Pitchfork Economics with Nick Hanauer

Civic Ventures

We are living through a paradigm shift from trickle-down neoliberalism to middle-out economics — a new understanding of who gets what and why. Join zillionaire class-traitor Nick Hanauer and some of the world’s leading economic and political thinkers as they explore the latest thinking on how the economy actually works.

Listen in PodNod RSS feed Show website

20 episodes
Updated Tuesday

Episodes20

Newest first

Tuesday · 41 min
The Good Life Economy (with Elizabeth Wilkins)
What is the economy for — GDP, corporate profits, or people? This week, Nick and Goldy talk with Elizabeth Wilkins, President and CEO of the Roosevelt Institute, about Roosevelt’s new Good Life Agenda and why so many old assumptions about markets, government, and growth are suddenly up for grabs. It’s a conversation about human flourishing, public power, and what democracy has to deliver if people are going to believe in it again. Elizabeth Wilkins is the President and CEO of the Roosevelt Institute.She previously served as Chief of Staff to the Chair and Director of the Office of Policy Planning at the Federal Trade Commission. She has also held senior roles in the White House and the Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia, clerked for Justice Elena Kagan and then-Judge Merrick Garland. She began her career as a labor organizer with SEIU 32BJ. She is one of the authors of Roosevelt’s new report, The Good Life: An Agenda for Fuller Lives, a Stronger Economy, and Renewed Trust. Social Media: @elizabethwwilkins.bsky.social @ewwilkins Further reading: The Good Life: An Agenda for Fuller Lives, a Stronger Economy, and Renewed Trust. Website: http://pitchforkeconomics.com Facebook: Pitchfork Economics Podcast Bluesky: @pitchforkeconomics.bsky.social Instagram: @pitchforkeconomics Threads: pitchforkeconomics TikTok: @pitchfork_econ YouTube: @pitchforkeconomics LinkedIn: Pitchfork Economics Twitter: @PitchforkEcon, @NickHanauer Substack: The Pitch
July 21 · 37 min
Myths That Built Trickle-Down Economics: Productivity Doesn’t Trickle Down (with Preston Mui)
Some of the world’s richest executives are selling AI as the engine of a yet-to-be realized “historic” productivity boom — while warning that it will also eliminate millions of jobs. But if workers absorb the disruption while the gains flow upward, that isn’t shared prosperity. It’s trickle-down economics with better software. In the final installment of Myths That Built Trickle-Down Economics archive miniseries, we’re returning to Nick and Goldy’s conversation with economist Preston Mui about why productivity is a policy choice. Mui explains how full employment, sustained public investment, resilient supply chains, and affordable essentials create the conditions for workers and businesses to produce more value. Technology may help us build a more productive economy. Policy will determine who benefits from it. This episode originally aired April 2, 2024. Preston Mui is a senior economist at Employ America specializing in macroeconomics, labor economics, productivity, and Federal Reserve policy. Social Media: @prestonmui.bsky.social @PrestonMui Further reading: Post-ECI note: The Supply-side May Spoil Warsh's Productivity Story The Dream of the 90s is Slipping Away in 2025 Early Estimates of the Impact of AI Within BEA’s Industry Economic Accounts Our Mission In An Age Of Turbulence: Creating A New Economic Policy Toolkit Website: http://pitchforkeconomics.com Facebook: Pitchfork Economics Podcast Bluesky: @pitchforkeconomics.bsky.social Instagram: @pitchforkeconomics Threads: pitchforkeconomics TikTok: @pitchfork_econ YouTube: @pitchforkeconomics LinkedIn: Pitchfork Economics Twitter: @PitchforkEcon, @NickHanauer Substack: The Pitch
July 14 · 48 min
Myths That Built Trickle-Down Economics: Austerity Politics (with Clara Mattei)
This week, we’re continuing our archive miniseries, Myths That Built Trickle-Down Economics, with the myth that austerity is responsible economic policy. We’re revisiting this conversation now because the austerity playbook is still very much alive. The Trump administration and DOGE have cut federal agencies, pushed out public servants, and treated public infrastructure like waste — even though those are the systems we need most during a crisis. And if the economy turns downward, politicians will almost certainly reach for the same old answer: slash public support, make working people pay the price, and call it responsibility. Nick and Goldy talk with professor and political economist Clara Mattei, author of The Capital Order: How Economists Invented Austerity and Paved the Way to Fascism, about how austerity became one of the most powerful myths of modern capitalism, how economists helped sell it as common sense, and why it has always been about more than budgets. Clara Mattei is a professor of economics at the University of Tulsa, Founding President of FREE: Forum for Real Economic Emancipation, and author of The Capital Order: How Economists Invented Austerity and Paved the Way to Fascism and Escape from Capitalism: An Intervention. This episode originally aired on December 12, 2023. Social Media: @claraemattei Further reading: The Capital Order: How Economists Invented Austerity and Paved the Way to Fascism U.S. Treasury: The U.S. Economic Recovery in International Context CBPP: Robust COVID Relief Bolstered Economy and Reduced Hardship for Millions GAO: Federal Agency Workforce Changes Website: http://pitchforkeconomics.com Facebook: Pitchfork Economics Podcast Bluesky: @pitchforkeconomics.bsky.social Instagram: @pitchforkeconomics Threads: pitchforkeconomics TikTok: @pitchfork_econ YouTube: @pitchforkeconomics LinkedIn: Pitchfork Economics Twitter: @PitchforkEcon, @NickHanauer Substack: The Pitch
