\/01\/AidanJolly.jpg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.edgehill.ac.uk\/csr\/knowing-the-economy\/","url":"https:\/\/blogs.edgehill.ac.uk\/csr\/knowing-the-economy\/","name":"Knowing \u201cThe Economy\u201d? - Centre for Social Responsibility","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.edgehill.ac.uk\/csr\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.edgehill.ac.uk\/csr\/knowing-the-economy\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.edgehill.ac.uk\/csr\/knowing-the-economy\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/blogs.edgehill.ac.uk\/csr\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/435\/2026\/01\/AidanJolly.jpg","datePublished":"2026-01-29T09:56:00+00:00","dateModified":"2026-03-04T22:31:55+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.edgehill.ac.uk\/csr\/knowing-the-economy\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/blogs.edgehill.ac.uk\/csr\/knowing-the-economy\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.edgehill.ac.uk\/csr\/knowing-the-economy\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/blogs.edgehill.ac.uk\/csr\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/435\/2026\/01\/AidanJolly.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/blogs.edgehill.ac.uk\/csr\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/435\/2026\/01\/AidanJolly.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.edgehill.ac.uk\/csr\/knowing-the-economy\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/blogs.edgehill.ac.uk\/csr\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Knowing \u201cThe Economy\u201d?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.edgehill.ac.uk\/csr\/#website","url":"https:\/\/blogs.edgehill.ac.uk\/csr\/","name":"Centre for Social Responsibility","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/blogs.edgehill.ac.uk\/csr\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edgehill.ac.uk\/csr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/60","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edgehill.ac.uk\/csr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edgehill.ac.uk\/csr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edgehill.ac.uk\/csr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2448"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edgehill.ac.uk\/csr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edgehill.ac.uk\/csr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/60\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":86,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edgehill.ac.uk\/csr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/60\/revisions\/86"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edgehill.ac.uk\/csr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}