Barry's Economics

Épisodes

• What Banksy Shows Us About Power - Barry's Economics 01.06.2026 23min

  Filmed in front of over 20 original Banksy works across London and Bristol.This is a video about what Banksy keeps showing us, how he actually works, and why (after all this time) he's still relevant and properly revolutionary.And the answer isn't actually "because his prints sell for a lot." In fact it's almost the opposite of that.Most people know Banksy as a street artist. This video is about what he's actually doing. What he keeps pointing at. Why the establishment can't touch him, and why that fact alone tells you something important about how power and money really work.Also - For the Banksy Tour Guide that helped me around Bristol - The Lovely Luke Sergent - go to https://blackbeard2banksy.com/ to book a tour from himREFERENCES:ELINOR OSTROM:https://www.actu-environnement.com/media/pdf/ostrom_1990.pdfGARRETT HARDINhttps://math.uchicago.edu/~shmuel/Modeling/Hardin,%20Tragedy%20of%20the%20Commons.pdfhttps://archive.org/details/makingofenglishw0000thom_p8v7Gerald Marwel and Ruth Ames Social Experiement:"Economists free ride, does anyone else?: Experiments on the provision of public goods"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/004727278190013X"Does Studying Economics Inhibit Cooperation" Study:https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257%2Fjep.7.2.159I’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/barryseconomicshttps://ko-fi.com/barryseconomicshttps://www.patreon.com/barryseconomicsFollow and leave a review for future episodes!Mailing list: https://barryferns.co.uk/You can also follow me on Tiktok: tiktok.com/@barryseconomicsInstagram: instagram.com/barryseconomicsTwitter: twitter.com/barryseconomicsSubstack: https://substack.com/@barryseconomicsBlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/barryseconomics.bsky.socialReddit: 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/dRm4gs9Nl1L6eqWbUydjO00Want to see the stand-up side of all this?Find my live comedy and storytelling here:https://www.youtube.com/@mrbarryfernsTo learn more about my comedy club, Angel Comedy, and buy tickets for shows head here: https://www.angelcomedy.co.uk/
• Elon Musk: A Predictable Tragedy - Barry's Economics 26.05.2026 34min

  Elon Musk. Tesla. Spacex. Cybertrucks. Solar Power... not your normal supervillain origin story. But the neuroscience explains everything.Do you remember when we all kind of liked Elon Musk?Electric cars. Space travel. Solar panels. He felt like the closest thing we had to a real-life Tony Stark.And now he's... this.Nobody's asking the right question. Not "what did he do?" but "what happened to him?" Because there's a scientific answer. And the unsettling part isn't what it says about Elon Musk. It's what it says about everyone with that much power.Fifty years of peer-reviewed research on power, wealth and the brain from Columbia, Berkeley and McMaster University, shows that power isn't a metaphor for corruption. It's a corruption toxin. It does measurable damage to specific neural pathways. This is the psychology of billionaires. This is the neuroscience of wealth and power. And this is why Elon Musk was always going to become this.Galinsky et al. (2006) :Power and Perspectives Not Taken, Psychological ScienceSukhvinder Obhi: Power and neural mirrorin, McMaster UniversityPaul Piff: Wealth, empathy and the dose-response relationship, UC BerkeleyRoger Fisher: Preventing Nuclear War, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, 1981I’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/barryseconomicshttps://ko-fi.com/barryseconomicshttps://www.patreon.com/barryseconomicsFollow and leave a review if you enjoyed the episode!Mailing list sign-up: https://barryferns.co.uk/You can also follow me on Tiktok: tiktok.com/@barryseconomicsInstagram: instagram.com/barryseconomicsTwitter: twitter.com/barryseconomicsSubstack: https://substack.com/@barryseconomicsBlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/barryseconomics.bsky.socialReddit: 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/dRm4gs9Nl1L6eqWbUydjO00Want to see the stand-up side of all this?Find my live comedy and storytelling here:https://www.youtube.com/@mrbarryfernsTo learn more about my comedy club, Angel Comedy, and buy tickets for shows head here: https://www.angelcomedy.co.uk/
• The Wealth Tax Debate Is A Trap - Barry's Economics 18.05.2026 11min