July 7 · 44 min
Myths That Built Trickle-Down Economics: Zombie Economics (with Paul Krugman)
This week, we’re continuing our archive miniseries, Myths That Built Trickle-Down Economics, with the myth that bad economic ideas die once the evidence proves them wrong. They don’t. They come back as zombie ideas: tax cuts for the rich sold as growth policy, safety-net cuts sold as responsibility, and market fundamentalism sold as common sense. These ideas have failed again and again, but they keep returning because they still serve the people and institutions with the most power. In this episode, Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman joins Nick and Goldy to explain why zombie economics refuses to die, how bad assumptions infected mainstream economic thinking, and why defeating trickle-down economics requires more than better evidence — it requires naming the myths that keep shaping our politics. This episode originally aired on March 31, 2020. Paul Krugman is a Nobel Prize-winning economist, professor, author, and former New York Times columnist. His book Arguing with Zombies: Economics, Politics, and the Fight for a Better Future examines the failed economic ideas that continue to dominate American policy debates. Social Media: @pkrugman.bsky.social Paul Krugman on Substack Further reading: Arguing with Zombies: Economics, Politics, and the Fight for a Better Future CBO: Estimated Distributional Effects of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act KFF: Tracking Implementation of the 2025 Reconciliation Law: Medicaid Work Requirements CBPP: The 2017 Trump Tax Law Was Skewed to the Rich, Expensive, and Failed to Deliver EPI: Setting High Standards for a Federal Minimum Wage Tax Foundation: Who Pays Tariffs? Americans Will Bear the Costs of Tariffs Website: http://pitchforkeconomics.com Facebook: Pitchfork Economics Podcast Bluesky: @pitchforkeconomics.bsky.social Instagram: @pitchforkeconomics Threads: pitchforkeconomics TikTok: @pitchfork_econ YouTube: @pitchforkeconomics LinkedIn: Pitchfork Economics Twitter: @PitchforkEcon, @NickHanauer Substack: The Pitch
June 30 · 47 min
Myths That Built Trickle-Down Economics: Shareholder Value (with William Lazonick and Lenore Palladino)
This week, we’re continuing our archive miniseries, Myths That Built Trickle-Down Economics, with the myth that corporations exist to maximize shareholder value. For decades, Americans were sold the idea that if corporations focused on boosting stock prices and rewarding shareholders, prosperity would trickle down to workers, consumers, and communities. Instead, shareholder primacy helped justify stock buybacks, wage suppression, layoffs, and underinvestment — extracting wealth from the real economy and funneling it upward. In this episode, Nick and Goldy talk with William Lazonick and Lenore Palladino about how shareholder value became one of the core myths of trickle-down economics, why it has caused so much damage, and what it would mean to build corporations around workers, consumers, communities, and long-term prosperity instead. This episode originally aired on February 19, 2019. Lenore Palladino is associate professor of economics and public policy at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, a senior fellow at the Roosevelt Institute, and author of Good Company: Economic Policy After Shareholder Primacy. William Lazonick is professor emeritus of economics at the University of Massachusetts Lowell and co-founder and president of the Academic-Industry Research Network. Social Media: @lenorepalladino.bsky.social @Lazonick Further reading: Good Company: Economic Policy After Shareholder Primacy Washington Center for Equitable Growth - To restore democracy, end shareholder primacy at U.S. corporations and on Wall Street Roosevelt Institute - Regulating Stock Buybacks: The $6.3 Trillion Question Roosevelt Institute - Ending Shareholder Primacy in Corporate Governance Website: http://pitchforkeconomics.com Facebook: Pitchfork Economics Podcast Bluesky: @pitchforkeconomics.bsky.social Instagram: @pitchforkeconomics Threads: pitchforkeconomics TikTok: @pitchfork_econ YouTube: @pitchforkeconomics LinkedIn: Pitchfork Economics Twitter: @PitchforkEcon, @NickHanauer Substack: The Pitch
June 23 · 39 min
Myths That Built Trickle-Down Economics: Regulations Kill Growth (with Robert Reich)
