Barry's Economics

Barry’s Economics is about explaining the economy without the jargon. Using humour, storytelling, and behavioural science, Barry explores wealth, power, inequality, and the hidden forces shaping everyday life.

Barry's Economics is a society podcast hosted by Barry, with 66 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80. PitchCentric scores this show on Booking Probability, Listen Score, and live audience signals refreshed every 24 hours.

Barry hosts Barry's Economics, a society show with 66 episodes published.

Our AI reads these to draft pitches. Use them as grounding for a pitch that cites a real guest and a specific topic.

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  Barry's Economics

  The Iceberg Is Innocent: The Titanic's True Villain - Barry's Economics

  Aug 17, 202631 min

  The real Tragedy of the Titanic Wasn't The Iceberg.This week's video is what we get wrong about tragedies.This is a story about who gets killed, what power does to us, and how to change course so the when disaster hits - it doesn't need to be a tragedy.I’m Barry Ferns – a comedian whose personal journey through failure, homelessness, and rebuilding led me to explore the socio and behavioural economics of inequality.No sponsors, ever.... this channel is funded by viewers:▶ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/barryseconomics ▶ Buy Me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/barryseconomics https://paypal.me/barryseconomics This channel digs into how systems of power shape our identity, behaviour, and beliefs, and how we can shift the stories we tell ourselves and each other about poverty, inequality, and who’s to blame.How to Support Barry’s EconomicsHelp us stay independent and keep making videos like this. https://www.buymeacoffee.com/barryseconomics https://ko-fi.com/barryseconomics https://paypal.me/barryseconomics https://www.patreon.com/barryseconomics More about me: https://barryferns.co.uk/ Mailing List Sign-up: https://tr.ee/0BKMVw You can also follow me on Tiktok: tiktok.com/@barryseconomics Instagram: instagram.com/barryseconomics Twitter: twitter.com/barryseconomics Substack: https://substack.com/@barryseconomics BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/barryseconomics.bsky.social Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/user/barryferns/ If you’re new to this, check out Gary's Economics first – his channel gives the structural and financial perspective. This one adds the lived, social and emotional side.Support Gary's Wealth Tax Campaign Here: https://buy.stripe.com/dRm4gs9Nl1L6eqWbUydjO00 Want to see the stand-up side of all this?Find my live comedy and storytelling here: https://www.youtube.com/@mrbarryferns To learn more about my comedy club, Angel Comedy, and buy tickets for shows head here: https://www.angelcomedy.co.uk/

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  Barry's Economics

  The Psychological Trick That Keeps You Arguing About Immigration - Barry's Economics

  Aug 10, 202633 min

  This video is about why immigration is always the argument. Not whether the arguments are right. But why that particular argument, and not wages, or land, or who owns what, is the one that keeps being handed to you.I go through the neuroscience, the leaked internal documents, the 2.7 million posts study, and the numbers on what people believe about immigration versus what is actually happening around them. Then I explain why you still can't win the argument, and why winning it was never the point.SoI’m Barry Ferns – a comedian whose personal journey through failure, homelessness, and rebuilding led me to explore the socio and behavioural economics of inequality.No sponsors, ever.... this channel is funded by viewers:▶ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/barryseconomics ▶ Buy Me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/barryseconomics https://paypal.me/barryseconomics SOURCESLeDoux, J. (2000). Emotion circuits in the brain. Annual Review of Neuroscience, 23, 155–184Arnsten, A.F.T. (2009). Stress signalling pathways that impair prefrontal cortical structure and function. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 10, 410–422Haidt, J. (2001). The emotional dog and its rational tail. Psychological Review, 108(4), 814–834Rathje, Van Bavel & Van Der Linden (2021). Out-group animosity drives engagement on social media. PNAS, 118(26)Frances Haugen, internal Facebook documents and testimony to US Congress and UK Parliament, 2021Ipsos, Perils of Perception, 37-country studyDustmann, C. & Frattini, T. (2014). The Fiscal Effects of Immigration to the UK. The Economic Journal, 124(580)Bauer et al. (2023). Shifting Punishment onto Minorities. The Economic Journal, 133(652)This channel digs into how systems of power shape our identity, behaviour, and beliefs, and how we can shift the stories we tell ourselves and each other about poverty, inequality, and who’s to blame.How to Support Barry’s EconomicsHelp us stay independent and keep making videos like this. https://www.buymeacoffee.com/barryseconomics https://ko-fi.com/barryseconomics https://paypal.me/barryseconomics https://www.patreon.com/barryseconomics More about me: https://barryferns.co.uk/ Mailing List Sign-up: https://tr.ee/0BKMVw You can also follow me on Tiktok: tiktok.com/@barryseconomics Instagram: instagram.com/barryseconomics Twitter: twitter.com/barryseconomics Substack: https://substack.com/@barryseconomics BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/barryseconomics.bsky.social Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/user/barryferns/ If you’re new to this, check out Gary's Economics first! His channel gives the structural and financial perspective. This one adds the lived, social and emotional side.Support Gary's Wealth Tax Campaign Here: https://buy.stripe.com/dRm4gs9Nl1L6eqWbUydjO00 Want to see the stand-up side of all this?Find my live comedy and storytelling here: https://www.youtube.com/@mrbarryferns To learn more about my comedy club, Angel Comedy, and buy tickets for shows head here: https://www.angelcomedy.co.uk/