  The Wealth Tax Debate Rages OnBack and ForthUp and DownBut what does it miss?And Why Is It Always so Circular and Never Ending?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.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/barryseconomicshttps://ko-fi.com/barryseconomicshttps://www.patreon.com/barryseconomicsFollow and leave a review if you've enjoyed the episode!Mailing List: https://barryferns.co.uk/You can also follow me on Tiktok: tiktok.com/@barryseconomicsInstagram: instagram.com/barryseconomicsTwitter: twitter.com/barryseconomicsSubstack: https://substack.com/@barryseconomicsBlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/barryseconomics.bsky.socialReddit: 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/dRm4gs9Nl1L6eqWbUydjO00Want to see the stand-up side of all this?Find my live comedy and storytelling here:https://www.youtube.com/@mrbarryfernsTo learn more about my comedy club, Angel Comedy, and buy tickets for shows head here: https://www.angelcomedy.co.uk/
• Change Is Possible Here's How - Barry's Economics 05.05.2026 19min

  This is the only comedian in the world who has actually changed tax law. (as far as I know)Not highlighted it - Changed it. With jokes, a mahogany buffet, and a few hundred letters from members of the public.On Barry's Economics, we spend a lot of time talking about what needs to change; inequality, taxation, who owns what, who decides what. Mark Thomas spent decades actually doing it.This conversation is about how change works. Not in theory but in practice.And it starts with the most powerful weapon the people who benefit from inequality have - the belief that nothing can change. Mark Thomas is proof that belief is wrong.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.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/barryseconomicshttps://ko-fi.com/barryseconomicshttps://www.patreon.com/barryseconomicsFollow and leave a review for future episodes!Mailing List: https://barryferns.co.uk/You can also follow me on Tiktok: tiktok.com/@barryseconomicsInstagram: instagram.com/barryseconomicTwitter: twitter.com/barryseconomicsSubstack: https://substack.com/@barryseconomicsReddit: https://www.reddit.com/user/barryferns/BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/barryseconomics.bsky.socialIf 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/dRm4gs9Nl1L6eqWbUydjO00Want to see the stand-up side of all this?Find my live comedy and storytelling here:https://www.youtube.com/@mrbarryfernsTo learn more about my comedy club, Angel Comedy, and buy tickets for shows head here: https://www.angelcomedy.co.uk/
• Why Politicians Keep Getting It So Wrong - Barry's Economics 27.04.2026 18min

  Every Political and Economic debate about poverty and inequality goes the same way. Left says redistribute. Right says grow grow grow. Round and round.Why is it so endlessly circular - and why does nothing ever actually get fixed? One reason could be that there's an entire category of evidence that never makes it into the roomWe account for bias in medicine, law, and aviation. We just don't do it in economic policy. This video is about why that has to change.Sources mentioned:Keltner, D. - The Power ParadoxKraus, M.W. et al. - Social class, solipsism, and contextualismMirror neuron / wealth research - Sukvinder ObhiI’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/barryseconomicshttps://ko-fi.com/barryseconomicshttps://www.patreon.com/barryseconomicsFollow and leave a review if you enjoyed this episode!Mailing List: https://barryferns.co.uk/You can also follow me on Tiktok: tiktok.com/@barryseconomicsInstagram: instagram.com/barryseconomicsTwitter: twitter.com/barryseconomicsSubstack: https://substack.com/@barryseconomicsReddit: 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/dRm4gs9Nl1L6eqWbUydjO00Want to see the stand-up side of all this?Find my live comedy and storytelling here:https://www.youtube.com/@mrbarryfernsTo learn more about my comedy club, Angel Comedy, and buy tickets for shows head here: https://www.angelcomedy.co.uk/
• We Treat Billionaires Like Oracles. Here's Why That's Wrong - Barry's Economics 20.04.2026 14min

  We often treat extremely wealthy individuals as if they have a deeper understanding of how the world works.But there is a structural reason to question that assumption.As wealth increases, people become less exposed to many of the constraints and trade-offs that shape everyday life.Research in behavioural science suggests that people rely heavily on their own experience when forming judgments.At the same time, studies on power indicate that increased influence can change how people interpret others and the world around them.This episode looks at the neuroscience of power, the psychology of wealth, and why the people we treat as authoritative voices may be working from a very different version of reality.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.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/barryseconomicshttps://ko-fi.com/barryseconomicshttps://www.patreon.com/barryseconomicsFollow and leave a review for future videos!Sign-up to mailing list: https://barryferns.co.uk/You can also follow me on Tiktok: tiktok.com/@barryseconomicsInstagram: instagram.com/barryseconomicsTwitter: twitter.com/barryseconomicsSubstack: https://substack.com/@barryseconomicsReddit: 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/dRm4gs9Nl1L6eqWbUydjO00Want to see the stand-up side of all this?Find my live comedy and storytelling here:https://www.youtube.com/@mrbarryfernsTo learn more about my comedy club, Angel Comedy, and buy tickets for shows head here: https://www.angelcomedy.co.uk/
• The Manosphere Isn't About Men. Or Women - Barry's Economics 13.04.2026 31min