This week, we’re kicking off our archive miniseries, Myths That Built Trickle-Down Economics, with one of the most persistent myths in American politics: that regulation kills growth. Corporate lobbyists and trickle-down evangelists have spent decades branding any rule that limits big business as a “job killer.” But what if good regulation isn’t the enemy of prosperity, but one of the things that makes prosperity possible? Former U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich joined Nick and Paul back in 2019 to explain why we should stop calling these rules “regulations” and start calling them what they really are: protections. Because the economy always has rules. The real question is who they’re written to protect. This episode originally aired on February 5, 2019. Robert Reich is the former U.S. Secretary of Labor, co-founder of Inequality Media, and author of Saving Capitalism. Social Media: @rbreich.bsky.social @RBReich @rbreich @rbreich Further reading: Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few Website: http://pitchforkeconomics.com Facebook: Pitchfork Economics Podcast Bluesky: @pitchforkeconomics.bsky.social Instagram: @pitchforkeconomics Threads: pitchforkeconomics TikTok: @pitchfork_econ YouTube: @pitchforkeconomics LinkedIn: Pitchfork Economics Twitter: @PitchforkEcon, @NickHanauer Substack: The Pitch
June 16 · 38 min
AI Job Loss Is Real. The Catastrophe Is Optional (with Kathryn Edwards)
AI doomsdayers want us to believe mass job loss would be unprecedented. But Kathryn Anne Edwards has a sharp reminder: In the first five weeks of the pandemic, the U.S. economy shed 22.5 million jobs—larger than any single AI job-loss estimate she has seen. The difference was policy. Unemployment support, direct cash to families, and a strong public response helped workers survive the shock and helped the labor market recover. This week, Nick and Paul talk with Edwards about what the pandemic recovery can teach us about AI, automation, unemployment, and the future of work. Why do AI debates so often treat workers as passive victims and government as irrelevant? What would a serious policy response to technological disruption look like? And why should we be skeptical of billionaires and tech leaders who insist that this time, unlike every other economic transition, they are uniquely important and special? Kathryn Anne Edwards is a labor economist, independent policy consultant, Bloomberg Opinion columnist, economics influencer, and co-host of the Optimist Economy podcast. Social Media: Instagram Threads TikTok Bluesky Twitter Further reading: Optimist Economy Podcast Bloomberg Opinion - AI Can Lead to a Fix of This Broken Government Program Bloomberg Opinion - Is AI Coming for Your Job? A Bigger Government Can Help Bloomberg Opinion - AI Anxiety Won’t Be Eased by Universal Basic Income Website: http://pitchforkeconomics.com Facebook: Pitchfork Economics Podcast Bluesky: @pitchforkeconomics.bsky.social Instagram: @pitchforkeconomics Threads: pitchforkeconomics TikTok: @pitchfork_econ YouTube: @pitchforkeconomics LinkedIn: Pitchfork Economics Twitter: @PitchforkEcon, @NickHanauer Substack: The Pitch
June 9 · 38 min
The Policy Choices That Suppressed American Wages (with Josh Bivens and Larry Mishel)
Why have wages for working Americans stagnated for decades—even as productivity, corporate profits, and the wealth of the people at the top continued to rise? The mainstream explanations are familiar: automation, globalization, education, or simply the unavoidable forces of the market—but wage stagnation was not inevitable. It was the result of policy choices. This week, we’re revisiting a conversation with economists Lawrence Mishel and Josh Bivens about the decisions that reshaped the American economy, weakened worker bargaining power, and made it harder for working people to claim their share of the prosperity they helped create. As we continue sharing more about Market Humanism—the idea that markets are human-built systems shaped by rules and power—this conversation feels especially relevant. The economy we have did not emerge naturally. It was built. And that means it can be rebuilt. This episode originally aired on June 1, 2021. Josh Bivens is the chief economist at the Economic Policy Institute. His research focuses on macroeconomics, inequality, social insurance, public investment, and the economics of globalization. Larry Mishel is a distinguished fellow and former president of the Economic Policy Institute. His research focuses on labor economics, wages and income distribution, industrial relations, productivity growth, and the economics of education. Social Media: @joshbivens-econ.bsky.social @joshbivens_DC @larrymishel.bsky.social @LarryMishel Watch Nick on The Diary of a CEO Nick recently joined Steven Bartlett and entrepreneur Daniel Priestley for a wide-ranging debate about the wealth divide, stagnant wages, artificial intelligence, and whether capitalism can still deliver broadly shared prosperity. Watch the conversation on The Diary of a CEO. Further reading ⬇️ Economic Policy Institute: Identifying the Policy Levers Generating Wage Suppression and Wage Inequality Economic Policy Institute: The Productivity–Pay Gap Economic Policy Institute: Wage Calculator: How Much More Would You Be Making If Pay Had Kept Pace With Productivity? Roosevelt Institute: Democratic Abundance: An Abundance That Works for Workers Roosevelt Institute: From Safety Net to Power Base: Reimagining, Not Restoring, the US Antipoverty System Markets Built for Humans: A Guide for Policy Professionals to the New Economics Website: http://pitchforkeconomics.com Facebook: Pitchfork Economics Podcast Bluesky: @pitchforkeconomics.bsky.social Instagram: @pitchforkeconomics Threads: pitchforkeconomics TikTok: @pitchfork_econ YouTube: @pitchforkeconomics LinkedIn: Pitchfork Economics Twitter: @PitchforkEcon, @NickHanauer Substack: ⁠The Pitch⁠
