Welcome to the 2023 Kilkenomics Festival.
Click on a show title below to learn more and book your tickets.
Thursday 2nd 2023
Friday 3rd 2023
Saturday 4th 2023
Sunday 5th 2023
Inflation, Interest Rates and Central Banks: A Perfect Economic Storm
The European Central Bank has increased interest rates ten times in two years and inflation is still way above its own 2% target. Meanwhile, neither the US Fed nor the... Read More
Stephanie Kelton
Kevin Gildea
Andrea Catherwood
Paul McCulley
Sony Kapoor
The Privatisation of Stress
21st-century capitalist culture demands people to be more resilient to the stresses of modern life, maximising the shareholder value of their employers at great personal cost. Therapies, drugs, and wellness... Read More
Niall Breslin
David McWilliams
Is Putin Winning?
With Ukraine’s counteroffensive stalling, is Putin back in control? The G20 is split. Although NATO is committed, India, China and many African economies are hedging their bets. A long war... Read More
Timofey Mylovanov
Alexander Kabanovsky
Dylan Moran
Yuan Yang
Thomas Frank
PASCHAL DONOHOE in conversation with Colm O’Regan
Currently Minister for Public Expenditure and National Development Plan Delivery and Reform, Paschal Donohoe held the Finance portfolio in the current Government between 2017 and last year. He has also... Read More
Colm O’Regan
22:00-23:00
Ormonde Kilbride
Five Mega-Trends Shaping our World
What are the emerging themes and threads that will define the coming era of finance, geopolitics, and economics across the globe? Our panel looks at the known knowns, the unknown... Read More
Mark Blyth
Stephanie Kelton
Colm O’Regan
Alice Sherwood
Angelica Oung
Robert Shrimsley
Rory Sutherland
The Economics of the New Cold War
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has had serious consequences across the world, sparking food shortages, energy crises, and inflation that have destabilised economies. However, Ukraine’s success in resisting that invasion has... Read More
Branko Milanovic
Mark Blyth
Alexander Kabanovsky
Noah Smith
David McWilliams
Evolutionary Economics: The New Frontier
Traditional economic theories view the economy through the lens of physics with hard and fast laws, but what is the economy behaves far more like biology, adapting adjusting, and mutating... Read More
Linda Yueh
Leah Rose Downey
Andrea Binder
David McWilliams
Rory Sutherland
What if the Fed Makes a Mistake?
He who controls the money, controls the world. The US Federal Reserve controls the money and is the most important institution in the world, but it is an institution run... Read More
Joumanna Bercetche
Paul McCulley
Sony Kapoor
Katie Martin
Karl Spain
Economics & Authenticity
We live in an age when the pursuit of authenticity – from living our ‘best life’ to eating artisan food – seems to matter more than ever. Yet the forces... Read More
Alice Sherwood
Naoise Nunn
Inflation: Who’s to Blame? Greed, Printing or Pandemics?
Inflation has become the number one economic issue everyone is talking about. It affects the value of the money in our pockets and has sparked cost-of-living crises that in turn... Read More
Ian Coppinger
Mark Blyth
Leah Rose Downey
Paul McCulley
Rory Sutherland: How to Get Ahead in Advertising
Why is Red Bull so popular when everyone hates the taste? Why do countdown boards on platforms take away the pain of train delays? And why do we prefer stripy... Read More
Barry Murphy
Rory Sutherland
Inside Ukraine
Former Ukrainian Minister of the Economy and now head of the Kyiv School of Economics, Timofey explains how Ukraine has managed to keep going, why the economy has not collapsed,... Read More
Linda Yueh
Timofey Mylovanov
Alexander Kabanovsky
Dylan Moran
David McWilliams
18:30-19:30
Home Rule Club
Narco State or Global Breadbasket? Latin America in the 21st Century
Heading towards chaos or about to reach its potential, in what way is this giant, often forgotten continent heading? Join four economists from the region as they explain to us... Read More
Therese-Turner Jones
Martin Angolo
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
Noah Smith: One Man Think Tank
Noah Smith is a true one-off – an economist of true brilliance, originality, depth, and range. His substack is unmissable, covering economics, finance, geopolitics, futurology, demography, literature, popular culture,... Read More
Noah Smith
Start Up Ireland
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 indigenous businesses?... Read More
Paul Hayes
Alison Spittle
Stephen Kinsella
Catriona Cahill
Does Marx Matter?