  Everyone has a take on the manosphere.This isn't one of them.Because the debate you've been watching - the one about men, women, masculinity, feminism, Andrew Tate, Jordan Peterson - isn't actually about any of those things.It's about something else entirely. Something far more boring and far more profitable.The science on this is extraordinary. And nobody is talking about it.Research and sources in this video:Naomi Eisenberger, UCLA, social exclusion and physical painHenri Tajfel, group identity, tribalism and prejudiceNYU Center for Social Media and Politic, algorithmic radicalisation on YouTubeMolly Crockett, Nature Human Behaviour (2017), moral outrage and social media amplificationDaniel Kahneman, System 1 and System 2 thinkingAnne Case and Angus Deaton, Princeton, Deaths of DespairLink 1 - Henri Tajfelhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciSx1EG4V0sLink 2 - Molly Crockethttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRAfcpPpXrgLink 3 - Anne Case and Angus Deatonhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IX9k4s_UWiU&t=320sLink 4 - Daniel Kahnemannhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PirFrDVRBo4&t=195sI’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/barryseconomicshttps://ko-fi.com/barryseconomicshttps://www.patreon.com/barryseconomicsFollow and leave a review for future episodes!Mailing List: https://barryferns.co.uk/You can also follow me on Tiktok: tiktok.com/@barryseconomicsInstagram: instagram.com/barryseconomicsTwitter: twitter.com/barryseconomicsSubstack: https://substack.com/@barryseconomicsReddit: 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/dRm4gs9Nl1L6eqWbUydjO00Want to see the stand-up side of all this?Find my live comedy and storytelling here:https://www.youtube.com/@mrbarryfernsTo learn more about my comedy club, Angel Comedy, and buy tickets for shows head here: https://www.angelcomedy.co.uk/
• The Economy Needs You To Feel Like A Failure - Barry's Economics 06.04.2026 31min

  You live in the wealthiest civilisation in human history. And yet - it's not enough, right?That's not a character flaw. It's the system working exactly as designed.This video is about what happens when the right answer becomes the wrong one. And why the neuroscience, the psychology, and the data all say the same thing: beyond a certain point, growth stops converting into wellbeing. That's not a side effect. It's the whole business model.Covering: dopamine and the wanting brain (Robert Sapolsky), the Easterlin Paradox, Maslows hierarchy, Tim Kasser on materialist values, Csikszentmihalyi's research, and Seligman's PERMA model. All peer-reviewed. All explained without the jargon.This isn't an argument against ambition. It's an argument for a better kind of it.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.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/barryseconomicshttps://ko-fi.com/barryseconomicshttps://www.patreon.com/barryseconomicsFollow and leave a review for episodes! Join my mailing list: https://barryferns.co.uk/You can also follow me on Tiktok: tiktok.com/@barryseconomicsInstagram: instagram.com/barryseconomicsTwitter: twitter.com/barryseconomicsSubstack: https://substack.com/@barryseconomicsReddit: https://www.reddit.com/user/barryferns/If you’re new to this, check out Gary's Economics first as 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/dRm4gs9Nl1L6eqWbUydjO00Want to see the stand-up side of all this?Find my live comedy and storytelling here:https://www.youtube.com/@mrbarryfernsTo learn more about my comedy club, Angel Comedy, and buy tickets for shows head here: https://www.angelcomedy.co.uk/
• I'm Being Trained and So Are You - Barry's Economics 30.03.2026 21min