June 2 · 56 min
Market Humanism: A New Operating System for the Economy (with Nick Hanauer)
For the first time in Pitchfork Economics history, Nick Hanauer is on the other side of the mic. Goldy and Paul sit down with Nick to discuss Market Humanism: the emerging economic paradigm he and Eric Beinhocker believe can replace the trickle-down ideas that have shaped American policymaking for the past 50 years. Why have wages stagnated while inequality soared? Why does conventional economics treat policies that help ordinary people as threats to growth? And what changes when we recognize that markets are human-built institutions—not forces of nature? The conversation exposes the failures of the old economic model, how power shapes who gets what and why, and why a fairer economy is also a more prosperous one. Nick Hanauer is a Seattle-based entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and civic leader dedicated to building a more inclusive and sustainable economy. He is the founder of Civic Ventures, a public policy incubator, and co-host of the podcast Pitchfork Economics. A leading voice for “middle-out” economics, his commentary has appeared in The Atlantic, Politico, Bloomberg, and The New York Times. He is the author of The Gardens of Democracy , The True Patriot, and a frequent advocate for policies that put working people at the center of economic growth. Social Media: @nickhanauer.bsky.social @NickHanauer Further reading: Democracy Journal - Market Humanism: A New Paradigm for a New Era The Atlantic - The Economic Experiment That Upended Reality Markets Built for Humans - A Guide for Policy Professionals to the New Economics The Gardens of Democracy The True Patriot Corporate Bullsh*t: Exposing the Lies and Half-Truths That Protect Profit, Power, and Wealth in America Website: http://pitchforkeconomics.com Facebook: Pitchfork Economics Podcast Bluesky: @pitchforkeconomics.bsky.social Instagram: @pitchforkeconomics Threads: pitchforkeconomics TikTok: @pitchfork_econ YouTube: @pitchforkeconomics LinkedIn: Pitchfork Economics Twitter: @PitchforkEcon, @NickHanauer Substack: ⁠The Pitch⁠
May 26 · 31 min
What Comes After Neoliberalism? (with Nick Hanauer & Eric Beinhocker)
This week, we’re sharing a special episode from Washington Monthly featuring Pitchfork Economics co-host Nick Hanauer and Oxford professor Eric Beinhocker in conversation with Anne Kim about Market Humanism. For decades, American capitalism has been organized around efficiency, shareholder value, and the idea that prosperity naturally trickles down from the top. But as Nick and Eric explain, that story has failed on its own terms: inequality has exploded, workers have been squeezed, and democracy itself has become more fragile. In this conversation, they make the case for a new economic paradigm they call market humanism: the idea that markets should be built to solve human problems, strengthen democracy, and improve people’s lives—not simply maximize returns for owners of capital. If we want an economy that actually works, the question can’t be “How do we make markets more efficient for the wealthy?” It has to be: “How do we build markets that help people flourish?” Website: http://pitchforkeconomics.com Facebook: Pitchfork Economics Podcast Bluesky: @pitchforkeconomics.bsky.social Instagram: @pitchforkeconomics Threads: pitchforkeconomics TikTok: @pitchfork_econ YouTube: @pitchforkeconomics LinkedIn: Pitchfork Economics Twitter: @PitchforkEcon, @NickHanauer Substack: ⁠The Pitch⁠
May 19 · 34 min
The Worker Power Missing From the Abundance Debate (with Kate Andrias and Alexander Hertel-Fernandez)
Everyone wants more housing, more clean energy, more transit, more care infrastructure, and more of the things people need to live good lives. But too much of the “abundance” debate treats workers, unions, environmental review, and community voice as obstacles to building — instead of asking who has power, who benefits, and who gets left out. This week, Goldy and Paul talk with Columbia professors Kate Andrias and Alexander Hertel-Fernandez about their Roosevelt Institute report, Democratic Abundance: An Abundance That Works for Workers. They argue that the problem isn’t too much democracy — it’s too little. If we want to build at the scale this moment demands, we need an abundance agenda that puts workers, communities, and democratic power at the center from the start. Kate Andrias is the Patricia D. and R. Paul Yetter Professor of Law at Columbia Law School, and serves as co-director of both the Columbia Law School Center for Constitutional Governance and the Columbia Labor Lab. Previously, she served as associate counsel and special assistant to President Barack Obama and as chief of staff in the White House Counsel’s Office. Alexander Hertel-Fernandez is an associate professor and vice dean at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, and serves as co-director of the Columbia Labor Lab. From 2021 to 2023, he served as a deputy assistant secretary in the Department of Labor and a senior fellow in the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. Further reading: Report: Democratic Abundance: An Abundance That Works for Workers The American Political Economy: Politics, Markets, and Power State Capture: How Conservative Activists, Big Businesses, and Wealthy Donors Reshaped the American States and the Nation Website: http://pitchforkeconomics.com Facebook: Pitchfork Economics Podcast Bluesky: @pitchforkeconomics.bsky.social Instagram: @pitchforkeconomics Threads: pitchforkeconomics TikTok: @pitchfork_econ YouTube: @pitchforkeconomics LinkedIn: Pitchfork Economics Twitter: @PitchforkEcon, @NickHanauer Substack: ⁠The Pitch⁠
