Podcast
Pitchfork Economics with Nick Hanauer
Hosted by Civic Ventures · EN
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.
140episodes
Episodes
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Stock Buybacks and the Trillion Dollar Heist (with Senator Cory Booker)
Nov 400:39:42Summary readyCorporations are on track to spend more than $1.3 trillion on stock buybacks this year—money that could have gone toward higher wages, innovation, or community investment. That’s the real-life Trillion Dollar Heist at the center of our new comic from Civic Ventures, which follows Marta, a janitor who interrupts a corporate board meeting just as executives plot their next billion-dollar buyback spree. This week, we’re resharing our 2019 conversation with Senator Cory Booker, who explains how stock buybacks went from illegal market manipulation to one of the biggest drivers of inequality. Read the Trillion Dollar Heist Comic: https://bindings.app/read/7mINYO2H This episode originally aired February 26, 2019. Senator Cory Booker is a Democratic lawmaker from New Jersey who has served in the U.S. Senate since 2013. A Rhodes Scholar and Yale Law graduate, he began his career on the Newark City Council before serving as mayor from 2006 to 2013. In the Senate, Booker has focused on criminal justice reform, economic opportunity, climate action, and protecting civil and LGBTQ+ rights. Social Media: Marta Paul Constant Sarah Star Litt Alan Robinson Pippa Bowland AndWorld Design Mary P. Traverse Further reading: Trillion Dollar Heist Comic Website: http://pitchforkeconomics.com Instagram: @pitchforkeconomics Threads: pitchforkeconomics Bluesky: @pitchforkeconomics.bsky.social Twitter: @PitchforkEcon, @NickHanauer, @civicaction YouTube: @pitchforkeconomics LinkedIn: Pitchfork Economics Substack: The Pitch
SummaryCompeting Visions on Trade: A Race to the Bottom Vs. Building the Middle Class (with Thea Lee featuring Todd Tucker)
Oct 2800:40:38Summary readyIn the final episode of our Trade series, Nick and Goldy talk with Thea Lee, former Deputy Undersecretary for International Affairs at the U.S. Department of Labor, to challenge the core assumption behind decades of U.S. trade policy: That trade is about efficiency, not power. Lee explains how past trade deals were written to protect capital while ignoring worker exploitation abroad—a model that suppressed wages overseas and undercut American workers at home. She also makes the case that worker-centered trade isn’t hypothetical anymore by pointing to the US–Mexico–Canada Agreement (USMCA), where labor rights were finally enforced with the same seriousness as intellectual property, resulting in real wage gains and democratic union elections in Mexico. This conversation lays out the choice clearly: Trade can strengthen middle classes, democracy, and supply chain resilience, or it can deepen inequality and instability. This episode makes the argument for choosing the first option on purpose, not by accident. Thea Lee is an economist and longtime advocate of pro-worker trade policy who most recently served as Deputy Undersecretary for International Affairs at the U.S. Department of Labor, where she focused on global labor protections, including enforcing labor rights under trade agreements and combating forced and child labor worldwide. Todd Tucker is a political scientist, author, and the Director of Industrial Policy and Trade at the Roosevelt Institute and Roosevelt Forward, where he leads work on how national and global institutions shape economic transformation. He’s the author of Judge Knot: Politics and Development in International Investment Law. Social Media: @theameilee.bsky.social @TheaMeiLee @toddntucker.com @toddntucker Further reading: The New US Trade Agenda: Institutionalizing Middle-Out Economics in Foreign Commercial Policy Judge Knot: Politics and Development in International Investment Law Website: http://pitchforkeconomics.com Instagram: @pitchforkeconomics Threads: pitchforkeconomics Bluesky: @pitchforkeconomics.bsky.social Twitter: @PitchforkEcon, @NickHanauer, @civicaction YouTube: @pitchforkeconomics LinkedIn: Pitchfork Economics Substack: The Pitch
SummarySouth of the Border: A Mexican Perspective on the Free Trade Era (with Juan Carlos Moreno-Brid)