  The Science Used to Control Your Behaviour....Last week I posted a video abotu Diary of a CEO that got 250,000 views in two days. Last Month I posted a video that now has HALF A MILLION VIEWSAnd the first thing my brain did was whisper: do it again.This video is about the business model of every major social media platform on earth and what that does to viewers (your scroll is not random), what it does to creators should terrify anyone who makes videos on here, and the neuroscience of why the people most at risk of being changed by the algorithm are exactly the people experiencing the most success.Plus: why I'm posting this video anyway.Sources & research referenced:Skinner, B.F. variable-ratio reinforcement (1938)Tamir & Mitchell, Harvard, the neuroscience of self-disclosure, PNAS (2012)Phil Reed, Swansea University, dopamine and drift detectionHogeveen, Inzlicht & Obhi, power and empathy, Journal of Experimental Psychology (2014)Wilkinson & Pickett, The Spirit Level (2009)Piketty, Capital in the Twenty-First Century (2013)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.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/barryseconomicshttps://ko-fi.com/barryseconomicshttps://www.patreon.com/barryseconomicsFollow and and leave a review for future episodes!Mailing List: https://barryferns.co.uk/You can also follow me on Tiktok: tiktok.com/@barryseconomicsInstagram: instagram.com/barryseconomicsTwitter: twitter.com/barryseconomicsSubstack: https://substack.com/@barryseconomicsReddit: 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/dRm4gs9Nl1L6eqWbUydjO00Want to see the stand-up side of all this?Find my live comedy and storytelling here:https://www.youtube.com/@mrbarryfernsTo learn more about my comedy club, Angel Comedy, and buy tickets for shows head here: https://www.angelcomedy.co.uk/
• Diary Of A CEO Is Making You Less Successful - Barry's Economics 23.03.2026 28min

  Diary Of A CEO podcast has 50 million listeners. Any of these Success podcasts - the Steven Bartlett or Chris Williamson types all promise you the secrets, strategies and frameworks of the world's most successful people. How to be Successful.Here's the problem: The science says it can't deliver on that promise. And not only that - if you look closely you can see that the business model shows that it was never designed to.This episode isn't about tearing down Steven Bartlett. It's about a structural problem with how success is sold to us - it's about Survivorship Bias, The Dunning Kruger effect, and why the most popular podcasts about success might be the very things standing between you and actually achieving it.Covered in this video:1- Philip Tetlock's 20-year study of 284 experts and 82,361 predictions — and what it reveals about confident people with frameworks2 - The Dunning-Kruger Effect and why the loudest voices are often the least informed3 - Duncan Watts' MusicLab experiment: 14,341 participants, and what it proves about how random success actually is4 - Benjamin Libet's neuroscience research on decision-making — and why successful people genuinely can't tell you how they succeeded5 - Survivorship bias, Abraham Wald, and why studying winners teaches you almost nothing6 - The business model that needs you to stay anxious, keep consuming, and never quite arriveThe Special Sauce doesn't exist. But there's a lot of money in making you believe it does.Sources referenced:Tetlock, P. - Expert Political Judgment, 2005Kruger, J. & Dunning, D. - Unskilled and Unaware of It, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1999Watts, D. - MusicLab experiment, Science, 2006Libet, B. - Unconscious cerebral initiative, Brain, 1983Soon, C.S. et al. - Unconscious determinants of free decisions, Nature Neuroscience, 2008I’m Barry Ferns is 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/barryseconomicshttps://ko-fi.com/barryseconomicshttps://www.patreon.com/barryseconomicsFollow and leave a review for future episodes! Join my mailing list: https://barryferns.co.uk/You can also follow me on Tiktok: tiktok.com/@barryseconomicsInstagram: instagram.com/barryseconomicsTwitter: twitter.com/barryseconomicsSubstack: https://substack.com/@barryseconomicsReddit: 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/dRm4gs9Nl1L6eqWbUydjO00Want to see the stand-up side of all this?Find my live comedy and storytelling here:https://www.youtube.com/@mrbarryfernsTo learn more about my comedy club, Angel Comedy, and buy tickets for shows head here: https://www.angelcomedy.co.uk/
• The War In Iran Is A Message And It's Aimed At You - Barry's Economics 16.03.2026 22min