May 12 · 38 min
How the AI Oligarchy Went Hyperscale (with Tim Murphy)
The AI “cloud” sounds weightless. But behind every chat bot, every prompt, and every promise of a coming AI revolution is a massive physical footprint: hyperscale data centers consuming enormous amounts of land, electricity, water, and public subsidies. This week, Nick and Goldy talk with Tim Murphy, national correspondent at Mother Jones, about his cover story on how the American oligarchy went hyperscale in the age of AI. Murphy has been reporting from communities across the country where residents are watching enormous data centers rise in their backyards, often with little transparency, few long-term jobs, and huge demands on local infrastructure. The result is a familiar story: public risk, private reward. Tech billionaires get the profits. Communities get higher utility costs, depleted resources, tax breaks they may never recoup, and facilities that could become tomorrow’s stranded assets when the AI bubble bursts. AI may be new. But the economic model behind this boom is very old: extract from communities, concentrate power at the top, and call it progress. Tim Murphy is a national correspondent at Mother Jones. Social Media: @timothypmurphy.bsky.social @timothypmurphy @motherjones.com @MotherJones Further reading: Mother Jones - How the American Oligarchy Went Hyperscale Website: http://pitchforkeconomics.com Facebook: Pitchfork Economics Podcast Bluesky: @pitchforkeconomics.bsky.social Instagram: @pitchforkeconomics Threads: pitchforkeconomics TikTok: @pitchfork_econ YouTube: @pitchforkeconomics LinkedIn: Pitchfork Economics Twitter: @PitchforkEcon, @NickHanauer Substack: ⁠The Pitch⁠
May 5 · 48 min
Why Philanthropy [STILL] Isn’t the Answer with (with Anand Giridharadas)
Billionaires are shaping everything from elections to education to climate policy—and they want us to believe it's generosity. That’s why we’re re-airing this conversation with Anand Giridharadas, author of Winners Take All, on the power of elite philanthropy—and why it can’t fix the inequality it helps sustain. Giridharadas breaks down how modern philanthropy allows the ultra-wealthy to “give back” on their own terms, while avoiding the kinds of structural changes—like higher taxes, stronger labor standards, and real regulation—that would actually redistribute power and opportunity. Yes, philanthropy can do good. But it can also function as a pressure valve—easing public outrage while leaving the underlying system intact. If you’ve been following the surge in billionaire political spending, debates over wealth taxes, or the outsized influence of private foundations, this conversation will hit differently now, Because the real question isn’t whether the rich should give more. It’s why they get to decide in the first place. Anand Giridharadas is a writer and political analyst focused on inequality, power, and democracy. He is the author of multiple books, including the national bestseller Winners Take All and The Persuaders. Giridharadas is an editor-at-large for TIME, an on-air analyst for MSNBC, and the publisher of the newsletter The.Ink, where he writes about politics, money, and power. He is also a visiting scholar at the Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute at New York University. Listen to Eric Beinhocker discuss Market Humanism on Hal Singer’s podcast The Slingshot. Social Media: @anandwrites.bsky.social anandwrites @AnandWrites Further reading: Winners Take All: The Elite Charade of Changing the World The Persuaders: At the Front Lines of the Fight for Hearts, Minds, and Democracy Website: http://pitchforkeconomics.com Facebook: Pitchfork Economics Podcast Bluesky: @pitchforkeconomics.bsky.social Instagram: @pitchforkeconomics Threads: pitchforkeconomics TikTok: @pitchfork_econ YouTube: @pitchforkeconomics LinkedIn: Pitchfork Economics Twitter: @PitchforkEcon, @NickHanauer Substack: The Pitch
April 28 · 33 min
Crypto, Cryptocurrency Scams, and the Illusion of Easy Money (with Ben McKenzie)
Crypto is back—new hype cycles, rising prices, and fresh promises that this time cryptocurrency is changing the financial system for good. But the questions haven’t changed: is this innovation or just another wave of speculation, scams, and financial fraud? That’s why we’re revisiting this conversation with actor and author Ben McKenzie—whose bestselling book Easy Money: Cryptocurrency, Casino Capitalism, and the Golden Age of Fraud and new documentary, Everyone is Lying to You For Money are once again fueling the debate over crypto’s real impact. What started as curiosity became a deeper look at how the crypto boom blurred the line between investing and gambling—and what that reveals about an economy increasingly driven by speculation instead of real value. McKenzie joins Nick and Goldy to pull back the curtain on the hype, the believers, and the system that made it all possible. Ben McKenzie is an actor, author, and director best known for his roles on The O.C., Southland, and Gotham. A