Podcast
Business History
Hosted by Pushkin Industries · EN
It’s the history of business. How did Hitler’s favorite car become synonymous with hippies? What got Thomas Edison tangled up with the electric chair? Did someone murder the guy who invented the movies? Former Planet Money hosts Jacob Goldstein and Robert Smith examine the surprising stories of businesses big and small and find out what you can learn from those who founded them.
26episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
The Printing Press: The Invention Built on Debt and Sin
1w ago00:46:11Summary readyBefore 1450, books were written out by hand. It was slow and expensive. But Johannes Gutenberg borrowed a ton of money to create a printing press that could crank out Bibles and pamphlets and documents in huge numbers. Science, politics and philosophy were all up-ended. For example, the Catholic Church seized on the invention to sell special certificates absolving people of their sins - a move that made money, but caused a permanent schism in Christianity. And Gutenberg too found himself in trouble - when a financier sued the inventor to reclaim his loan, plus interest. Write to us at businesshistory@pushkin.fmSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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The Robberiest Robber Baron: The Villainy of Jay Gould
2w ago00:47:11Summary readyJay Gould became hugely rich without ever really making a product or offering a service to benefit his customers. Other "Robber Barons" in the 19th century forged steel or pumped oil to make money - but Gould preferred to manipulate the stock market or bribe judges and politicians to generate a profit. Even when he was fired from the railway company he mismanaged, he used this inside information to profit from the soaring share price. No one liked Jay Gould - indeed many people physically assaulted him because of his awful behaviour - but his real legacy was the raft of laws America passed to try to prevent such a businessman ever rising to power again. Write to us at businesshistory@pushkin.fmSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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The Factory That Was Wiped Off The Map (From Cautionary Tales)
4w ago00:38:19Summary readyBusiness History will be back on July 22nd - but here's an episode from another Pushkin Industries show we're sure you''ll enjoy, Cautionary Tales. A giant chemical plant near the small village of Flixborough, England, is busy churning out a key ingredient of nylon 6, a material used in everything from stockings to toothbrushes to electronics. When a reactor vessel fails, the engineers improvise a quick-fix workaround, so the plant can keep up with demand. Before long, the temporary patch - a small, bent pipe - becomes a permanent part of the factory, and the people of Flixborough unknowingly drift towards disaster. Listen to more Cautionary Tales whenever you get your podcasts. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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The Nobel Winners Who Almost Crashed the Economy
Jul 100:47:36Summary readyJohn Meriwether assembled the smartest team on Wall Street. In the 1980s, he combed Harvard and MIT for geniuses to join him at Salomon Brothers and make the investment bank a fortune with arbitrage - the trick of buying an asset cheap in one place and quickly selling it for a profit in another. When he parted ways with Salomon Brothers, Meriwether took his "nerds" to set up a hedge fund. They prospered - making themselves and their clients rich. Two employees even picked up a Nobel Prize. But Long Term Capital Management operated in the real world - where projections and charts and formulas can't protect you from political chaos and economic turmoil. Write to us at businesshistory@pushkin.fmSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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A Store Owner You Can Trust: John Wanamaker, Returns and the Price Tag
Jun 2400:40:27Summary readyShopping used to be adversarial. Shoppers and store owners would bargain and haggle over prices. What one person got for $1, the next guy bought for £1.25. And there were no returns. It was unfair and stressful - and made shoppers distrustful that they were getting a good deal. John Wanamaker changed all that. Wanamaker thought about being a preacher before setting up as a clothes merchant. So he built a retail empire built on fairness and trust. Price tags appeared in his stores - promising everyone would pay the same. And if you weren't happy - you could return your purchase. This was so unusual that Wanamaker even won the praise of a US President. AND to see Joseph Monroe Bennett's magnificent moustache for yourself go to: https://archives.upenn.edu/exhibits/penn-people/biography/joseph-monroe-bennett/ Write to us at businesshistory@pushkin.fmSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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The Boy Scout Who Brought us the Age of Disruption
Jun 1700:40:42Summary readyWhy have so many tiny start-ups come from nowhere to take down huge established corporations? Is it because the incumbents were dumb? Harvard Business School professor Clayton M Christensen decided to explore these David versus Goliath battles - and came up with a theory to explain why seemingly solid businesses suddenly lose market share... disruptive innovation. In his hit book, The Innovator's Dilemma, Christensen explored how flawed products from small companies can suddenly catch on, disrupt the market and steal customers from established corporations. Christensen - a life-long Boy Scout - was an odd champion for "disruptive innovation", but his ideas have totally changed the business landscape. Write to us at businesshistory@pushkin.fmSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Ida Tarbell: The "Muckraker" Who Beat John D Rockefeller and Big Oil
Jun 1000:46:27Summary readyAt a time when women couldn't vote or freely enter the workplace, Ida Tarbell took on the richest man in America and triumphed. Ida grew up in the Pennsylvania oil fields of the 1870s, and saw how John D Rockefeller and his company Standard Oil bought or bullied independent firms. Ida's neighbors and even her own father were in Rockefeller's sights. In adulthood, Ida joined a new movement in journalism. She was a "muckraker" - looking to dig up dirt on the greedy and unscrupulous monopolies of the Gilded Age. She wrote a 19-part investigation of Standard Oil that became a nationwide hit and forced the US government to act and break Rockefeller's empire apart. Write to us at businesshistory@pushkin.fmSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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"Time is Money": How Ben Franklin's Sayings Created American Capitalism and Grind Culture
Jun 300:44:07Summary readyBenjamin Franklin had a full life - he was a scientist, statesman, and a Founding Father. But we're looking at the huge impact he had as a writer of best-selling business books. Franklin first picked up the pen as a poor, downtrodden teenager to write satire, but as he became richer and more successful he instead shared his entrepreneurial insights with the public. His sayings about time-wasting, thrift and the rewards of hard work were revolutionary. And both his admirers and critics claim his writings caused a profound global shift in how we think about work and wealth. Write to us at businesshistory@pushkin.fmSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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The Founding Father Who Got Rich in the Revolution
May 2700:47:42Summary readyTwo-hundred-and-fifty years ago George Washington was fighting the Revolutionary War against the British, but Robert Morris doing something just as vital. He was raising money for the fighting and buying the gunpowder, tents, food and uniforms Washington's army needed. Morris had been a merchant before the revolution, so didn't see why he shouldn't personally profit from his work supplying the colonists' struggle. He emerged from the war as a rich man and owned huge tracts of land. But the turbulent final years of the 18th Century saw Morris go first into substantial debt and then fall into utter ruin. Write to us at businesshistory@pushkin.fmSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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The Dumbest Business Ever... Shipping Melting Ice to Calcutta.
May 2000:47:17Summary readyFrederic Tudor could get ice any time he wanted. He lived in chilly Boston and his family had a lake that froze over in the winter. Harvesting ice and storing it was a normal thing in New England in the 1800s, but Frederic decided he'd make a fortune if he could ship ice to the warmest places on earth. And everyone thought this was the dumbest business idea of all time! No one would back Frederic's plan - no one would even let him rent a ship to carry his ice. For decades he tried and failed to get his ice business running. He even ended up broke and in jail. But finally he prevailed and became a wealthy and celebrated figure - who changed the world. Write to us at businesshistory@pushkin.fmSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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