  Everyone is arguing about whether the war on Iran was justified.That might not be the most important question.The deeper question is what happens when powerful actors publicly demonstrate that the rules of the international system don’t apply to them.Rules can feel frustrating. They slow decisions down and constrain power. But they also play a critical role in stabilising cooperation between societies.Research across neuroscience, psychology, political science and economics suggests that when people stop believing rules apply equally, something deeper begins to happen.Trust erodes.Cooperation breaks down.And societies become more vulnerable to polarisation and authoritarian politics.This episode looks at the research behind that process and why the psychological consequences of rule breaking may be one of the most important and least discussed dynamics in geopolitics right now.How to Support Barry’s EconomicsHelp us stay independent and keep making videos like this.https://www.buymeacoffee.com/barryseconomicshttps://ko-fi.com/barryseconomicshttps://www.patreon.com/barryseconomicsFollow and leave a review for future videos! Mailing List: https://barryferns.co.uk/You can also follow me on Tiktok: tiktok.com/@barryseconomicsInstagram: instagram.com/barryseconomicsTwitter: twitter.com/barryseconomicsSubstack: https://substack.com/@barryseconomicsReddit: 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/dRm4gs9Nl1L6eqWbUydjO00Want to see the stand-up side of all this?Find my live comedy and storytelling here:https://www.youtube.com/@mrbarryfernsTo learn more about my comedy club, Angel Comedy, and buy tickets for shows head here: https://www.angelcomedy.co.uk/
• Social Media's Dirty Secret: They Don't Use It - Barry's Economics 09.03.2026 20min

  The people who built social media often don't let their own children use it.These aren't worried parents who don't understand the technology.They're the engineers and executives who built the platforms and saw the internal data.And many of them made the same decision.Not my kids.So why isn't that the end of the argument?This episode looks at why that fact keeps getting ignored while the debate focuses on parental choice, free speech, and whether the harm is "proven enough".It also looks at the bias blind spot, the Facebook experiment on 700,000 users, and why the real problem might not be social media itself but the incentives driving the industry.If this episode was useful- consider following or reviewing the podcast - this channel doesn't take sponsorships or do brand deals.Support on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/BarrysEconomicsYou can also follow me on Tiktok: tiktok.com/@barryseconomicsInstagram: instagram.com/barryseconomicsTwitter: twitter.com/barryseconomicsSubstack: https://substack.com/@barryseconomicsReddit: 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/dRm4gs9Nl1L6eqWbUydjO00Want to see the stand-up side of all this?Find my live comedy and storytelling here:https://www.youtube.com/@mrbarryfernsTo learn more about my comedy club, Angel Comedy, and buy tickets for shows head here: https://www.angelcomedy.co.uk/
• Why The Epstein Economy Needs You To Feel Hopeless - Barry's Economics 03.03.2026 22min

  Why does the system feel too big to fight?In this final episode of the Epstein Economy series, Barry explores the neuroscience of learned helplessness.Featuring research from:– Maier & Seligman– Damon Centola– Christakis & FowlerLarge systems don’t just concentrate wealth.They concentrate perceived power.But your brain may be underestimating how much influence coordinated action actually has.How to Support Barry’s EconomicsHelp us stay independent and keep making videos like this.https://www.buymeacoffee.com/barryseconomicshttps://ko-fi.com/barryseconomicshttps://www.patreon.com/barryseconomicsFollow for future episodes! Join my mailing list: https://barryferns.co.uk/You can also follow me on Tiktok: tiktok.com/@barryseconomicsInstagram: instagram.com/barryseconomicTwitter: twitter.com/barryseconomicsSubstack: https://substack.com/@barryseconomicsReddit: 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/dRm4gs9Nl1L6eqWbUydjO00Want to see the stand-up side of all this?Find my live comedy and storytelling here:https://www.youtube.com/@mrbarryfernsTo learn more about my comedy club, Angel Comedy, and buy tickets for shows head here: https://www.angelcomedy.co.uk/
• The Story You Care About Is The Distraction - Barry's Economics 25.02.2026 21min

  This video is about the gap between - what you feel about Epstein and what you feel about other, bigger news stories - and why it's not a moral failure. It's neuroscience.Featuring research from Paul Slovic (psychic numbing),Robin Dunbar (the Social Brain Hypothesis), Siddharth Kara (cobalt mining), and Shoshana Zuboff.This is the third video in the series. The first two:1 - Your Brain Won't Let You See What Epstein Really Was — https://youtu.be/sS33crOQvrM2 - Epstein Isn't an Aberration. He's an Inevitable Outcome — https://youtu.be/b1vFgUi4frUSupport this channel to help it become cost neutral and continue:https://www.buymeacoffee.com/barryseconomicshttps://ko-fi.com/barryseconomicshttps://www.patreon.com/barryseconomicsGet first dibs on live shows:▸ Mailing list - www.barryferns.co.uk▸ Instagram — @barrybarryfernsI’m Barry Ferns – a comedian whose personal journey through failure, homelessness, and rebuilding led me to explore the socio and behavioural economics of inequality and obsessed abotu the things that really influence our actions and livesThis 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.Follow and Subscribe for future videos!You can also follow me on Tiktok: tiktok.com/@barryseconomicsInstagram: instagram.com/barryseconomicTwitter: twitter.com/barryseconomicsSubstack: https://substack.com/@barryseconomicsReddit: https://www.reddit.com/user/barryferns/If you’re new to this, check out @garyseconomics 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/dRm4gs9Nl1L6eqWbUydjO00Want to see the stand-up side of all this?Find my live comedy and storytelling here:https://www.youtube.com/@mrbarryfernsTo learn more about my comedy club, Angel Comedy, and buy tickets for shows head here: https://www.angelcomedy.co.uk/
• Your Brain Won't Let You See What Epstein Really Was - Barry's Economics 17.02.2026 20min