One hundred and fifty years after the publication of Das Kapital – perhaps the most consequential economics book ever written as it was the blueprint for the central ideological struggle... Read More
Soumaya Keynes
Branko Milanovic
Ronan Lyons
Mark Blyth
Timofey Mylovanov
20:30-21:30
The Watergate Theatre
The Next European Crisis
Europe’s – particularly Germany’s – economic model was based on cheap gas, cheap money, and American-policed peace in Europe. Now all three are gone. What’s next? Having remained united in... Read More
Joumanna Bercetche
Leah Rose Downey
Robert Shrimsley
Andrew Maxwell
Liam Halligan
21:30-22:30
The Set Theatre
The Economics of a United Ireland
Can we afford it? Can we afford not to unify? Northern Ireland costs the UK Exchequer more than €10 billion a year and, with a huge public sector, it has... Read More
Andrea Catherwood
Cormac Lucey
Andrew Maxwell
Dearbhail McDonald
Liam Halligan
The Economics of Colonialism
When the British arrived in India, the subcontinent accounted for 30% of global GDP; when they left in 1947, India’s GDP had plummeted to 3% of global GDP. That’s what... Read More
Vikas Nath
Carolina Alves
Sony Kapoor
Robert Shrimsley
Marla Dukharan
The Jilted Generation
Locked out of, not just the housing market, but the rental market too, living with their parents, and thinking about emigrating, what happened to the kids of the Celtic Tiger?... Read More
Ian Coppinger
Soumaya Keynes
Margaret Samahita
Sean Keyes
Stephen Kinsella
What did Globalisation Ever do for Us?
As anti-globalisation protests unify both far Left and far Right, we ask, in the most globalised country in the world, what did globalisation ever do for us? In this session,... Read More
Alan Beattie
Fiona Frawley
Leah Rose Downey
Sony Kapoor
Peter Antonioni
Irish Property Up, Down Sideways
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
Ronan Lyons
Sean Keyes
Jennifer O’Connell
Stephen Kinsella
Catriona Cahill
The 2020s – New World Order
Nearly 100 years ago, Sean O’Casey’s Juno and the Paycock was staged in Dublin with the immortal line from Captain Boyle: “The whole world is in a state of chassis”.... Read More
Alan Beattie
Vikas Nath
Dylan Moran
Noah Smith
Katie Martin
David McWilliams
Age of the Strongman
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
Martin Angolo
Thomas Frank
Angelica Oung
Martín Lousteau
11:30 - 12:30
The Watergate Theatre
Big Tech V the Nation State
Who runs the world, Big Tech or elected government? Who wins, data or democracy? We are moving from private capital to surveillance capitalism, where information and everything about you is... Read More
Joumanna Bercetche
Mark Blyth
Bobby Healy
Robert Shrimsley
Dearbhail McDonald
Economics of Dante
Written over 500 years ago, loved by Heaney and Joyce, and the book that was at Samuel Beckett’s bedside when he died, Dante’s Divine Comedy, is regarded as the most... Read More
Naoise Nunn
David McWilliams
Being a Good Ancestor: Cathedral Thinking : Thinking long term in a short term world
When Jonas Salk, the scientist who discovered the cure for polio, was asked why he didn’t patent his wonder-drug in order to make his fortune, he replied that he wanted... Read More
Soumaya Keynes
Stephanie Kelton
Sarah Cullen
Karl Spain
Spending Ireland’s Tax Bonanza
Ireland has lucked out! We have more money than we know what to do with it. The fiscal surpluses, stemming from huge corporation tax receipts, constitute an extraordinary opportunity to... Read More
Sean Keyes
Rachel O’Dwyer
Jennifer O’Connell
Colm O’Regan
Stephen Kinsella
Cormac Lucey
Led by Donkeys – The Big Con
In the past few years, more and more elements of government have been outsourced to the Big 4 consultancies. So much so that the government has been infantilised, civil servants’... Read More
Barry Murphy
Keynes VS. Hayek
The two most influential and consequential economists of the 20th century are the touchstones in the global battle for economic ideas in the 21st century. In the teeth of the... Read More
Soumaya Keynes
Branko Milanovic
Colm O’Regan
Peter Antonioni
The People Vs The Elite
