How do you achieve a zero-carbon economy? View and buy your copy here to find out cup.org/4fXMMBo. Use 20% discount code RECP2026 at the checkout @JFMercure @HectorPollitt

I bet not a lot of people today know this story about the big fight at the IPCC in the 90s between economists and politicians about the economic assumptions underlying climate damage estimates (the economists were wrong)

@yinshaoloong at a climate event in Putrajaya today made an important point that the “green jobs” narrative is oversold I (broadly) concur. Once a solar panel factory is set up, you need minimal labor to run it. And as noted by Shao Loong, even the construction phase is getting increasingly automated. This can lead green tech to be *less* labor intensive, (EVs assembly, for example) But looking at jobs in specific sectors can also be misleading. One has to look at *net* job creation & destruction in the economy In that context, primary focus of climate policy (imho) ought to be on: 1. D-ecarbonization 2. A-dapting to a changing climate 3. M-anaging the transition (Frankly my dear, I do give a dam..😅) If in meeting these objectives, there is an overall increase in productivity, then net job creation can be still ive, even if “green jobs” are fleeting & transient And *this* is the correct metric to measure the impact of climate policy on jobs. Hope more politicians would see climate action & green jobs thru this more nuanced lens…

The OxREP's newest issue on “Rebuilding Macroeconomic Theory III: The Macroeconomics of Structural Change” has been published! Read all articles online here: academic.oup.com/oxrep/issue…

Wrapping Up 2025, I wanted to let you know why I've Been Fighting This Battle for 50 Years. I was 20 years old when I realized I was being lied to. It was 1973. I was an undergraduate at the University of Sydney, and the real world was on fire. The oil crisis had hit. Inflation was skyrocketing, and unemployment was rising at the same time - a phenomenon called "stagflation." According to the textbooks I was forced to read, this was mathematically impossible. The economic models insisted you could have inflation or unemployment, but never both. I sat in lecture halls watching professors draw elegant curves on chalkboards that described a world of "equilibrium" and "perfect competition." A world where banks didn't exist, debt didn't matter, and crises were just accidental bumps in the road. I looked at the chalkboard. Then I looked at the newspaper headlines. The map didn't match the territory. Most students just memorized the lies to pass the exam. I couldn't do it. I led a student revolt that year. We demanded to be taught economics that actually engaged with reality - with the messy, chaotic, debt-fueled world we actually lived in. We won the battle, but we lost the war. The university establishment crushed us, and Neoclassical economics took over the world. Fast forward 50 years, and I am seeing the exact same look in your eyes that I had in mine. You look at the "official" inflation numbers, and then you look at your grocery bill, and you know something is wrong. You hear the Fed Chair talk about a "strong economy," but you see your friends getting laid off and your children giving up on ever owning a home. That feeling you have? That isn’t confusion. That’s your bullsh*t detector going off. And you’re right to feel that. Just like I have. I have spent my entire adult life fighting the "experts" because I know where their bad math leads. It leads to 2008. It leads to the housing crisis. It leads to a world where the rich get bailed out and the rest of us get the bill. I fought them in 1973 because I was an angry student. I fight them today because I refuse to let these delusions destroy what is left of our society. ...It cost the rest of the areas of my life to do so. But I know it’s worth it. For the greater good. I didn't build the Rebel Economist Challenge just for academics and government leaders. I built it for the people who are tired of being told to ignore their own eyes. It took me decades to build that map from scratch. You don't have to wait that long. I am challenging you: Can you learn 50 years of real economics in the next 7 weeks? I have condensed half a century of fighting, predicting economic crises, and winning arguments into a 7-week roadmap. I am handing you the keys to the machine. Handle them with care. If you try to figure this out alone, you’ll get lost in the noise of 24-hour news cycles and contradictory theories. You will stay paralyzed while the window to prepare for the next crisis slams shut. Learning alone using YouTube, textbooks, and University courses will waste years of your life. How do I know? Because I did it the hard way. And unfortunately for me, I can’t get those years back. But I made this system so YOU CAN.

Finally, as always, it was a pleasure working with @DimitriZ @JFMercure and Frank Geels.