  Why are we so addicted to hunting monsters - and what does that addiction protect?In this video, I explore the neuroscience and psychology behind our obsession with the Epstein scandal. And how the structure that created Epstein remains invisibleThis is part 2 of a series. Part 1: "Epstein Isn't an Aberration. He's an Inevitable Outcome" Part 3 coming next Sunday.Research Discussed in Episode:de Quervain et al. (2004) "The Neural Basis of Altruistic Punishment" , ScienceChester & DeWall (2016) Retaliatory aggression and the reward network, Social Cognitive and Affective NeuroscienceGoudarzi et al. (2020) Economic system justification and numbing to inequality in Nature CommunicationsVaughan, D. (1996) The Challenger Launch Decision: Normalisation of Deviance, University of Chicago PressLeach et al. (2025) Moral outrage, virality and petition signing, Social Psychological and Personality ScienceOxfam Inequality Report (2026)I'm Barry Ferns. Comedian, founder of Angel Comedy, and behavioural economics obsessive. I spent 17 years in comedy, went bankrupt, built one of London's most popular comedy clubs, and somewhere along the way got obsessed with why the system needs you to blame yourself. New videos episodes every week!Support on Patreon: patreon.com/BarrysEconomicsOne-off support: buymeacoffee.com/barryseconomicsGary's Economics (the channel that inspired this one): youtube.com/@garyseconomicsFollow for future episodes and leave a review to help it be seen!Sign-up to my mailing list: https://barryferns.co.uk/You can also follow me on Tiktok: tiktok.com/@barryseconomicsInstagram: instagram.com/barryseconomicsTwitter: twitter.com/barryseconomicsSubstack: https://substack.com/@barryseconomicsReddit: 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/dRm4gs9Nl1L6eqWbUydjO00Want to see the stand-up side of all this?Find my live comedy and storytelling here:https://www.youtube.com/@mrbarryfernsTo learn more about my comedy club, Angel Comedy, and buy tickets for shows head here: https://www.angelcomedy.co.uk/
• Epstein Isn’t an Aberration. He’s an Inevitable Outcome - Barry's Economics 09.02.2026 18min

  The Epstein Scandal Should Be Called "The Billionaire Scandal"Everyone thinks Jeffrey Epstein was an aberration. The science says he was inevitable.This video breaks down the neuroscience, psychology, and economics that explain how extreme wealth concentration doesn't just create inequality. but manufactures monsters. 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.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/barryseconomicsFollow and Subscribe for future videos!More about me: https://barryferns.co.uk/You can also follow me on Tiktok: ⁠⁠tiktok.com/@barryseconomics⁠⁠Instagram: ⁠⁠instagram.com/barryseconomics⁠⁠Twitter: ⁠⁠twitter.com/barryseconomics⁠⁠Substack: ⁠⁠https://substack.com/@barryseconomics⁠⁠Reddit: ⁠⁠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/dRm4gs9Nl1L6eqWbUydjO00Want to see the stand-up side of all this?Find my live comedy and storytelling here:https://www.youtube.com/@mrbarryfernsTo learn more about my comedy club, Angel Comedy, and buy tickets for shows head here: https://www.angelcomedy.co.uk/SCIENTIFIC REFERENCES AS FOOTERPower and Brain Function:Obhi, S. S., Hogeveen, J., & Pascual-Leone, A. (2011). "Resonating with others: The effects of self-construal type on motor cortical output." Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 23(9), 2668-2674.Hogeveen, J., Inzlicht, M., & Obhi, S. S. (2014). "Power changes how the brain responds to others." Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 143(2), 755-762.Wealth and Empathy Research:Piff, P. K., Stancato, D. M., Côté, S., Mendoza-Denton, R., & Keltner, D. (2012). "Higher social class predicts increased unethical behavior." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 109(11), 4086-4091.Piff, P. K., Kraus, M. W., Côté, S., Cheng, B. H., & Keltner, D. (2010). "Having less, giving more: The influence of social class on prosocial behavior." Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 99(5), 771-784.Stellar, J. E., Manzo, V. M., Kraus, M. W., & Keltner, D. (2012). "Class and compassion: Socioeconomic factors predict responses to suffering." Emotion, 12(3), 449-459.Social Class and Moral Beliefs:Kraus, M. W., Piff, P. K., & Keltner, D. (2011). "Social class as culture: The convergence of resources and rank in the social realm." Current Directions in Psychological Science, 20(4), 246-250.Kraus, M. W., & Keltner, D. (2013). "Social class rank, essentialism, and punitive judgment." Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 105(2), 247-261.Isolation and Psychological Effects:Cacioppo, J. T., & Hawkley, L. C. (2009). "Perceived social isolation and cognition." Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 13(10), 447-454.Smith, P. K., & Trope, Y. (2006). "You focus on the forest when you're in charge of the trees: Power priming and abstract information processing." Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 90(4), 578-596.Wealth Inequality Statistics:International Monetary Fund (IMF) - Various reports on wealth inequality and economic stabilityWorld Inequality Database (WID.world) - Thomas Piketty et al.
• The Prejudice That Links Race and Class, Gary Stevenson and Desmond Tutu - Barry's Economics 09.02.2026 15min