graduate of the University of Virginia with a degree in economics and foreign affairs, he has emerged as a leading critic of the cryptocurrency industry. He is the co-author, with journalist Jacob Silverman, of Easy Money: Cryptocurrency, Casino Capitalism, and the Golden Age of Fraud, and has expanded that work into a documentary, Everyone is Lying to You For Money , examining the rise—and risks—of crypto. Social Media: @benmckenzie.bsky.social mrbenmckenzie @ben_mckenzie Further reading: Easy Money: Cryptocurrency, Casino Capitalism, and the Golden Age of Fraud When Prophecy Fails Mistakes Were Made (but Not By Me) ⁠Everyone is Lying to You For Money New York Magazine: Congress Just Injected Crypto Directly Into the Most Stable Part of the Economy. What could go wrong? Website: http://pitchforkeconomics.com Facebook: Pitchfork Economics Podcast Bluesky: @pitchforkeconomics.bsky.social Instagram: @pitchforkeconomics Threads: pitchforkeconomics TikTok: @pitchfork_econ YouTube: @pitchforkeconomics LinkedIn: Pitchfork Economics Twitter: @PitchforkEcon, @NickHanauer Substack: ⁠The Pitch⁠
April 21 · 43 min
From Safety Net to Power Base: Reclaiming Economic Power for Working People (with Jamie Keene)
The social safety net wasn’t supposed to work like this. Decades of neoliberal choices from politicians in both parties reshaped it—turning what was meant to support people into a system that often leaves them stuck. This week, Jamie Keene, a fellow at the Roosevelt Institute and former Biden White House policy advisor, joins us to break down how we got here—and why today’s anti-poverty system can actually reinforce the very conditions it’s meant to solve. From requirements that trap workers in low-wage jobs to public programs that quietly subsidize those business models, we unpack how the system evolved—and what it would take to turn it into a system that actually gives people power. Jamie Keene is a stratification economics fellow at the Roosevelt Institute and a former White House policy advisor on equality and opportunity. She is also the author of From Safety Net to Power Base: Reimagining, Not Restoring, the US Antipoverty System. Further reading: From Safety Net to Power Base: Reimagining, Not Restoring, the US Antipoverty System Website: http://pitchforkeconomics.com Facebook: Pitchfork Economics Podcast Bluesky: @pitchforkeconomics.bsky.social Instagram: @pitchforkeconomics Threads: pitchforkeconomics TikTok: @pitchfork_econ YouTube: @pitchforkeconomics LinkedIn: Pitchfork Economics Twitter: @PitchforkEcon, @NickHanauer Substack: ⁠The Pitch⁠
April 14 · 50 min
The Second Estate: Where Billionaires Don’t Pay. You Do. (with Ray D. Madoff)
Would it be a surprise if we told you the rich don’t actually live in the same tax system as everyone else? Tomorrow is Tax Day, when millions of Americans will be filing their taxes or applying for extensions, so Nick and Goldy sit down with Ray D. Madoff, Professor of Tax Law at Boston College, and author of The Second Estate, to pull back the curtain on how wealth really moves—and why so much of it never gets taxed at all. Because here’s the twist: The system wasn’t supposed to work this way. But over time, something changed. Now, the people who live off paychecks carry the tax burden… while the people living off wealth often don’t have to play the game at all. Professor Madoff explains what happened and what it would take to fix it. Ray D. Madoff is a professor at Boston College Law School and director of the Forum on Philanthropy and the Public Good. She is a leading expert on tax policy, wealth, and philanthropy, and author of The Second Estate: How the Tax Code Made an American Aristocracy. Social Media: @raymadoff Further reading: The Second Estate: How the Tax Code Made an American Aristocracy. The Atlantic - How to Tax Billionaires CNBC - Lawsuit over $21 million donor-advised fund highlights risks of DAF giving Washington Post - A Signature GOP Issue Is Omitted From Trump’s ‘Big’ Tax Bill. Weird New York Times - America Builds an Aristocracy Website: http://pitchforkeconomics.com Facebook: Pitchfork Economics Podcast Bluesky: @pitchforkeconomics.bsky.social Instagram: @pitchforkeconomics Threads: pitchforkeconomics TikTok: @pitchfork_econ YouTube: @pitchforkeconomics LinkedIn: Pitchfork Economics Twitter: @PitchforkEcon, @NickHanauer Substack: ⁠The Pitch⁠
April 7 · 48 min
The Wage Standard: What’s Wrong in the Labor Market and How to Fix It (with Arin Dube)
Corporate profits are booming. So why haven’t most workers gotten a raise? For decades, we’ve been told a simple story: work harder, become more productive, and your wages will follow. But what if that story was never really true? This week, Nick and Goldy talk to Arindrajit Dube—one of the most influential economists shaping how we understand wages, and author of a new book, The Wage Standard: What’s Wrong in the Labor Market and How to Fix It —for a conversation that cuts to the heart of how pay actually works in America. At a moment when the gap between what the economy produces and what workers take home keeps growing, this episode challenges some of the most fundamental assumptions in economics—and asks what it would take to build a labor market that actually delivers for working people. Because if wages aren’t just set by “the market”… then they can be changed. Arin Dube is