Tom Frank, the brilliant award-winning American commentator and journalist, insists that populism, far from being the problem of our time, is the cure for most of our ills. Historically, populism... Read More
Fiona Frawley
Carolina Alves
Thomas Frank
Robert Shrimsley
Liam Halligan
Economics in the Dock
Long regarded as all-knowing high priests, with their models akin to religious creed, economists are taking a bashing these days. Their reputation is tarnished. Not only did the vast majority... Read More
Ian Coppinger
Mark Blyth
Stephanie Kelton
Marla Dukharan
The Economics of Energy
Economics is about energy. No energy, no economy. The war in Ukraine was a warning shot underscoring how dependent we are on cheap energy. From here, energy supplies are uncertain,... Read More
Kevin McGahern
Andrea Binder
Angelica Oung
Sarah Cullen
Sony Kapoor
Is Ireland full? The Immigration Myth…
Immigration is a huge issue for Ireland. Without migrants, this economy would seize up, but with thousands of people coming to Ireland, many argue we have no place to put... Read More
Vikas Nath
Cormac Lucey
Catriona Cahill
Karl Spain
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 out of existence!... Read More
Paul McCulley
Katie Martin
Naoise Nunn
Marla Dukharan
16:00 - 17:00
The Watergate Theatre
BRICS Vs. NATO – The Global Economy Redrawn
The BRICS – Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa – are home to over half the world’s population, yet their representation at the top table, the IMF, World Bank,... Read More
Alan Beattie
Branko Milanovic
Mark Blyth
Andrea Catherwood
Noah Smith
16:30-17:30
The Set Theatre
Fantasy Finance Minister: How to Start a Country & How to Fund It
Just over 100 years ago, Ireland became an independent state. In the same year, the Soviet Union was founded. Two very contrasting events, both facing the common challenge of establishing... Read More
Rachel O’Dwyer
Timofey Mylovanov
Paddy Cullivan
Martín Lousteau
Robert Shrimsley
Why Countries Get Rich
The essential question in all development economics: why are some countries rich and others poor? Can countries catch up? And, once prosperous, can a country slip back? And how can... Read More
Branko Milanovic
Joumanna Bercetche
Rosie Holt
Yuan Yang
Carolina Alves
Don’t Cry for Me Argentina
It was once the 7th richest country on the planet, today Argentina is the 87th richest. What happened to this amazing country, one with more natural resources than almost anywhere... Read More
Naoise Nunn
Martín Lousteau
The Economics of Our Burning World
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. What is the... Read More
Alexander Kabanovsky
Vikas Nath
Barry Murphy
Andrea Binder
Sarah Cullen
Sony Kapoor
18:00 - 19:00
The Pembroke
Can Crypto Ever Come Back?
After a disastrous year, cryptocurrencies have faced much criticism as being Ponzi schemes and pump-and-dump scams, but what is the bigger picture? What is the future for the blockchain technology... Read More
Ian Coppinger
Alan Beattie
Rachel O’Dwyer
Bobby Healy
Katie Martin
Rory Sutherland
Caught in a Trap? What do Central Banks Do Next?
Inflation is still rampant. Sure, it’s coming down but not so quickly, and yet interest rates continue to rise, but (apart from the US) growth is weak. The euro and... Read More
Linda Yueh
Leah Rose Downey
Paul McCulley
Telling Stories with Data
John Burn Murdoch, one of the world’s best explainers of global economics, uses data and graphics to brilliant effect. He first shot to prominence during the pandemic, bringing arcane modeling... Read More
Ronan Lyons
Sean Keyes
John Byrne-Murdoch
19:30-20:30
Smithwick's Brewery Experience, Parliament Street Kilkenny
Peak China
For years it was assumed that the 21st century would belong to China. In a race to get rich before it gets old, China is stumbling. The economy has stalled,... Read More
Linda Yueh
Andrea Binder
Angelica Oung
Sony Kapoor
19:30-20:30
The Set Theatre
The Great British Break Off: The UK After Brexit
Now 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 Brexit... Read More
John Byrne-Murdoch
Rosie Holt
Andrea Catherwood
Robert Shrimsley
Liam Halligan
Is Economics too Pale, Stale & Male?
