About Brian Davey

Brian Davey graduated from the Nottingham University Department of Economics and, aside from a brief spell working in eastern Germany showing how to do community development work, has spent most of his life working in the community and voluntary sector in Nottingham particularly in health promotion, mental health and environmental fields. He helped form Ecoworks, a community garden and environmental project for people with mental health problems. He is a member of Feasta Climate Working Group and former co-ordinator of the Cap and Share Campaign. He is editor of the Feasta book Sharing for Survival: Restoring the Climate, the Commons and Society, and the author of Credo: Economic Beliefs in a World in Crisis.

Brian Davey has written 102 articles so far, you can find them below.

Economics is not a social science

In this article Brian Davey explains the rationale for setting up a group called "Cafe Economique" in Nottingham. Following a similar group in Leeds a Nottingham group has been set up, one of whose aims is to give non-economists the confidence to participate in economic discussions. It is high time that non-economists feel able to challenge the baloney that most economists preach and are armed with the ideas that will allow them to do so. In this piece, Brian attacks the status claim that economics makes when it describes itself as a "social science".

Blaming the bankers? Understanding mass perceptions and mass emotions

This article is not primarily about economics. It is meant to be more philosophical, but philosophical in a sense that has political and economic implications for action. As the markets plunge and economic turmoil engulfs the global economy I've noticed that amid the many interpretations, there are quite different attitudes to what is going on in regard to the propensity to explain or to blame. I have described these two attitudes perhaps in an exaggerated form to bring out their differences.

Money Theory – A Primer on the Issues

The group organising the newly formed 'Cafe Economique' in Nottingham wanted an introduction to basic money theory for their first public event on Thursday 30th June and this article, written by Feasta member Brian Davey, was the result. The extended version of the talk, with notes on sources and for further reading, relates basic concepts to what is happening in the world right now, inclusive of the Greek financial crisis, and what should be done about it.

What could a post-growth society look like and how should we prepare for it?

This was the theme of a massive congress held in Berlin last month. Brian Davey attended it and has written a report for Feasta in which he describes the role played by Attac and the Decroissance movement, Vandana Shiva's critique of economic growth in India, the vision of "Buen Vivir" put forward by representatives of indigenous communities of Latin America and the new relationship being forged between the greens and the left in Europe.