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Curated by: Richard J Murphy (21 videos)
Who really creates wealth in our economy? Is it the people who own businesses, property and financial assets, or the people who actually do the work? In this episode of my series on Understanding Economics, I argue that work is the foundation of economic value. Without human effort, care and creativity, money would still exist, but there would be very little worthwhile to buy with it. That raises some important questions about how modern economics values work. Much socially essential work, including caring for children and elderly relatives, volunteering and supporting communities, is unpaid and largely ignored by measures such as GDP. At the same time, many people in paid employment are prevented from making full use of their skills, judgement and creativity. Since the 1980s, power has also shifted from workers towards employers and shareholders. Trade unions have been weakened, insecure employment has grown, and work has increasingly been treated simply as a cost of production rather than as the activity that makes production possible. Artificial intelligence makes these questions more urgent. AI may eliminate some existing jobs, but there is still an enormous amount of socially useful work that needs doing. If we want an economy that serves people, we need to rethink what work is, what creates value, and what our economy is actually for, which is why Understanding Economics, because in the series I ask what economics looks like when people really matter. You can watch the rest of this series here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLaSguNBvHIto Take a look at the poll below: https://www.youtube.com/post/Ugkxnt8257RzMOtheaFmfzxFRnkVw-YEt0zx 00:00 What Is Work? 00:58 Work Is the Foundation of Wealth 01:56 How Economics Forgot About Workers 02:54 Why We Work for More Than Money 03:52 Unpaid Work Creates Real Value 04:49 Why the Economy Wastes People’s Talents 05:45 How Work Has Been Devalued 06:41 What Will AI Do to Work? 07:38 There Is Plenty of Work That Needs Doing 08:25 We Need to Rethink the Value of Work 08:54 Work Creates Wealth — Not Ownership TRANSCRIPT A transcript for this video is available at: https://www.taxresearch.org.uk IF YOU WANT TO WRITE TO YOUR MP ABOUT ISSUES IN THIS VIDEO If you want to write a letter to your MP on the issues raised in this blog post, there is a ChatGPT prompt to assist you in doing so, with full instructions, here. https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2025/06/20/chatgpt-prompt-for-a-letter-to-your-mp/ HOW TO SUPPORT US Please consider donating: https://ko-fi.com/taxresearch ABOUT RICHARD MURPHY Richard Murphy is Emeritus Professor of Accounting Practice at Sheffield University Management School. He is director of Tax Research LLP and the author of the Funding the Future blog. His best-known book is ‘The Joy of Tax’. This video was edited by Thomas Murphy. RICHARD MURPHY ON BLUESKY: https://bsky.app/profile/richardjmurphy.bsky.social OR ON MY BLOG: http://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/ HIT SUBSCRIBE & GET NOTIFICATIONS Subscribe and get notified of new videos released. INTRODUCTION: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdHsRPy3060 PLAYLISTS: The Wealth Series https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvRueM6wBgobQLeyZYAagFDMjEFTKbhRD Ecenomics https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvRueM6wBgob54Gs-fOL-8OAQ-IpduwB4 Britain https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvRueM6wBgobwTT4ATvJjsf8OO6S7wD10 Tax https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvRueM6wBgoaMni_12J6ULp3yUJisUZoY MMT https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvRueM6wBgoZ6jvRGSW5YXu8qogE6aClX Money https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvRueM6wBgoYnLk1c7syTvoIo8bKYUs5m Climate Change https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvRueM6wBgob4_wsYaVivWd2WumpPLYwJ USA https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvRueM6wBgoYYd3dSyU2Oyl3x7bWJOP7H Labour https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvRueM6wBgoa-KhzG-fnjDSg1WROL1zMw The Trump Administration https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvRueM6wBgobz41-GLimTho27A3flVWQx #Work #UnderstandingEconomics #Economics #Wealth #WealthCreation #Workers #Employment #UnpaidWork