Pitchfork Economics with Nick Hanauer

It’s Nick and Goldy’s summer reading list! 

We want to know what you’re reading, too. Let us know on Instagram: @pitchforkeconomics. 

Remember to shop local and small when you can, or order from IndieBound or Bookshop.org—both of which support independent bookstores! All of these books are also likely available at your library. 

Every book mentioned in this episode: 

The WEIRDest People in the World: How the West Became Psychologically Peculiar and Particularly Prosperous by Joseph Henrich 

Escape from Rome: The Failure of Empire and the Road to Prosperity by Walter Scheidel

The Tyranny of Merit: What’s Become of the Common Good? by Michael J. Sandel

Success and Luck: Good Fortune and the Myth of Merit by Robert H. Frank

The Black Swan and Fooled by Randomness by Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Democracy, Race, and Justice: The Speeches and Writings of Sadie T. M. Alexander by Nina Banks 

Why Buddhism is True by Robert Wright

Caste by Isabel Wilkerson

His Truth Is Marching On: John Lewis and the Power of Hope by Jon Meacham  

The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together by Heather McGhee

1491 by Charles C. Mann

Nature’s God: The Heretical Origins of the American Republic by Matthew Stewart

The Second World War by Winston Churchill 

Lafayette in the Somewhat United States by Sarah Vowell 

Debt by David Graeber 

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Nick’s twitter: @NickHanauer

Callum Williams from The Economist predicts what we can expect from the economy in the coming months based on past periods of massive non-financial disruption, including past pandemics and major world wars. 

Callum Williams is a senior economics writer at The Economist.

Twitter: @econcallum

What history tells you about post-pandemic booms: https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2021/04/29/what-history-tells-you-about-post-pandemic-booms 

Website: http://pitchforkeconomics.com/

Twitter: @PitchforkEcon

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Nick’s twitter: @NickHanauer

You probably saw the news that Chipotle is raising its menu prices by 4 percent, and that leadership is blaming the price increase on the fact that they had to raise their starting pay to $15 per hour. It’s not at all surprising to see a large employer like Chipotle blame rising wages for everything, but what was disappointing was the media’s willingness to repeat Chipotle’s story without looking deeper into the numbers: namely, none of the stories covering the price increases mentioned that Chipotle gave its CEO a $24 million raise last year, and that the company is in the middle of enacting a $153 million stock buyback program to enrich a handful of shareholders. Around here, that type of trick will land you the title of Trickle-Down Clown! This week Goldy has a few choice words to say about Chipotle’s behavior, and then we thought it would be a good time to revisit our stock buybacks episode with Senator Cory Booker for an explanation of the pervasiveness and dangers of the practice.

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Twitter: @PitchforkEcon

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Nick’s twitter: @NickHanauer

We’re back to our favorite topic this week—TAX THE RICH! Beyond all the benefits that come from a well-funded social safety net, taxing the wealthy would lessen inequality, which would make most people—including the extravagantly wealthy—happier. Super-rich Danish entrepreneur Djaffar Shalchi shares the wisdom that Denmark understands: Inequality is bad for everyone. 

Djaffar Shalchi is an entrepreneur from Denmark and founder of Millionaires for Humanity, a network of wealthy people who advocate for raising taxes on wealthy people. He is also the founder and Executive Director of Move Humanity, a global initiative to mobilize at least one percent of the wealth of the world’s super-rich for the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.  

Twitter: @djaffarshalchi

OPINION: I’m a millionaire who wants to be taxed to pay for COVID-19: https://news.trust.org/item/20210329080742-gpnj6/ 

The American dream is now in Denmark: https://the.ink/p/the-american-dream-is-now-in-denmark 

Dear Mr. Deutsch: Come to “F***ing Denmark.”: https://medium.com/@humanact/dear-donny-deutsch-come-to-f-ing-denmark-ea6995bb684d 

Biden will seek tax increase on rich to fund child care and education: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/22/business/economy/biden-taxes.html 

Website: http://pitchforkeconomics.com/

Twitter: @PitchforkEcon

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Nick’s twitter: @NickHanauer

Radical and rising economic inequality is no secret — and now, thanks to new research from the Economic Policy Institute, neither is its price tag nor its cause. There’s never been a study quite like this — one which places specific, real dollar amounts on every trickle-down policy American politicians have embraced. The study’s authors, Larry Mishel and Josh Bivens, explain how their work  reveals that the massive upward redistribution of income our nation has suffered these past four decades can largely be attributed to policies intentionally designed to suppress the wages of American workers. 

Lawrence Mishel is a distinguished fellow at EPI after serving as president from 2002-2017. In the more than three decades he has been with EPI, Mishel has helped build it into the nation’s premier research organization focused on U.S. living standards and labor markets. 

Twitter: @LarryMishel

Josh Bivens is the director of research at EPI. His areas of research include macroeconomics, fiscal and monetary policy, the economics of globalization, social insurance, and public investment. 

