David McWilliams
About
David McWilliams: Economist, Author and Broadcaster | Speaker on Money, Economic Change and Business
Why Book David McWilliams?
David McWilliams helps audiences see economics in the choices people make every day. An economist, author, and broadcaster, he uses history, stories, and accessible explanations to connect money and economic developments with the wider human experience.
David brings an engaging approach to subjects that can otherwise feel abstract. His presentations encourage business audiences to consider how incentives, changing expectations, and the role of money influence the environment in which they operate.
Why Is David McWilliams Right for Your Audience?
David is a strong fit for business conferences, financial services meetings, industry events, and executive programs. Consider him when an audience needs an accessible conversation about economics and its implications.
Book David when your audience needs to:
- Connect economic ideas with everyday decisions
- Understand money in a wider historical context
- Recognize incentives behind changing behavior
- Question assumptions about economic developments
- Discuss business conditions with greater confidence
- Consider connections between society and the economy
Audience Takeaways
Depending on the program selected, attendees will leave:
- Clearer on economic ideas relevant to their work
- Ready to ask more informed questions about change
- More aware of the human behavior behind economic activity
- Equipped to connect broad developments with business discussions
- Focused on an assumption worth reconsidering
Keynote Programs
Economics: The Business of Everyday Life
David makes economic ideas accessible through everyday examples. Ideal for business and association audiences seeking a clearer perspective.
Money: The Most Powerful Technology Ever Invented
David explores the role of money in shaping human activity. Ideal for financial services and executive audiences interested in history, behavior, and economic change.
Is David McWilliams Right for Your Event?
Tell us about your audience, the economic developments your audience wants to understand and the business questions it needs to explore. We can help select David’s most relevant program, discuss customization, and confirm availability and fee.
Contact The Sweeney Agency 1-866-727-7555 or [email protected] for more information on this speaker.
Topics and Audience Takeaways
What David McWilliams Talks About:
Economics: The Business of Everyday Life
To most people, economics feels like a foreign language – too technical, too detached, too…boring. But what if economics was actually the most important set of tools we have for decoding the world around us? In eye-opening and entertaining presentations, economist and bestselling author David McWilliams pulls back the curtain on how economics shapes the choices we make every day, from how we shop and save to how we vote, love and build community. With stories drawn from his top-ranked podcast and decades of global market experience, McWilliams shows how economics is fundamentally a story not about markets or models, but about people. Audiences leave this talk equipped with the ability to make sense of anything happening in the world and explain it to others through a new, clearer lens – what McWilliams calls “social ammunition.” Gifted with a flair for injecting humor into even the driest of charts and forecasts, McWilliams presents economics like you’ve never heard it before: accessible, actionable and unforgettable.
Money: The Most Powerful Technology Ever Invented
From Mesopotamian clay tablets to Bitcoin wallets, the history of money is the history of human civilization. In this electrifying presentation drawn from his international bestseller “Money: A Story of Humanity” (titled “The History of Money” in the U.S., set for release in November 2025), David McWilliams traces how money transformed us from tribal groups into complex societies, unlocking religion, rule of law, writing and everything we now associate with modern life. But unlike most economists, McWilliams doesn’t treat money as math, but as magic. As he explains in deeply researched and engaging sessions, money is collaborative, social, degenerate, sexy and profoundly misunderstood. With humor and storytelling prowess, McWilliams’ highly entertaining and provocative presentations make the sociology of money come alive to show leaders how financial systems shape geopolitics, identity and generational opportunity. More than a history lesson, audiences walk away with a fresh understanding on why the next phase of economic evolution – from crypto to climate pricing – demands that we understand money not only as currency, but as a culture.
Recent Publications
Thank you so much for presenting at our Annual Investment Summit last week. We have been putting on this event for several years now, and judging by the feedback from our guests, this year was the best yet and your contribution clearly helped make it so. Your presentation was perfectly pitched and brought exactly what we had hoped to the Summit.
Neil Woodford, Head of UK Equities, Invesco Perpetual
