What if the model is the problem?
Crisis after crisis. The experts didn’t see it coming. The maps don’t match the territory.
Steve Keen
Nice to meet you, Dr. Steve Keen
For 50 years, economist Steve Keen has built models that actually work—models that include debt, energy,…
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The official story vs reality
Four fundamental errors in orthodox economics. Hover each card to see what the data actually shows.
Banking
Orthodox View
“Banks lend out savings”
The textbook story: depositors save, banks lend those savings to borrowers.
Banking
Reality
Banks create money from nothing
Loans create deposits, not the other way around. Confirmed by the Bank of England in 2014.
Energy
Orthodox View
“Energy powers production”
No energy, no economy. Thermodynamics constrains what’s possible.
Energy
Reality
Energy is the economy
GDP tracks energy use almost perfectly. Orthodox models treat it as a minor input—the data says otherwise.
Climate
Orthodox View
“Damage is manageable”
Economic models predict modest GDP impacts from even extreme warming.
Climate
Reality
Damage is existential
Orthodox models predict 3% GDP loss at 3°C. Real damages could be 10–20x worse once tipping points are included.
Government
Orthodox View
“Governments must tax & borrow to spend”
The household analogy: governments must balance budgets like families.
Government
Reality
Governments create money when they spend
A currency-issuing government can never run out of its own money. Taxes regulate demand, not fund spending.
These aren’t fringe ideas. They’re what the data shows—when you build models that include banks, energy, and complexity.
Tools for observation, analysis and modeling
Two methodologies, one workflow: explore data with Ravel, build and simulate models with RavelSim — the compiled build of our open-source Minsky engine.
Ravel
See what spreadsheets hide. Multi-dimensional data analysis that reveals patterns across time, geography, and sectors.
- •Import central bank data, national accounts, climate series
- •Manipulate dimensions: indicator, freq, unit, date
- •Visualize relationships hidden in flat tables
Toolkit:
RavelSim
Model systems that never reach equilibrium—because that's how the real world works.
- •Stock-flow consistency built in—every flow accounted
- •Godley tables enforce sectoral balance integrity
- •Visual interface: see structure, not just equations
Toolkit:
Explore data in Ravel. Build models in RavelSim. Test against reality.
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Stage 1 / Learn the framework
Foundations
7-week introduction to stock-flow consistent economics. No prerequisites—just curiosity about how the economy actually works.
— Understand monetary dynamics
— Read Godley tables
— Build basic models
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Field Notes
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Challenging orthodoxy together
From the community who’ve learned to see what the mainstream can’t see.
“I've been trying to understand why mainstream models missed 2008. Steve's approach to debt dynamics finally gave me the tools to see what was happening.”
Sarah K.
Financial Analyst
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Model what matters
The questions mainstream economics can’t answer
Open, collaborative modelling fronts — where competent and aspiring modellers gather to build what the textbooks can’t.
Climate Change
Neoclassical economics told policymakers that 4°C of warming would cost a few percent of GDP. That number is empirically baseless — and it shaped a generation of climate policy. Here’s what honest modelling shows instead.
Explore →Is private debt the thing economics can't see?
Demand is income plus the change in debt. Ignore the second term and 2008 is a mystery; include it and it was inevitable.
Explore →Does MMT get money right?
A currency-issuer can’t go broke in its own currency — MMT is right about that. But the dangerous debt is private, not public.
Explore →Can you have an economy without energy?
Labour and capital produce nothing without energy. Leave it out of the production function and growth becomes a miracle you can't explain.
Explore →