Oct 2100:30:44Summary readyIn the sixth episode of our trade series, Pitchfork Economics producer Freddy Doss talks with Mexican economist Juan Carlos Moreno-Brid about how NAFTA — and now the USMCA — reshaped Mexico’s economy in ways that those of us north of the Rio Grande almost never hear about. Yes, exports skyrocketed. But wages stagnated, domestic industry hollowed out, and Mexico became structurally dependent on the United States — even as political rhetoric in the U.S. grew more hostile toward Mexican workers. Moreno-Brid explains why the promised “shared prosperity” never arrived, why Mexico got stuck in an export-without-development trap, and what a truly fair and resilient U.S.–Mexico trade relationship would actually require. It’s a perspective rarely heard in Washington, and an essential one for understanding the real stakes of North American trade. Juan Carlos Moreno-Brid is a professor of economics at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and one of Latin America’s leading experts on trade, industrial policy, and economic development. A former Deputy Director of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) office in Mexico, he has spent decades analyzing the impacts of NAFTA and Mexico’s transition to an export-led model. His research focuses on inequality, industrialization, and the structural challenges facing emerging economies. Website: http://pitchforkeconomics.com Instagram: @pitchforkeconomics Threads: pitchforkeconomics Bluesky: @pitchforkeconomics.bsky.social TikTok: @pitchfork_econ Twitter: @PitchforkEcon, @NickHanauer, @civicaction YouTube: @pitchforkeconomics LinkedIn: Pitchfork Economics Substack: The Pitch
SummaryNorth of the Border: A Canadian Perspective on the Free Trade Era (with Luke Savage)
Oct 1400:30:42Summary readyIn the fifth episode of our series on trade, journalist and author Luke Savage joins Pitchfork Economics Producer Freddy Doss to unpack how decades of “free trade” between the U.S. and Canada have reshaped both economies—entrenching corporate power, hollowing out manufacturing, and weakening democratic control over economic policy. Savage traces how policies sold as mutually beneficial instead fueled inequality and deindustrialization—eroding the livelihoods of working people. He argues for a new kind of trade built to serve the interests of workers and communities, not multinational corporations. Luke Savage is a Canadian journalist, author, and political commentator whose work examines the failures of liberalism and the possibilities of democracy. A staff writer at Jacobin and co-host of the podcast Michael and Us, Savage has written for The Atlantic, The Guardian, The Washington Post, and The New Statesman. He is the author of The Dead Center: Reflections on Liberalism and Democracy After the End of History and co-author of Seeking Social Democracy with the late Ed Broadbent. Social Media: @lukewsavage.bsky.social @LukewSavage Lukewsavage Further reading: Luke Savage | Substack The Dead Center: Reflections on Liberalism and Democracy After the End of History Seeking Social Democracy: Seven Decades in the Fight for Equality Website: http://pitchforkeconomics.com Instagram: @pitchforkeconomics Threads: pitchforkeconomics Bluesky: @pitchforkeconomics.bsky.social TikTok: @pitchfork_econ Twitter: @PitchforkEcon, @NickHanauer, @civicaction YouTube: @pitchforkeconomics LinkedIn: Pitchfork Economics Substack: The Pitch
SummaryTrade Wars Are Class Wars (with Matthew C. Klein)
Oct 700:49:39Summary readyWhat if global trade isn’t really a fight between nations—but between classes? In the fourth episode of our Trade series, Nick and Goldy talk with economist and writer Matthew C. Klein, co-author of Trade Wars Are Class Wars: How Rising Inequality Distorts the Global Economy and Threatens International Peace. Klein argues that the real story behind trade imbalances isn’t about countries “winning” or “losing”—it’s about how elites hoard profits while workers everywhere pay the price. From China’s suppressed wages to Wall Street’s endless appetite for financial assets, this conversation exposes how the true conflict in trade is between labor and capital—and what it would take to build a more equitable global economy. Matthew Klein is an economist, writer, and co-author of Trade Wars Are Class Wars: How Rising Inequality Distorts the Global Economy and Threatens International Peace. He writes The Overshoot, a publication focused on global economics and financial markets, and his work has appeared in the Financial Times, Barron’s, and The Economist. Social Media: @M_C_Klein Further reading: Trade Wars Are Class Wars: How Rising Inequality Distorts the Global Economy and Threatens International Peace THE OVERSHOOT: Making sense of the global economy and financial markets Website: http://pitchforkeconomics.com Instagram: @pitchforkeconomics Threads: pitchforkeconomics Bluesky: @pitchforkeconomics.bsky.social TikTok: @pitchfork_econ Twitter: @PitchforkEcon, @NickHanauer, @civicaction YouTube: @pitchforkeconomics LinkedIn: Pitchfork Economics Substack: The Pitch
SummaryYou Can't Tariff Knowledge (with César Hidalgo)