Twitter: @joshbivens_DC

Middle-class pay lost pace. Is Washington to blame? https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/13/business/economy/middle-class-pay.html 

Identifying the policy levers generating wage suppression and wage inequality: https://www.epi.org/unequalpower/publications/wage-suppression-inequality/ 

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Twitter: @PitchforkEcon

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Nick’s twitter: @NickHanauer

You have no doubt seen the scary headlines warning of a “labor shortage” caused by the additional pandemic unemployment insurance payments. The coverage of this story is widespread, even though most economics reporters can find no credible evidence linking unemployment checks to a labor shortage. EPI economist Heidi Shierholz joins us to explain why UI and stimulus payments aren’t causing a “labor shortage”, and why the answer to this made-up problem is so clear: it’s the low wages, stupid. 

Heidi Shierholz is the Senior Economist and Director of Policy at the Economic Policy Institute. 

Twitter: @hshierholz

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Unemployment benefits are not creating a worker shortage: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/worker-shortage-unemployment-benefits_n_609056c3e4b09cce6c21a850 

Is unemployment insurance behind the fast-food labor shortage? https://prospect.org/labor/is-unemployment-insurance-behind-fast-food-labor-shortage/ 

Restaurant labor shortages show little sign of going economywide: https://www.epi.org/blog/restaurant-labor-shortages-show-little-sign-of-going-economywide-policymakers-must-not-rein-in-stimulus-or-unemployment-benefits/ 

U.S. Labor Shortage? Unlikely. Here’s why: https://policydialogue.org/opinions/worker-shortages/ 

It’s not a ‘labor shortage’. It’s a great reassessment of work in America: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/05/07/jobs-report-labor-shortage-analysis/ 

The Myth of Labor Shortages: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/20/briefing/labor-shortages-covid-wages.html 

Website: http://pitchforkeconomics.com/

Twitter: @PitchforkEcon

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Nick’s twitter: @NickHanauer

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 spiralled into an unfair labor practice that keeps wages low, limits employee mobility, and decreases competition. Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson explains how non-competes and no-poach agreements violate the law in many states, what his team did to get hundreds of huge employers across the country to cease and desist, and why you should tell your state’s Attorney General if you know of any low- or middle-income workers who are being forced into signing these agreements. 

Bob Ferguson is Washington State’s 18th Attorney General. As the state’s chief legal officer, Bob is committed to protecting the people of Washington against powerful interests that don’t play by the rules. 

Twitter: @BobFergusonAG

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Why aren’t paychecks growing? A burger-joint clause offers a clue: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/27/business/pay-growth-fast-food-hiring.html

Workers in Washington state win big under new non-compete law: https://www.emeryreddy.com/2019/09/workers-in-washington-state-win-big-under-new-non-compete-law/ 

Attorney General Bob Ferguson stops King County coffee shop’s practice requiring baristas to sign unfair non-compete agreements: https://www.atg.wa.gov/news/news-releases/attorney-general-bob-ferguson-stops-king-county-coffee-shop-s-practice-requiring 

AG Report: Ferguson’s initiative ends no-poach practices nationally at 237 corporate franchise chains: https://www.atg.wa.gov/news/news-releases/ag-report-ferguson-s-initiative-ends-no-poach-practices-nationally-237-corporate 

Website: http://pitchforkeconomics.com/

Twitter: @PitchforkEcon

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Nick’s twitter: @NickHanauer

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 is with us this week to argue that our economy will be better off if more government agencies adopt DARPA’s mission-oriented approach.  

Mariana Mazzucato is a Professor in the Economics of Innovation and Public Value at University College London, where she is Founding Director of the UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose. She is the author of three highly-acclaimed books: The Entrepreneurial State, The Value of Everything, and Mission Economy. 

Twitter: @MazzucatoM

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Mission Economy: https://marianamazzucato.com/books/mission-economy 

It’s 2023. Here’s how we fixed the global economy: https://time.com/collection/great-reset/5900739/fix-economy-by-2023/#new_tab

DARPA’s early investment in COVID-19 antibody identification producing timely results: https://www.darpa.mil/news-events/2020-11-10  

Website: http://pitchforkeconomics.com/

Twitter: @PitchforkEcon

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Nick’s twitter: @NickHanauer

Essayist Anusar Farooqui makes the case that we are witnessing the final break from neoliberalism in the United States.

Anusar Farooqui writes on Substack as Policy Tensor. 

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The Making of the Mother of All Economic Booms: https://policytensor.substack.com/p/the-making-of-the-mother-of-all-economic 

Website: http://pitchforkeconomics.com/

Twitter: @PitchforkEcon

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Nick’s twitter: @NickHanauer

Can business leaders use their power and resources to make meaningful change? Should they? Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, the founders behind iconic ice cream brand Ben & Jerry’s, help map the landscape between business and activism and introduce their new project, the Campaign to End Qualified Immunity. 

Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield are the co-founders of Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream. Most recently, they are the leaders of the Campaign to End Qualified Immunity, a new police reform and criminal justice campaign. 

Ben’s twitter: @YoBenCohen

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https://campaigntoendqualifiedimmunity.org/ 

Website: http://pitchforkeconomics.com/

Twitter: @PitchforkEcon

Instagram: @pitchforkeconomics

Nick’s twitter: @NickHanauer