an economist at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and one of the leading researchers on wages and labor markets. He is the author of The Wage Standard: What’s Wrong in the Labor Market and How to Fix It, and has advised policymakers in the U.S. and internationally on minimum wage policy and labor market dynamics. Social Media: @arindube.bsky.social @arindube Further reading: The Wage Standard: What’s Wrong in the Labor Market and How to Fix It MBAs in management lead to lower employee pay, study finds Eclipse of Rent-Sharing: The Effects of Managers’ Business Education on Wages and the Labor Share in the US and Denmark Minimum Wage Effects Across State Borders: Estimates Using Contiguous Counties NELP Research Brief on Minimum Wage Effects Across State Borders: Estimates Using Contiguous Counties Minimum wage own-wage elasticity repository: a representative estimate of the own-wage elasticity (OWE) of employment from every minimum wage study published since 1992. Website: http://pitchforkeconomics.com Facebook: Pitchfork Economics Podcast Bluesky: @pitchforkeconomics.bsky.social Instagram: @pitchforkeconomics Threads: pitchforkeconomics TikTok: @pitchfork_econ YouTube: @pitchforkeconomics LinkedIn: Pitchfork Economics Twitter: @PitchforkEcon, @NickHanauer Substack: ⁠The Pitch⁠
March 31 · 45 min
The Boomcession: Booming on Paper. Brutal in Real Life. (with Matt Stoller)
What happens when the economic data says one thing, but people’s lives say another? This week, Nick and Goldy talk to Matt Stoller about what he calls a “Boomcession”—the disconnect between headline economic indicators and how the economy actually feels for most people. They go straight at the disconnect: why the numbers say everything’s fine… and people say otherwise. If the economy is supposed to work for people, why do so many people feel like it isn’t? Matt Stoller is the research director at the American Economic Liberties Project and author of Goliath: The 100-Year War Between Monopoly Power and Democracy. He writes the Substack newsletter BIG, focused on monopoly power, corporate concentration, and political economy. Social Media: @matthewstoller.bsky.social @matthewstoller Further reading: The Boomcession: Why Americans Hate What Looks Like an Economic Boom Goliath: The 100-Year War Between Monopoly Power and Democracy Organized Money Podcast Website: http://pitchforkeconomics.com Facebook: Pitchfork Economics Podcast Bluesky: @pitchforkeconomics.bsky.social Instagram: @pitchforkeconomics Threads: pitchforkeconomics TikTok: @pitchfork_econ YouTube: @pitchforkeconomics LinkedIn: Pitchfork Economics Twitter: @PitchforkEcon, @NickHanauer Substack: ⁠The Pitch⁠
March 24 · 43 min
The $79 Trillion Price of Inequality (with Carter Price)
Over the last 50 years, nearly $79 trillion that could have gone to the bottom 90%…didn’t. Where did it go—and what did that cost you? Nick and Goldy are joined by Carter Price, senior mathematician at the RAND Corporation, to break down how rising inequality reshaped wages, growth, and even the federal budget—and why the economy feels so disconnected from everyday life. Because this isn’t just about who got richer. It’s about what everyone else lost. Carter Price is a Senior Mathematician at the RAND Corporation and Professor of Policy Analysis at the RAND School of Public Policy Social Media: @CarterCPrice Further reading: Measuring the Income Gap from 1975 to 2023 RAND Budget Model: Groundbreaking insights into the everyday impacts of federal policy Unlocking the Tax Code with RAND's Tax Code Analysis Tool Preliminary Strategies for Reducing the Burden of Federal Debt Impacts of the Retirement Savings for Americans Act Website: http://pitchforkeconomics.com Facebook: Pitchfork Economics Podcast Bluesky: @pitchforkeconomics.bsky.social Instagram: @pitchforkeconomics Threads: pitchforkeconomics TikTok: @pitchfork_econ YouTube: @pitchforkeconomics LinkedIn: Pitchfork Economics Twitter: @PitchforkEcon, @NickHanauer Substack: ⁠The Pitch⁠
March 17 · 43 min
Swiftynomics: Who’s Afraid of Women’s Economic Power? (with Misty Heggeness)
What Is Swiftynomics—and Why Does It Matter? Taylor Swift didn’t just break records—she broke the way economists think about the economy. Because if one artist can reshape entire cities overnight, what else are we missing? This week, economist Misty Heggeness uses the “Swift effect” to expose a bigger problem: the models we rely on weren’t built to see women’s power, unpaid care, or culture as real economic forces. What would change about our economy if we actually counted women’s work—and treated culture as real economic power? Misty Heggeness is an economist and the author of Swiftynomics: How Women Mastermind and Redefine Our Economy, which uses Taylor Swift and broader pop culture as a lens for examining women’s economic power, labor markets, and the persistent blind spots in mainstream economic thinking. Social Media: mlheggeness @m_heggeness Further reading: Swiftynomics: How Women Mastermind and Redefine Our Economy Website: http://pitchforkeconomics.com Facebook: Pitchfork Economics Podcast Bluesky: @pitchforkeconomics.bsky.social Instagram: @pitchforkeconomics Threads: pitchforkeconomics TikTok: @pitchfork_econ YouTube: @pitchforkeconomics LinkedIn: Pitchfork Economics Twitter: @PitchforkEcon, @NickHanauer Substack: ⁠The Pitch⁠