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  Barry's Economics

  I've Watched Genius Comedians Vanish - Here's Why | Barry's Economics

  Aug 4, 202626 min

  I've been a comedian since I was 15 and in that time I've watched some of the most talented people of my generation become household names. And I've also watched some of the most talented people of my generation disappear completely.Not because they weren't good enough or because they didn't work hard enough.Because talent and recognition are two completely different things.This video started with a conversation with James Acaster. I asked him a simple question:Who is the most influential comedian people have never heard of?His answer was Luisa Omielan.What followed was a conversation about influence, recognition, success and why some people shape entire industries without receiving the credit they deserve.Along the way, it led me into Abraham Wald's famous work on survivorship bias during World War II, Daniel Kahneman's research on how we create stories about success, and a much bigger question:What if meritocracy isn't wrong because talent doesn't matter?What if it's wrong because we've confused talent with visibility?This is the first in a series about meritocracy.What we get right about it.What we get catastrophically wrong about it.And what the science actually says about how success works.Sources ReferencedWald, A. (1943) – A Method of Estimating Plane Vulnerability Based on Damage of SurvivorsTaleb, N.N. (2007) – The Black SwanKahneman, D. & Tversky, A. (1974) – Judgment Under Uncertainty: Heuristics and BiasesKahneman, D. (2011) – Thinking, Fast and SlowDuckworth, A. et al. (2007) – Grit: Perseverance and Passion for Long-Term GoalsI’m Barry Ferns – a comedian whose personal journey through failure, homelessness, and rebuilding led me to explore the socio and behavioural economics of inequality.This channel digs into how systems of power shape our identity, behaviour, and beliefs, and how we can shift the stories we tell ourselves and each other about poverty, inequality, and who’s to blame.How to Support Barry’s EconomicsHelp us stay independent and keep making videos like this. https://www.buymeacoffee.com/barryseconomics https://ko-fi.com/barryseconomics https://www.patreon.com/barryseconomics Follow and leave a review if you enjoyed this episode!More about me: https://barryferns.co.uk/ You can also follow me on Tiktok: tiktok.com/@barryseconomics Instagram: instagram.com/barryseconomics Twitter: twitter.com/barryseconomics Substack: https://substack.com/@barryseconomics BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/barryseconomics.bsky.social Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/user/barryferns/ If you’re new to this, check out Gary's Economics first! His channel gives the structural and financial perspective. This one adds the lived, social and emotional side.Support Gary's Wealth Tax Campaign Here: https://buy.stripe.com/dRm4gs9Nl1L6eqWbUydjO00 Want to see the stand-up side of all this?Find my live comedy and storytelling here: https://www.youtube.com/@mrbarryferns To learn more about my comedy club, Angel Comedy, and buy tickets for shows head here: https://www.angelcomedy.co.uk/

