Full transcript of world-renowned classical economist Prof. Michael Hudson in conversation with Norwegian writer and political activist Prof. Glenn Diesen on “The Economics of a Civilizational Conflict”, July 17, 2025.
Historical backgrounder. It focuses on the history of economic rent — financial rent, and its implications for the changing world order. The world order is now based on the transition of the West from industrial capitalism to financial capitalism, and the corresponding rise of China as the dominant industrial nation.
The subtext is that the solution involves replacing privately created finance with sovereign funds for public purpose, as MMT economists and proponents also advise. This requires reversing the current order that is based on neoliberalism by recognizing public goods and the ability of monetary sovereigns to provide for them as the currency issuer.
This post also encapsulates what Michael Hudson has been saying in most of his books and interviews.
Hudson self-identifies as a classical economist, a school that focuses on addressing economic rent extraction. The principal exponents of classical economics include Adam Smith, Jean-Baptiste Say, David Ricardo, Thomas Robert Malthus, and John Stuart Mill. Ricardo is remembered especially for his focus on economic rent. Marx wrote in response to classical economics, among others. Husdon is also a neo-Marxist in the sense that he adapts some of Marx's analysis without the dogmatism of the Marxist schools.
The Singu Post