Pitchfork Economics with Nick Hanauer

The Good Life Economy (with Elizabeth Wilkins)

Myths That Built Trickle-Down Economics: Productivity Doesn’t Trickle Down (with Preston Mui)

Myths That Built Trickle-Down Economics: Austerity Politics (with Clara Mattei)

Myths That Built Trickle-Down Economics: Zombie Economics (with Paul Krugman)

Myths That Built Trickle-Down Economics: Shareholder Value (with William Lazonick and Lenore Palladino)

Myths That Built Trickle-Down Economics: Regulations Kill Growth (with Robert Reich)

AI Job Loss Is Real. The Catastrophe Is Optional (with Kathryn Edwards)

The Policy Choices That Suppressed American Wages (with Josh Bivens and Larry Mishel)

Market Humanism: A New Operating System for the Economy (with Nick Hanauer)

What Comes After Neoliberalism? (with Nick Hanauer & Eric Beinhocker)

The Worker Power Missing From the Abundance Debate (with Kate Andrias and Alexander Hertel-Fernandez)

How the AI Oligarchy Went Hyperscale (with Tim Murphy)

Why Philanthropy [STILL] Isn’t the Answer with (with Anand Giridharadas)

Crypto, Cryptocurrency Scams, and the Illusion of Easy Money (with Ben McKenzie)

From Safety Net to Power Base: Reclaiming Economic Power for Working People (with Jamie Keene)

The Second Estate: Where Billionaires Don’t Pay. You Do. (with Ray D. Madoff)

The Wage Standard: What’s Wrong in the Labor Market and How to Fix It (with Arin Dube)

The Boomcession: Booming on Paper. Brutal in Real Life. (with Matt Stoller)

The $79 Trillion Price of Inequality (with Carter Price)

Swiftynomics: Who’s Afraid of Women’s Economic Power? (with Misty Heggeness)