Harsh Truths Of The Global Economy You Need To Know - Ha-Joon Chang

Thank you for checking out The Front Row Podcast and my interview with Hajoon Chang. Ha-Joon Chang is a South Korean economist and one of the most widely read critics of neoliberal orthodoxy working today. He is currently a professor of economics at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS). He is best known for his book 23 Things They Don't Tell You About Capitalism, published in 2010, which challenged the foundational claims of free-market economics with rigorous historical and empirical argument. His earlier work, Kicking Away the Ladder, demonstrated how today's rich countries used protectionism and industrial policy to develop — before turning around and telling developing nations to liberalise. Chang's research spans developmental economics, the history of economic thought, and the political economy of globalisation. He has been a vocal proponent of what he calls "non-mainstream" economics: not a single doctrinal school, but a pluralist approach that draws on institutional, Keynesian, and developmentalist traditions to analyse how economies actually grow and change. In this conversation, Chang offers a sweeping critique of neoliberalism's track record on growth and inequality, a dispassionate assessment of Donald Trump's industrial policy ambitions, and a pointed analysis of the AI boom as a speculative bubble shaped by concentrated wealth rather than genuine demand. TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 Trailer 1:08 Introduction 1:54 Growing Up in South Korea's Economic Miracle 4:36 Why Ha-Joon Chang Is Not "Heterodox" 4:58 The Gwangju Massacre and the Limits of Neoclassical Economics 10:45 How the Neoliberal Turn Happened 18:32 The Real Cost of the Free-Market Experiment 25:20 Why Singapore Works 29:58 Trump's Industrial Policy: Will It Work? 37:50 The Three Elements of Good Industrial Policy 40:54 The Right Lessons From China 44:44 How Bad Is Inequality in the US? 53:18 The AI Bubble 58:36 AI as Public Infrastructure 1:00:48 How to Build a More Just World 1:06:14 Closing This is the 86th episode Of The Front Row Podcast A huge thank you to our amazing Front Row Friends for supporting and advancing the podcast: @marinama2728 @deborahchoi1455 @annkowong @yewchoutan5876 Full transcripts of episodes can be found here: https://www.ykeith.com/tag/podcast/ Feel free to mingle in the comments below or head to... Instagram:   / frontrow.65   Linkedin:   / keith-yap   Website: www.ykeith.com Email: [email protected] Get access to every episode by subscribing for free on Spotify: https://creators.spotify.com/pod/show... or Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/sg/podcast...