Welcome to the 2022 Kilkenomics Festival.
Click on a show title below to learn more and book your tickets.
Friday 4th Nov
Saturday 5th Nov
Sunday 6th Nov
Thurs 3rd Nov
Tech, Taxes and Talent- Ireland: Start-up Nation
Ireland has been hugely successful at attracting foreign direct investment, particularly from the US, as its companies seek an English-speaking foothold in EU markets. But what about our own indigenous... Read More
Bobby Healy
Stephen Kinsella
Catriona Cahill
Crypto After the Crash
After a disastrous year, cryptocurrencies have faced much criticism as being a Ponzi scheme and a pump and dump scam, but what is the bigger picture? What is the future... Read More
Eric Lonergan
Oisín Kyne
Stephen Diehl
Lory Kehoe
Katie Martin
Narco State or Global Breadbasket? Latin America in the 21st Century
Heading towards chaos or about to reach its potential, what way is this giant, often forgotten continent heading? Join four economists from the region as they explain to us what... Read More
Guillermo Laje
Carolina Alves
Martín Lousteau
Marla Dukharan
The David McWilliams Podcast
The aim of David’s podcast, much like Kilkenomics itself, is to make economics easy, uncomplicated and accessible. With the world at a political, technological and financial tipping point, economics has... Read More
John Davis
David McWilliams
Edible Economics: Ha-Joon Chang in conversation with Chef Ross Lewis
In his book Edible Economics, Ha-Joon makes challenging economic ideas more palatable by plating them alongside stories about food from around the world. He uses histories behind familiar food items... Read More
Ha-Joon Chang
UK- Little Englanders, Big Spoofers?
Social, regional and educationally divided, what about the economic plan? Is there any? Now that there’s a new Prime Minister and a new King, what are the real opportunities for... Read More
Ece Temelkuran
Robert Shrimsley
Simon Kuper
Mehreen Khan
The Economics of Authenticity
We live in an age when the pursuit of authenticity – from living our ‘best life’ to eating artisan food – matters more and more to us, but where the... Read More
Alice Sherwood
Keynes Vs. Hayek in the 21st Century
The two most influential and consequential economists of the 20th century find themselves part of the global battle of ideas in the 21st century. In the teeth of the... Read More
Hugh Hendry
Leah Rose Downey
Peter Antonioni
Martín Lousteau
Misbehaviour and Animal Spirits: The Economics of Human Nature
Why is Red Bull so popular – even though everyone hates the taste? Why do countdown boards on platforms take away the pain of train delays? And why do we... Read More
Jennifer O’Connell
Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Rory Sutherland
Yanis Varoufakis in conversation with David McWilliams
Economist, former Greek Finance Minister and Kilkenomics repeat offender, Yanis is a member of the Hellenic Parliament in Athens and secretary general of MeRA25, the left wing political party he... Read More
Yanis Varoufakis
David McWilliams
The Economics of a United Ireland
Can we afford it? Can we afford not to? Northern Ireland costs the UK Exchequer more than €10 billion a year, has a huge public sector and has much lower... Read More
Andrea Catherwood
Andrea Binder
Colm McCarthy
David McWilliams
Paul McCulley: The Future of Finance
Paul McCulley is a former Managing Director at PIMCO and a legend of the industry, having helped coin phrases such as “shadow banking” and the “Minsky moment.” A Kilkenomics favourite,... Read More
Paul McCulley
The Coming Irish Housing Crash
It’s Groundhog Day again…or is it? The rental sector in Ireland has collapsed to a level where houses to let, in Dublin in particular, regularly have queues of hundreds of... Read More
Bill Badbody
Sarah Cullen
Stephen Kinsella
Catriona Cahill
The Economics of Russia’s War
Vladimir Putin’s imperialistic invasion of Ukraine and its devastating human and economic costs there have also triggered far reaching economic consequences for Russia, Europe and the rest of the world.... Read More
Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Eric Lonergan
Aditi Sahasrabuddhe
Bill Black
The Age of the Strongman Ending?
Putin’s soldiers are getting their arses handed to them in Ukraine. Trump’s fortunes are flagging, even the inauguration of President Xi seems like the end not the beginning. Boris is... Read More
Thomas Frank
Angelica Oung
Ece Temelkuran
Martín Lousteau
The End of Globalisation? What’s Next?
