Pitchfork Economics with Nick Hanauer

By Civic Ventures

Business

What's Pitchfork Economics with Nick Hanauer about?

Any society that allows itself to become radically unequal eventually collapses into an uprising or a police state—or both. Join venture capitalist Nick Hanauer and some of the world’s leading economic and political thinkers in an exploration of who gets what and why. Turns out, everything you learned about economics is wrong. And if we don’t do something about rising inequality, the pitchforks are coming.

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The many benefits of a guar...

01.31.2023

Oxford economists are currently running the world’s first Universal Job Guarantee program in Austria, and so far the results are very promising. When unemployed people have guaranteed access to training and/or a job, those people feel more in control of ...

Pitchfork Economics with Nick Hanauer episodes:

01.31.2023 The many benefits of a guaranteed job program (with Max Kasy and Lukas Lehner) Oxford economists are currently running the world’s first Universal Job Guarantee program in Austria, and so far the results are very promising. When unemployed people have guaranteed access to training and/or a job, those people feel more in control of ...
01.24.2023 The legacy of the Fight for $15 (with NELP) Exactly one decade ago, activists and civic leaders launched the Fight for $15. It’s hard to recall now, but the idea was wildly controversial at the time—Forbes called Nick’s support of a $15 minimum wage “near-insane,” for example. A new ...
01.17.2023 Sci-Fi Economics (with Kim Stanley Robinson) We can’t tear down the existing economic framework and replace it with a better one without first telling a persuasive story about how the economy actually works. And few people in the world are more compelling storytellers than science fiction ...
01.10.2023 The real reasons why inflation soared last year (with Ira Regmi) For most of last year economists and pundits engaged in a long, circular debate about why inflation was spiking around the world, and who was to blame for those skyrocketing prices. Economic experts at the Roosevelt Institute (including past guest ...
01.03.2023 New Year, New AMA Nick and Goldy kick off the New Year by answering more of your questions! Has there ever been a time period with strong deflation? Should folks prepare for an upcoming recession? Why aren’t we allowed to question the free market? ...
12.27.2022 Revisiting the economics of abortion (with Caitlin Myers) Out of all the topics we discussed in 2022 one stayed at the top of headlines all year long: abortion. We spoke to Professor Caitlin Myers in February of this year, months before the Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade. ...
12.20.2022 Revisiting corporate greed’s effect on the supply chain (with Rakeen Mabud) Judging by the amount of downloads for this episode, we’d say it was our listeners’ favorite from the past year. “Did Corporate Greed Break the Supply Chain?” with Rakeen Mabud from the Groundwork Collaborative exposes how the supply chain was ...
12.13.2022 CEO Pay is out of control (with Mark Kreidler) A new report from the Economic Policy Institute looks into the salary and stock packages of America’s most overcompensated corporate titans and the numbers are staggering. According to journalist Mark Kreidler, who recently covered the report for Capital + Main, ...
12.06.2022 America isn’t lost, it’s Adrift (with Scott Galloway) Inequality has grown so large that a number of pessimists believe America is lost. But Professor Scott Galloway argues that our nation is actually adrift, and in his latest book he explains what needs to be done to fix this ...
11.29.2022 Fair Social Contracts (with Eric Beinhocker) Human society is built on social contracts, but decades of neoliberalism have left many of our most fundamental contracts—worker power, social safety nets, trust in key institutions— in tatters. It’s no wonder that people are pissed off: without fairness, we ...
11.22.2022 Charting a new path forward (LIVE from EconCon Presents) In one of the highlights of last week’s EconCon Presents event in Washington D.C., Washington Post columnist Perry Bacon Jr. convened an all-star panel of political experts. Maurice Mitchell, Faiz Shakir, and Anna Greenberg joined Bacon to share lessons learned ...
11.15.2022 Why we can't let Kroger buy Albertsons (with Stacy Mitchell) Kroger wants to buy Albertsons and effectively become the second-largest grocery chain in the United States. This merger would result in less competition, rising grocery prices, and lower wages. Corporate greed has gotten us into this mess, but new federal ...
11.08.2022 The reality of voter suppression in America (with Andrea Hailey) If there's one thing we learned from the far-right campaign against voting rights following the 2020 election, it's how fragile our democracy really is. That’s why we’re celebrating Election Day 2022 by revisiting our conversation with Vote.org CEO Andrea Hailey, ...
11.01.2022 Chokepoint Capitalism (with Cory Doctorow and Rebecca Giblin) Corporate concentration has strained the labor market for virtually all workers, but the resulting lack of competition has caused unique harm to the creative economy. Increasingly exploitative monopolies have rendered artists, authors, musicians, and other creative workers all but powerless. ...
10.25.2022 Middle-Out Messaging for the Midterms (with Melissa Morales and Bobby Clark) Economics is another form of storytelling—specifically, it’s the story of who gets what and why. And as the rise of trickle-down and middle-out economics shows us, telling the right story at the right time can transform the economy for a ...