  Your accent isn't just how you sound.It's how you're judged.Within seconds of hearing someone speak, we make snap judgments about intelligence, trustworthiness, class, and competence.And we pretend we don't.What happens for you when Gary Stevenson's working-class voice has a posh accent?Why received pronunciation makes people sound more trustworthy (even when they're lying)How accent bias affects everything from job interviews to courtroomsThis is how our brains work - and how it encompasses Archbishop Desmond Tutu's uncomfortable but moving confession about his own unconscious prejudiceThe psychological research that proves this is how all human brains workThis isn't about snobbery. It's not about bad people.It's about how your brain takes shortcuts. And how those shortcuts create real consequences for working-class people – even when their ideas are better, their arguments stronger, their intelligence higher.This isn't opinion. It's behavioural science.You might not like what you discover about yourself. But once you see it, you can't unsee it.Also - I recommend Jimmy The Giant's Channel here:https://www.youtube.com/jimmythegiantand also if you want to know more about Desmond Tutu you can hear him speak here:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iV2LURTu3eQhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2zFB1BromEI’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/barryseconomicsFollow and Subscribe for future videos!More about me: https://barryferns.co.uk/You can also follow me on Tiktok: ⁠⁠tiktok.com/@barryseconomics⁠⁠Instagram: ⁠⁠instagram.com/barryseconomics⁠⁠Twitter: ⁠⁠twitter.com/barryseconomics⁠⁠Substack: ⁠⁠https://substack.com/@barryseconomics⁠⁠Reddit: ⁠⁠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/dRm4gs9Nl1L6eqWbUydjO00Want to see the stand-up side of all this?Find my live comedy and storytelling here:https://www.youtube.com/@mrbarryfernsTo learn more about my comedy club, Angel Comedy, and buy tickets for shows head here: https://www.angelcomedy.co.uk/
• How Money Turns Good People Bad - Barry's Economics 09.02.2026 10min

  There's a story running in the background of your mind right now. You didn't start it. You didn't agree to it. And it's ruining your life.That story has a headquarters: Wall Street. A place where the myth that "greed is good" isn't just believed, it's acted out, every single day.But here's what most people don't know: stories aren't just entertainment. Stories are software. We run on them. And behavioral science has proven, again and again, that the story you believe about human nature literally becomes the person you turn into.In this video, I look at:1- The Kathleen Vohs experiments that showed how just being REMINDED of money makes people less helpful, more isolated, and physically move their chairs further apart from others2- The Paul Piff Monopoly study where researchers rigged a game to give one player all the advantages — and watched them become louder, greedier, and more entitled within minutes (even though they knew it was rigged)3 - How economics students become measurably more selfish the longer they study mainstream economics — not because they were born that way, but because the story they're taught becomes a self-fulfilling prophecyThis isn't a video about Wall Street. This is a video about the invisible story controlling your behavior, your empathy, and your life — without you even realizing it.RESEARCH CITED:• Vohs, K. D., Mead, N. L., & Goode, M. R. (2006). The psychological consequences of money. Science.• Piff, P. K., et al. (2012). Higher social class predicts increased unethical behavior. PNAS.• Frank, R. H., Gilovich, T., & Regan, D. T. (1993). Does studying economics inhibit cooperation?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.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/barryseconomicsFollow and Subscribe for future videos!More about me: https://barryferns.co.uk/You can also follow me on Tiktok: ⁠⁠tiktok.com/@barryseconomics⁠⁠Instagram: ⁠⁠instagram.com/barryseconomics⁠⁠Twitter: ⁠⁠twitter.com/barryseconomics⁠⁠Substack: ⁠⁠https://substack.com/@barryseconomics⁠⁠Reddit: ⁠⁠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/dRm4gs9Nl1L6eqWbUydjO00Want to see the stand-up side of all this?Find my live comedy and storytelling here:https://www.youtube.com/@mrbarryfernsTo learn more about my comedy club, Angel Comedy, and buy tickets for shows head here: https://www.angelcomedy.co.uk/
• We're Measuring the Wrong Economy - Barry's Economics 09.02.2026 5min