There was a time when globalisation seemed the only game in town and the inevitable endgame of all global economics. But strongman economics, trade wars, nativist governments, geo-political turmoil and... Read More
Isabella Kaminska
Sony Kapoor
Pippa Malmgren
Is Ireland Really a Tax Haven?
Ireland went from being a poor country to being a rich one in a generation, how? Are we just a tax haven on the make? Voices on the Left and... Read More
Lorcan Roche Kelly
Andrea Binder
Stephen Kinsella
Marla Dukharan
Economics of Ulysses and Leopold Bloom
“In the opening pages of Calypso in Ulysses, we see a fertile economic imagination at work. Once outside his Eccles Street home, at 8am on June 16 1904, Bloom’s first... Read More
David McWilliams
Back to the Future: 1970s or bust?
A decade marred not just by flared trousers, bad haircuts and dodgy orchestral rock, but also by mass unemployment, soaring inflation, an energy crisis and the end of the Keynesian... Read More
Hugh Hendry
Sony Kapoor
Ece Temelkuran
Pippa Malmgren
Why do Elites hate Populism?
Far from being the problem of our time, Tom Frank the brilliant award-winning American commentator and journalist, insists that populism is the cure for most of our ills. Historically, Populism... Read More
Thomas Frank
Ece Temelkuran
Liam Halligan
Nassim Taleb: Reflections
A friend of Kilkenomics, Nassim Nicholas Taleb spent 21 years as a risk taker (quantitative trader) before becoming a researcher in philosophical, mathematical and (mostly) practical problems with probability. Taleb... Read More
Nassim Nicholas Taleb
David McWilliams
Chums : How a How a Tiny Caste of Oxford Tories Took Over the UK
Westminster and Whitehall are swarming with old Oxonians. They’ve attended the same balls and black tie dinners. Eleven of the 15 postwar British prime ministers went to Oxford, including his... Read More
Simon Kuper
Checkmate: Germany and Russia
How did Germany end up hostage to Russia? is this the greatest strategic blunder since Operation Barbarossa and what does it mean for the much vaunted German industrial miracle.... Read More
Isabella Kaminska
Andrea Binder
Yanis Varoufakis
1922: The Year the Modern World Began
Ezra Pound declared that 1922 was the year the modern world began, meaning it was the year the 20th century really began. Could 2022 be seen as the year the... Read More
David McWilliams
Keeping the Lights on – The Economics of Energy
This is the winter of our discontent. Can we make it to St Patrick’s Day? Energy bills are set to double at least, energy supplies are uncertain, energy companies on... Read More
Javier Blas
Angelica Oung
Sarah Cullen
Sony Kapoor
Fantasy Finance Minister: How to start a country and how to fund it
100 years ago, in 1922, Ireland became an independent state and the Soviet Union was founded. Two very contrasting events, both facing the common challenge of establishing and funding a... Read More
Martín Lousteau
Bill Black
Robert Shrimsley
Why the Dollar is Still King
Remember all the crypto, tech-bro talk about the end of the dollar ? The Green -back was finished , destroyed by its own creator the Fed that was printing it... Read More
Paul McCulley
Katie Martin
Marla Dukharan
Pippa Malmgren
Why Countries Get Rich?
The essential question in all development economics. Why are some countries rich and others poor? Can countries catch up or not? And once prosperous, can a country slip back and... Read More
Yuan Yang
Guillermo Laje
Carolina Alves
Martín Lousteau
Distorting Reality: Economics in the age of Surveillance Capitalism
How have the traditional media of newspapers and broadcasters adapted to the Internet Age? The answer is mixed. Facebook, Twitter and Google are just some of the behemoths who have... Read More
Isabella Kaminska
Alice Sherwood
Stephen Diehl
Rory Sutherland
Scorched Earth: The Economics of Climate Change
Climate change is, at its core, the most monumental failure of economics. The world is being destroyed because the market can’t put a price on the planet. So what is... Read More
Andrea Binder
Eric Lonergan
Javier Blas
Sony Kapoor
Caught in a Trap? What do Central Banks Do Next?
Inflation is raging, yet interest rates are miles behind price increases. Currencies, the euro and sterling are faltering, the dollar ascendent. Markets are hoping the central banks have got their... Read More
Leah Rose Downey
Paul McCulley
Bill Black
David McWilliams
Why Women are Poorer than Men
Did you know that the NHS spends more on Viagra than helping single mother families eat healthily or that there are more blokes called Dave running the UK’s top... Read More
Annabelle Williams
The Great British Break Off: The UK After Brexit
Now that the Queen is Dead, what’s keeping the UK together? The great English Nationalist project has finally delivered an exit from the EU. What are the unintended consequences of... Read More
Andrea Catherwood
Robert Shrimsley
Mehreen Khan
Liam Halligan
America 2023: WTF?