10.18.2022 A brief history of Middle-Out Economics (with Michael Tomasky) We’ve lived in the shadow of trickle-down economics for over 40 years. During that time, our leaders unquestioningly embraced economic policies that prioritize the wealthiest and most powerful, with the idea that their wealth will eventually "trickle down" to everyone ...
10.11.2022 Why won't trickle-down die? (with Mark Blyth) While President Biden has embraced middle-out economics here in the states, the UK’s new leaders have decided to enthusiastically revive trickle-down economics. Political economist Mark Blyth, who teaches International Economics, shares his thoughts on the United Kingdom’s troubling new budget ...
10.04.2022 How to repair the housing crisis (with Jenny Schuetz) The United States is in the midst of a housing crisis. Prices are skyrocketing, supply is dwindling, and wages haven't kept up with cost of living. It's a complicated problem, but the good news is that many of its solutions ...
09.27.2022 How student loan forgiveness rebuilds the economy from the middle out (with Marshall Steinbaum) President Biden recently announced his plan for student loan forgiveness. It’s a policy that helps build the economy from the middle out by erasing some of the 1.7 trillion dollars in debt that’s holding Americans back. Economist Marshall Steinbaum, who ...
09.20.2022 Measuring long Covid's impact on the labor market (with Katie Bach) Millions of Americans are being kept out of the workforce due to the lingering effects of Covid, resulting in billions of dollars in lost wages and productivity. How is this affecting our economy? Returning guest Katie Bach shares the findings ...
09.13.2022 We need to fix overtime pay in America (with Marcus Baram) If you're a salaried worker, chances are you're no longer eligible for the overtime pay that you would have received 40 years ago. A robust federal overtime standard used to serve as a kind of minimum wage for the middle ...
09.06.2022 How the Inflation Reduction Act benefits the middle class (with Rose Khattar) The Inflation Reduction Act may be smaller than the original Build Back Better plan, but it still represents a huge leap forward in middle-out economic thinking. The IRA addresses out-of-control healthcare costs, it helps build a fairer tax code, and ...
08.30.2022 The limits of the market (with Joseph Stiglitz) One of the central theories of classical economics is that markets respond quickly and efficiently to changes in demand. But the supply chain disruptions that left store shelves empty for much of the pandemic demonstrate that the markets aren’t the ...
08.23.2022 Why essential work is essentially forced labor (with Suresh Naidu) What became known as “essential work” during the pandemic was really just forced labor, according to labor market economist Suresh Naidu. He shares employers' secret tricks for manipulating the labor market and explains how powerless most workers have become as ...
08.16.2022 How inequality cost workers $50 trillion (with Carter Price) Did you know that since 1975 a staggering $50 trillion has been diverted from the paychecks of working Americans to the pockets of the wealthiest 1%? That shocking number was discovered in a groundbreaking study done by the RAND Corporation ...
08.09.2022 Reclaiming conservative economics (with Oren Cass) These days "conservative economics" can mean anything from strict libertarianism to formless Trumpism. But what were the foundations of American conservatism? According to Oren Cass, the executive director of a think tank called American Compass, the answer is simple: family, ...
08.02.2022 Mission Economy (with Mariana Mazzucato) What do the internet and COVID vaccines have in common? Neither would be possible without the work of DARPA, a mission-focused federal agency responsible for funding research and development. Professor Mariana Mazzucato explains that our economy would be better off ...
07.26.2022 How American tax policy fosters racial inequality (with Dorothy A. Brown) While most Americans know that our tax system advantages wealthy white families, not as many people realize how much it also actively disadvantages Black families. Tax law professor Dorothy Brown breaks down how racial inequality is built into U.S. tax ...
07.19.2022 We can redefine worker power (with Elizabeth Anderson) What are the ethical limits of the market? How do we shift the balances of power back towards workers? What does true freedom really look like? Nick and Goldy explore these questions and more in a fascinating conversation with Philosophy ...
07.12.2022 Can corporations help repair society? (with Ben & Jerry) Business leaders can use their power and resources to make meaningful change, but should they? Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, the founders of iconic ice cream brand Ben & Jerry’s, have navigated the landscape between business and activism since the ...
07.05.2022 Ask Nick Anything Nick and Goldy answer more of your questions! What’s the deal with cryptocurrency? How are people still saying that inflation was caused by the stimulus? Is capitalism better than market socialism? Plus some summer reading recommendations and an important podcast ...
06.28.2022 Has Chile defeated neoliberalism? (with Marcelo Casals) Chile has a proud tradition of protests, but the unrest of 2019 was different. More than a million people took to the streets to protest their nation’s vast inequality. The uprising made international news, unseated a neoliberal dictatorship, and led ...
06.21.2022 Marshall Plan for Moms (with Reshma Saujani) Millions of Americans lost their jobs because of the pandemic. While men have returned to their pre-pandemic level of employment, a million women are still missing from the workforce. Without access to paid maternity leave and affordable child care, women ...