Is economics too male, pale, and, as a result, stale? Where are the women, the people of colour, those from poor countries, and those whose life experience is more than... Read More
Margaret Samahita
Martin Angolo
Vikas Nath
Noah Smith
Marla Dukharan
America 2024: Trump Part 2: The Nightmare
He’s back and this time he’s even more angry. He’s topping the Republican polls, is even more rogue – if that were possible. What does the return of Donald Trump... Read More
Fiona Frawley
Thomas Frank
Leah Rose Downey
Paul McCulley
Soccernomics
Soccer, the biggest sport in the world, plaything of dodgy sheiks and corrupt oligarchs, is in crisis. Have sponsorship, television rights, outrageous salaries, and ticket prices ruined that one sacred... Read More
Branko Milanovic
Roddy Collins
Paul Howard
Kevin Gildea
Peter Antonioni
The Cash Clinic 2024: Making Money in a Madcap Market
What to do with your money in 2024? Property, stocks, bonds – which way are the markets going? What important macroeconomic policy swings can we expect over the next twelve... Read More
Paul Greatbatch
Rosie Holt
Paul McCulley
Katie Martin
The Psychology of Money
Money is probably the most misunderstood subject, particularly amongst economists! In fact, we have a sneaking suspicion that most economists don’t understand money, its energy, its power, and what it... Read More
Linda Yueh
Eric Lonergan
David McWilliams
21:00-22:00
Smithwick's Brewery Experience, Parliament Street Kilkenny
Get Up, Stand Up! How Jamaica Turned Itself Around
Jamaica is rising. For years the Caribbean island was dogged by debts, defaults, and capital flight. Not anymore. Jamaica is on the up and it’s a role model for other... Read More
Therese-Turner Jones
Dennis Jones
Martin Angolo
Marla Dukharan
Homes and Hierarchy
The world is divided into two camps, those who own their homes and those who don’t. Homeowners have seen their status, wealth, and influence rise rapidly over the past decade;... Read More
Barry Murphy
Show Me the Money
Stephanie Kelton and Colm O’Regan explore MMT, how mainstream economics doesn’t understand money, and why deficits don’t matter. Stephanie’s book The Deficit Myth, a New York Times bestseller, lays out... Read More
Stephanie Kelton
Colm O’Regan
Start Up Wake: Killing Start-Ups Humanely to Save the World: A Flounder’s Presentation
Beachhut PR CEO Paul Hayes sees more value in learning from failure than marveling at the success of others, and this is where he came up with the idea for... Read More
Paul Hayes
Affluenza: Ross O’Carroll Kelly’s Guide to Property
The Rossmeister on housing- what’s not to love? Bringing his legendary talent, wisdom, and nous to the housing crisis, Ross charts a way out of this ‘focking’ mess. Don’t miss... Read More
Paul Howard
22:30-23:30
The Set Theatre
Jargon Busting
Jargon Busting is Kilkenomics in a nutshell – making economics accessible, understandable, and cutting through the bullshit! It’s always one of our fastest-selling shows with its mix of economics definitions,... Read More
Rosie Holt
Fiona Frawley
Kevin McGahern
Peter Antonioni
Stephen Kinsella
Karl Spain
Marla Dukharan
The Ormonde Brunch
Consistently the fastest-selling show at Kilkenomics, our Sunday brunch returns to the Ormonde with world-class panelists and razor-sharp comedians divining the entrails of the newspapers and ruminating on the events... Read More
Dylan Moran
Yuan Yang
Thomas Frank
Eric Lonergan
Kevin Gildea
11:30 - 1:30
Langton's Ballroom
Ballroom Brunch
Consistently the fastest-selling show at Kilkenomics, our Sunday brunch returns to the Ballroom with world-class panelists and razor-sharp comedians divining the entrails of the newspapers and ruminating on the events... Read More
Alison Spittle
Kevin McGahern
Colm O’Regan
Angelica Oung
Peter Antonioni
Robert Shrimsley
Too Much Testosterone 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
Leah Rose Downey
Naoise Nunn
Catriona Cahill
Marla Dukharan
I CAN’T BELIEVE ITS NOT IRELAND
Imagine this. It’s 2032 and Ireland is a new country. There’s a new flag. A new anthem. As Unionists holiday in the south for the first time, and southerners discover... Read More
Paddy Cullivan
14:00-15:00
The Set Theatre
Four Big Ideas to Change Ireland
It’s Sunday afternoon, you’ve heard and digested loads, now let’s come up with four big economic ideas that could change this country. Ireland has been transformed over the past two... Read More
Sean Keyes
Linda Yueh
Andrea Catherwood
Eric Lonergan
Naoise Nunn
David McWilliams
What Makes Germany Tick?
Europe’s biggest economy, yet it remains a bit of a mystery. These days you are as likely to hear warnings about Germany’s industrial collapse, as you are to read about... Read More
Timofey Mylovanov
Alexander Kabanovsky
Jennifer O’Connell
Yuan Yang
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; and after all the sighs of... Read More
Colm O’Regan
Thomas Frank
David McWilliams
Marla Dukharan