<p>Thank you for checking out The Front Row Podcast and my interview with Hajoon Chang.</p><p><br></p><p>Ha-Joon Chang is a South Korean economist and one of the most widely read critics of neoliberal orthodoxy working today. </p><p>He is currently a professor of economics at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS). </p><p><br></p><p>He is best known for his book 23 Things They Don&#39;t Tell You About Capitalism, published in 2010, which challenged the foundational claims of free-market economics with rigorous historical and empirical argument. </p><p><br></p><p>His earlier work, Kicking Away the Ladder, demonstrated how today&#39;s rich countries used protectionism and industrial policy to develop — before turning around and telling developing nations to liberalise.Chang&#39;s research spans developmental economics, the history of economic thought, and the political economy of globalisation. </p><p><br></p><p>He has been a vocal proponent of what he calls &quot;non-mainstream&quot; economics: not a single doctrinal school, but a pluralist approach that draws on institutional, Keynesian, and developmentalist traditions to analyse how economies actually grow and change.</p><p><br></p><p>In this conversation, Chang offers a sweeping critique of neoliberalism&#39;s track record on growth and inequality, a dispassionate assessment of Donald Trump&#39;s industrial policy ambitions, and a pointed analysis of the AI boom as a speculative bubble shaped by concentrated wealth rather than genuine demand.</p><p><br></p><p>TIMESTAMPS:0:00 Trailer</p><p>1:08 Introduction</p><p>1:54 Growing Up in South Korea&#39;s Economic Miracle</p><p>4:36 Why Ha-Joon Chang Is Not &quot;Heterodox&quot;</p><p>4:58 The Gwangju Massacre and the Limits of Neoclassical Economics</p><p>10:45 How the Neoliberal Turn Happened</p><p>18:32 The Real Cost of the Free-Market Experiment</p><p>25:20 Why Singapore Works</p><p>29:58 Trump&#39;s Industrial Policy: Will It Work?</p><p>37:50 The Three Elements of Good Industrial Policy</p><p>40:54 The Right Lessons From China</p><p>44:44 How Bad Is Inequality in the US?</p><p>53:18 The AI Bubble</p><p>58:36 AI as Public Infrastructure</p><p>1:00:48 How to Build a More Just World</p><p>1:06:14 Closing</p>