06.14.2022 The inequality of progress (with Oded Galor) What can the history of human progress teach us about modern inequality? In his new book, ‘The Journey of Humanity: The Origins of Wealth and Inequality,’ economist Oded Galor explores that question, as well as why human progress was stagnant ...
06.07.2022 How thinking like economists holds us back (with Elizabeth Popp Berman) When it comes to crafting economic policy, cost-effectiveness, efficiency, choice, and competition have reigned supreme among policymakers for decades. Sociologist Elizabeth Popp Berman says that this style of economic reasoning—prioritizing efficiency above all else—makes good ideas seem like bad policy. ...
05.31.2022 Exploring global solutions to inequality (with Faiza Shaheen) Reducing inequality is not only possible, but it’s actually happening all across the globe. Faiza Shaheen, the Inequality Program Lead at NYU, has been researching the conditions and policies that can lower inequality for years. She shares which countries have ...
05.24.2022 Inclusion is an economic necessity (with john a. powell) john a. powell, the Director of the Othering & Belonging Institute, explains why the concept of belonging is so important for a healthy community and why inclusion is the key to a thriving economy. john a. powell is the Director ...
05.17.2022 Consumers deserve an inflation rebate (with Congressman Ro Khanna) Gas prices have reached record highs in the United States. Is inflation actually to blame, or is it the greed of Big Oil, which is enjoying record profits? Congressman Ro Khanna walks us through his proposal for a Big Oil ...
05.10.2022 How Biden’s budget proposal takes on corporate power (with Niko Lusiani) The Biden Administration’s 2023 budget proposal includes a Billionaire Minimum Income Tax and a rewrite of stock buyback practices. Will these changes actually take effect? If so, will they do enough to curb runaway corporate power? Niko Lusiani from the ...
05.03.2022 Pirate equity (with Jim Baker) The idea behind private equity firms—to buy failing companies and turn them around for a profit—is not inherently bad. So why is private equity such a major driver of economic inequality? Jim Baker, the Executive Director for the Private Equity ...
04.26.2022 Companies can't self-regulate their way to inclusive capitalism (with Katie Bach) In 2019, a group of business leaders signed a high-profile pledge promising that they would voluntarily move toward a more inclusive stakeholder-focused version of capitalism. But throughout the pandemic, those same companies reported record profits while workers were left behind. ...
04.19.2022 Why your non-compete clause is probably illegal (with Attorney General Bob Ferguson) Non-compete clauses, and the lesser-known no-poach agreements between franchises, are shockingly common for low-wage workers. Although these contracts were originally intended to protect trade secrets among high-level executives, they have spiraled into an unfair labor practice that keeps wages low, ...
04.12.2022 How neoliberalism happened (with George Monbiot and Binyamin Appelbaum) It’s trendy to mock the malicious pervasiveness of neoliberalism now, but have you ever wondered what its origins are? This week, George Monbiot and Binyamin Appelbaum join the show to uncover just where the dominant economic theory of our time ...
04.05.2022 The economics of mass incarceration (with Robynn Cox) What role does the criminal justice system play in economic inequality? How does economic inequality cause mass incarceration? And how do we tease those two questions apart? Robynn Cox, an expert in the economics of mass incarceration, talks about her ...
03.29.2022 Why a $15 minimum wage is no longer enough (with Dean Baker) Ever wondered what the minimum wage would be if it had kept pace with inflation and productivity like it used to? Here’s a hint: $7.25, and even $15.00, don’t come close. Economist Dean Baker has been crunching the numbers on ...
03.22.2022 Did corporate greed break the supply chain? (with Rakeen Mabud) While many Americans struggle to make ends meet, corporate America’s 2021 profits were higher than ever. So why are corporations making more money while supply chain issues are still driving up inflation for the rest of us? The Groundwork Collaborative’s ...
03.15.2022 Free lunch thinking (with Tom Bergin) Investigative financial analyst Tom Bergin cut his teeth investigating corporate wrongdoing. When he turned his attention to the economics profession, he learned that eight major economic theories—used by experts to shape policy across the globe—entirely lack factual basis. He joins ...
03.08.2022 Congress looks to the CBO for economic expertise. Is that a mistake? (with Mark Paul) The Congressional Budget Office, the institution that furnishes cost-benefit analyses for federal legislation under consideration by Congress, has a really hard job. But some of the assumptions they rely on to predict economic consequences are just plain weird. Economist Mark ...
03.01.2022 How Davos Man devours the world (with Peter Goodman) Billionaires have looted economies, hidden from tax bills, and destabilized democracies for decades. But the subset of billionaires who make a show of pretending to be good citizens have to be the worst among them. They’re called “Davos Man'' and ...
02.22.2022 The economics of abortion (with Caitlin Myers) We often discuss abortion as an issue of bodily autonomy, personal rights, and reproductive justice. Of course it’s all of those things, but it’s also an economic issue. Access (or lack thereof) to an abortion profoundly affects women’s lives by ...

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