Twenty years ago, the USA stood imperious, the world’s only superpower, the master of the markets, the victor. Today it stands at a crossroads awaiting the results of the imminent... Read More
Hugh Hendry
Paul McCulley
Pippa Malmgren
China’s Path to Global Domination
Since 1980 China has been the really big global economic story. Everything else pales in comparison. Our lives have been altered profoundly by China, but what about their lives? What... Read More
Yuan Yang
Angelica Oung
Aditi Sahasrabuddhe
Yanis Varoufakis
Qatar, Corruption and Cash – The Economics of Sport
This month the World Cup kicks off in Qatar, which is clouded in controversy. Who paid who, how far does the money trail go and what does the Quatar tell... Read More
Peter Antonioni
Martín Lousteau
Simon Kuper
Mehreen Khan
The Next European Crisis
Europe’s – particularly Germany’s – economic model was based on cheap Russian gas. Now that’s gone. What’s next? Having remained united in the face of the Brexit deal and Russia’s... Read More
Shona Murray
Andrea Catherwood
Javier Blas
Yanis Varoufakis
Liam Halligan
Affluenza: Ross O’Carroll Kelly’s Guide to Economics
Paul Howard’s legendary satirical character makes his debut at Kilkenomics with a SoCoDu analysis of the Irish housing market, the strange economics of culchies, how to get by on, like,... Read More
Paul Howard
Finance 2023: Managing your Money in a Madcap Market
All you need to know about financial markets in 2023 in this session. With so many asset classes in a state of flux, interest rates on the rise and inflation... Read More
Hugh Hendry
Eric Lonergan
Stephen Diehl
Katie Martin
Startup Wake: Killing Start Ups Humanely to Save the World – A Flounders Presentation
Beachhut PR CEO Paul Hayes sees more value in learning from failure than marvelling at the success of others, and this is where he came up with the idea for... Read More
Paul Hayes
Jargon Busting
Jargon Busting is Kilkenomics in a nutshell – making economics accessible, understandable and cutting through the bullshit! It’s always been one of our fastest-selling shows with its mix of... Read More
Hugh Hendry
Isabella Kaminska
Katie Martin
Peter Antonioni
Stephen Kinsella
Why We Need More Women in Economics
Economic analysis will only improve when women are better represented in economics, a discipline that incorporates history, politics, philosophy and science. Its methodologies are mostly mathematical, without a grasp of... Read More
Carolina Alves
Andrea Binder
Catriona Cahill
Marla Dukharan
The Ormonde Brunch
Consistently the fastest-selling shows at Kilkenomics, our Sunday brunch returns with world-class panelists and razor-sharp comedians divining the entrails of the newspapers and ruminating on the events of the weekend.... Read More
Eric Lonergan
Ece Temelkuran
Greasy Till Iconoclasm: How the Shopping Mall is Erasing Ireland’s Heritage
Paddy Cullivan presents a show about the willfull commercial destruction of our built heritage with tragi-comic results. Price: €19
Paddy Cullivan
The Great Resignation: The New Economics of Work
Ask anyone in any business and they’ll tell you they can’t get staff. Where have all the people gone? Unemployment has never been lower, the number of people in work... Read More
Carolina Alves
Thomas Frank
Aditi Sahasrabuddhe
Robert Shrimsley
15:30-16:30
The Set Theatre
The World in 2023: Reasons to be Cheerful – The Positive Economist
After all the doom and gloom of the events of the weekend; after all the economists referring to one hand and then the other; after all the sighs of despair... Read More
Ireland’s Next Government
All the polls and conventional wisdom suggest Sinn Féin will form the next Government in Ireland but not “themselves alone”. Who will form the inevitable coalition and what economic policies... Read More
Shona Murray
Colm McCarthy
Stephen Kinsella
David McWilliams
21:00 - 22:00
The Set Theatre
Five Mega-Trends Shaping our World
What are the emerging themes and threads that will define the coming era of finance, geo-politics and economics across the globe? Our panel looks at the known knowns, the unknown... Read More
Annabelle Williams
Martín Lousteau
Marla Dukharan