  Your rent is up. Your bills are unpaid. But the government says the economy is FINE. Why?The answer is one of the simplest mathematical illusions in politics: GDP and averages.GDP was invented in the 1940s to measure wartime tank production. It doesn't care about your quality of life. It doesn't care who gets the money. It just measures "busy-ness" - and billionaires walking into rooms can make the average skyrocket while you're still on £25k.In this video, I break down:Why GDP is a wartime metric that makes no sense in peacetimeHow averages hide the real economy from viewThe two numbers that actually tell us how people are doing Why we can't fix what we refuse to measureEvery major economist - Piketty, Saez, Zucman, even the IMF - is sounding the alarm. The pie is growing, but your slice is shrinking. And the reason nobody's fixing it? We're measuring the billionaire economy, not the one you actually live in.We're not measuring the economy wrong. We're measuring the wrong economy.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/barryseconomicsFollow and Subscribe for future videos!More about me: https://barryferns.co.uk/You can also follow me on Tiktok: ⁠⁠tiktok.com/@barryseconomics⁠⁠Instagram: ⁠⁠instagram.com/barryseconomics⁠⁠Twitter: ⁠⁠twitter.com/barryseconomics⁠⁠Substack: ⁠⁠https://substack.com/@barryseconomics⁠⁠Reddit: ⁠⁠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/dRm4gs9Nl1L6eqWbUydjO00Want to see the stand-up side of all this?Find my live comedy and storytelling here:https://www.youtube.com/@mrbarryfernsTo learn more about my comedy club, Angel Comedy, and buy tickets for shows head here: https://www.angelcomedy.co.uk/
• Why the Science Says Rory Stewart Is Wrong - Barry's Economics 09.02.2026 20min

  This video isn’t about attacking Rory Stewart, or about bad faith, stupidity, or intent.It’s about something more uncomfortable... and much more common.Some of the biggest mistakes in modern politics and economics aren’t made by extremists or idiots.They’re made by intelligent, well-meaning people who all make the same mistake at the same time, and don’t notice it.Decision science has a word for this: homophily.When people with similar backgrounds, training, and assumptions cluster together, their errors stop cancelling out. They line up.That’s when consensus starts to feel like evidence.Using Rory Stewart and The Rest Is Politics as a case study, this video looks at:1 - Why expert agreement can become unreliable in complex systems2 - How dismissal replaces critique3 - And why voices from outside elite circles often sound “dangerous” rather than informativeThis isn’t a call to shout louder.And it isn’t a rejection of expertise.It’s a reminder that when everyone around you agrees, that’s often the moment you should check what you might be missing.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.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/barryseconomicsFollow and Subscribe for future videos!More about me: https://barryferns.co.uk/You can also follow me on Tiktok: ⁠⁠tiktok.com/@barryseconomics⁠⁠Instagram: ⁠⁠instagram.com/barryseconomics⁠⁠Twitter: ⁠⁠twitter.com/barryseconomics⁠⁠Substack: ⁠⁠https://substack.com/@barryseconomics⁠⁠Reddit: ⁠⁠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/dRm4gs9Nl1L6eqWbUydjO00Want to see the stand-up side of all this?Find my live comedy and storytelling here:https://www.youtube.com/@mrbarryfernsTo learn more about my comedy club, Angel Comedy, and buy tickets for shows head here: https://www.angelcomedy.co.uk/