Capitalisn't

Episodios

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  Can Liberalism Survive This Kind of Capitalism? - ft. Daron Acemoglu 13.08.2026 53m

  For most of the last century, liberal democracies offered a simple deal: the economy grows and, if you work hard, you get a fair shot at the rewards. According to 2024 Nobel Prize-winning economist Daron Acemoglu, that deal is broken.
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  How Washington Privatized The Capital Market - ft. Renée Jones 06.08.2026 48m

  Amazon went public three years after it was founded. SpaceX stayed private for 24 years. What changed and why does it matter?
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  A Conservative's Attack On Neoliberalism - Ft. Chris Griswold 30.07.2026 46m

  The GOP is often associated with free-market fundamentalism, deregulation, and tax cuts. But a new faction on the right is challenging that consensus.
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  Was The Constitution An Anti-Democratic Coup? - ft. Michael Klarman 16.07.2026 50m

  Were the foundations of American governance engineered to protect the wealthy? Harvard Law professor Michael Klarman argues that the US Constitution was actually a counter-revolutionary coup to constrain democracy rather than protect it.
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  Our Personal Finance Mistakes Are The Industry's Profits - ft. John Campbell & Tarun Ramadorai 02.07.2026 49m

  Is personal finance rigged against ordinary people? Economists argue the system rewards the wealthy and financially savvy at the expense of everyone else.
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  Was Free Trade Ever Really Free? - ft. Fmr. Biden Trade Rep. Katherine Tai 18.06.2026 51m

  Free trade was never actually free? That's the case Katherine Tai, Joe Biden's former U.S. Trade Representative, brings Bethany McLean and Luigi Zingales this week.
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  Why Corporations Always Win At The Supreme Court - ft. Adam Winkler 04.06.2026 46m

  Many people think corporate personhood is the problem behind many issues in law and politics. This guest argues it might actually be the answer.
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  You Can't Buy Trust - ft. Wikipedia Co-Founder Jimmy Wales 28.05.2026 43m

  How does a free, decentralized, volunteer-run encyclopedia produce something more trusted than nearly any for-profit institution?
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  Is Healthcare Making Capitalism Sick? - ft. Zack Cooper 21.05.2026 1h

  Are stagnant wages the hidden price tag of a broken healthcare system? On this week's Capitalisn't, Yale health economist Zack Cooper argues that the U.S. healthcare market is failing because of structural flaws like employer-sponsored insurance, which hides true costs from consumers.
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  How “Muskism” Is Changing American Capitalism - ft. Quinn Slobodian 07.05.2026 55m

  Conventional wisdom suggests that Silicon Valley billionaires are libertarians trying to escape government oversight, but Quinn Slobodian argues they actually want to achieve state symbiosis by turning the government into a dependent client.
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  Is Capitalism Delivering For The Majority? - ft. Steve Kaplan 23.04.2026 1h 5m

  High GDP, low unemployment, and booming markets...so why does it feel like the system is broken for so many people?
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  Is The College Promise Broken? - ft. Noam Scheiber 16.04.2026 41m

  Instead of corporate management, many college grads are finding themselves in low-paying service roles. Is this widening gap between expectations and realities reshaping the modern American workforce?
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  The Real Cause Of Wage Stagnation - ft. Arin Dube 02.04.2026 47m

  Economist Arin Dube argues that modern labor markets are riddled with invisible frictions that give employers outsized power over your paycheck.
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  Is Everyone Getting Adam Smith Wrong? - ft. Glory Liu 26.03.2026 31m

  Most people associate Adam Smith with free markets and “the invisible hand”. But does this conventional narrative purposefully ignore Smith’s deep suspicions about monopolies and power? Georgetown assistant professor Glory Liu argues this narrow interpretation is actually a deliberate historical reconstruction.
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  Why Human Progress Is Not Inevitable - ft. Carl Frey 12.03.2026 41m

  In this episode, Oxford Professor Carl Frey joins the podcast to share the unsettling message of his new book, “How Progress Ends”. He argues that technological progress is far from inevitable and can easily reverse when entrenched institutions block new ideas from transforming society.
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  The Hidden Economic Dangers Of Supreme Court Overreach - ft. Steve Vladeck 05.03.2026 50m

  For decades, Americans viewed the Supreme Court as an impartial referee standing above the political fray. However, public trust in this vital institution has recently plummeted to historic lows. Many observers blame a surge in ideological rulings that align with the party of the President who appointed each justice. If the referee is suddenly wearing a team jersey, the fundamental systems of democracy and capitalism begin to break down.
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  Adam Smith In The Age of The “Epstein Class” - ft. MP Jesse Norman 26.02.2026 55m

  What would the "father of economics" think about today's crony capitalism, and what would he make of the so-called "Epstein class"?
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  How Inequality Distorts the Law - ft. Katharina Pistor 19.02.2026 48m

  If we want to understand why capitalism feels broken, do we need to stop looking at the economy and start looking at the legal code that underpins it?
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  Are Betting Apps Engineered for Addiction? - ft. Jonathan Cohen 05.02.2026 56m

  If a sports betting app has the data to know exactly when a user is struggling financially, should it have a legal duty to cut that person off?
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  Can We Build a Middle Class Without Factories? - ft. Dani Rodrik 22.01.2026 41m

  Is the era of manufacturing-led growth officially over? In this episode, Bethany McLean and Luigi Zingales sit down with Dani Rodrik, Ford Foundation Professor of International Political Economy at Harvard and author of Shared Prosperity in a Fractured World. Rodrik argues that we have "no other choice" but to look toward the service sector to anchor our future economy.