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  Barry's Economics

  The Psychological Trick That Kills Every Wealth Tax - Barry's Economics

  Jul 27, 202618 min

  Why Doesn't It Seem Possible to Tax The Rich Even a Little Bit More? Well...There's a trick that's been used against the public for over seventy years. It's completely legal, it's very well funded, and it's working on you right now. It doesn't involve lying. That's the clever part. You never have to say anything false. I want to show you how this trick works, and you'll spot it everywhere. In every news debate, every panel show, every politician saying "we need to be careful here." And I want to show you the one time in British history we actually beat it. Which matters, because the same trick is being run again, right now, on the biggest question in the country I’m Barry Ferns, a comedian whose personal journey through failure, homelessness, and rebuilding led me to explore the socio and behavioural economics of inequality. No sponsors, ever.... this channel is funded by viewers: ▶ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/barryseconomics ▶ Buy Me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/barryseconomics https://paypal.me/barryseconomics This channel digs into how systems of power shape our identity, behaviour, and beliefs, and how we can shift the stories we tell ourselves and each other about poverty, inequality, and who’s to blame. How to Support Barry’s Economics Help us stay independent and keep making videos like this. https://www.buymeacoffee.com/barryseconomics https://ko-fi.com/barryseconomics https://paypal.me/barryseconomics https://www.patreon.com/barryseconomics More about me: https://barryferns.co.uk/ Mailing List Sign-up: https://tr.ee/0BKMVw You can also follow me on Tiktok: tiktok.com/@barryseconomics Instagram: instagram.com/barryseconomics Twitter: twitter.com/barryseconomics Substack: https://substack.com/@barryseconomics BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/barryseconomics.bsky.social Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/user/barryferns/ If you’re new to this, check out Gary's Economics first! His channel gives the structural and financial perspective. This one adds the lived, social and emotional side. Support Gary's Wealth Tax Campaign Here: https://buy.stripe.com/dRm4gs9Nl1L6eqWbUydjO00 Want to see the stand-up side of all this? Find my live comedy and storytelling here: https://www.youtube.com/@mrbarryferns To learn more about my comedy club, Angel Comedy, and buy tickets for shows head here: https://www.angelcomedy.co.uk/

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  Barry's Economics

  Nobody succeeds alone - here's what they're not telling you - Barry's Economics

  Jul 20, 202632 min

  This is the final part of my conversation with Gary Stevenson, recorded before his documentary came out, and it's the most personal of the three episodes. We talk about why meritocracy is a myth, why success is mostly survivorship bias, and why Gary treats fame and politics as a game (his words, not mine, and he's honest about what that's covering for). He also breaks down Jeff Bezos's "why are nurses paying taxes" clip and explains the oldest trick in the book: bribing you with your own money. And he gives me my 100,000 subscriber play button, which meant more than I can easily say. This channel exists because of Gary's callout in May, and because of the community around it. This episode is about that community, and how you can be part of it, whether that's making videos, joining a party, talking to your friends and family, or just sharing the ideas in your own words. NB: The full uncut conversation is on my Patreon I’m Barry Ferns, a comedian whose personal journey through failure, homelessness, and rebuilding led me to explore the socio and behavioural economics of inequality. No sponsors, ever.... this channel is funded by viewers: ▶ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/barryseconomics ▶ Buy Me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/barryseconomics https://paypal.me/barryseconomics This channel digs into how systems of power shape our identity, behaviour, and beliefs, and how we can shift the stories we tell ourselves and each other about poverty, inequality, and who’s to blame. How to Support Barry’s Economics Help us stay independent and keep making videos like this. https://www.buymeacoffee.com/barryseconomics https://ko-fi.com/barryseconomics https://paypal.me/barryseconomics https://www.patreon.com/barryseconomics Subscribe or follow for future episodes! More about me: https://barryferns.co.uk/ Mailing List Sign-up: https://tr.ee/0BKMVw You can also follow me on Tiktok: tiktok.com/@barryseconomics Instagram: instagram.com/barryseconomics Twitter: twitter.com/barryseconomics Substack: https://substack.com/@barryseconomics BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/barryseconomics.bsky.social Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/user/barryferns/ If you’re new to this, check out Gary's Economics first! His channel gives the structural and financial perspective. This one adds the lived, social and emotional side. Support Gary's Wealth Tax Campaign Here: https://buy.stripe.com/dRm4gs9Nl1L6eqWbUydjO00 Want to see the stand-up side of all this? Find my live comedy and storytelling here: https://www.youtube.com/@mrbarryferns To learn more about my comedy club, Angel Comedy, and buy tickets for shows head here: https://www.angelcomedy.co.uk/

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