Sep 3000:41:51Summary readyTariffs won’t save America’s economy—but knowledge might. In the third episode of our Trade series, Nick and Goldy sit down with physicist César Hidalgo to explore how prosperity really grows—not through tariffs or trickle-down promises, but through the accumulation of knowledge and know-how. Hidalgo explains why digital exports don’t show up in trade data, why tariffs fail, and why the future belongs to countries that invest in research, strategy, and human talent. César Hidalgo is the director of the Center for Collective Learning, with offices at the Toulouse School of Economics and Corvinus University of Budapest. A physicist by training, he is also the founder of Datawheel, a company specializing in data visualization and distribution systems. Hidalgo is the author of Why Information Grows, a groundbreaking book on the relationship between knowledge, innovation, and economic prosperity, and his forthcoming book, The Infinite Alphabet and the Laws of Knowledge, explores the dynamics of how knowledge evolves and diffuses globally. Social Media: @cesifoti.bsky.social @cesifoti Further reading: Why Information Grows: The Evolution of Order, from Atoms to Economies The Infinite Alphabet and the Laws of Knowledge Website: http://pitchforkeconomics.com Instagram: @pitchforkeconomics Threads: pitchforkeconomics Bluesky: @pitchforkeconomics.bsky.social TikTok: @pitchfork_econ Twitter: @PitchforkEcon, @NickHanauer, @civicaction YouTube: @pitchforkeconomics LinkedIn: Pitchfork Economics Substack: The Pitch
SummaryBack to Basics Series: Does the Market Really Pay You What You’re Worth? (with Marshall Steinbaum and Saru Jayaraman)
Aug 12, 202500:50:51Summary readyWe’ve all heard the story: In a fair market, workers are paid exactly what they’re worth. Economists even have a name for it—marginal productivity theory. It’s neat, simple…and completely wrong. In this Back-to-Basics episode, economist Marshall Steinbaum and labor leader Saru Jayaraman dismantle the myth that the market fairly rewards labor. Steinbaum reveals how this theory has been weaponized to excuse wage stagnation, justify corporate power, and erode worker bargaining rights. Jayaraman shows what that looks like in the real world, from restaurant workers stuck at subminimum wages to entire industries built on underpaying the people who keep them running. They make the case that your paycheck isn’t determined by some neutral law of economics—it’s the result of choices, policies, and power dynamics that can be rewritten to ensure everyone is truly paid what they’re worth. Marshall Steinbaum is an Associate Professor of Economics at the University of Utah and a Senior Fellow in Higher Education Finance at the Jain Family Institute. Saru Jayaraman is an attorney, President of One Fair Wage and the Restaurant Opportunities Centers United (ROC United), and author of One Fair Wage: Ending Subminimum Pay in America. This episode originally aired September 10, 2019. Social Media: @Econ_Marshall @econmarshall.bsky.social @SaruJayaraman Further reading: One Fair Wage: Ending Subminimum Pay in America Website: http://pitchforkeconomics.com Instagram: @pitchforkeconomics Threads: pitchforkeconomics Bluesky: @pitchforkeconomics.bsky.social TikTok: @pitchfork_econ Twitter: @PitchforkEcon, @NickHanauer, @civicaction YouTube: @pitchforkeconomics LinkedIn: Pitchfork Economics Substack: The Pitch
SummaryBack to Basics Series: The Velocity of Money (with Ann Pettifor)
Aug 5, 202500:42:30Summary readyIf you’ve ever wondered why the economy feels stuck, even when it seems like there's a lot more money in the system, this episode will blow your mind. Political economist Ann Pettifor joins Nick and Goldy to explain why money isn't flowing like it used to, and why that matters. Over the last century, the velocity of money (how quickly a dollar circulates) has plummeted. Today, each dollar in circulation generates up to 70% less economic activity than it did just ten years ago, so it's not being circulated through the local economies, growing wages, and building small businesses with each transaction. Instead, new dollars are just frozen in place. The culprit? Excess money sitting at the top—hoarded by the wealthy and corporations instead of getting spent. Pettifor shows that taxing the rich isn’t just fair—it’s pro-growth. Redistribution accelerates the velocity of money, unleashing demand, expanding markets, creating jobs, and ultimately boosting prosperity for everyone. If you’re ready to reclaim the economy from its top-down chokehold, this back-to-basics episode isn’t optional—it’s essential. Ann Pettifor is a British political economist, author, and Director of Policy Research in Macroeconomics (PRIME). Known for correctly predicting the 2008 financial crisis, her work spans sovereign debt, macroeconomics, and sustainable development. She’s the author of The Production of Money and The Case for the Green New Deal, and directs groundbreaking research that puts money creation and equitable growth at the center of economic policy. Social Media: @annpettifor.bsky.social Further reading: Want to expand the economy? Tax the rich! What does money velocity tell us about low inflation in the U.S.? REPORT: A world awash in money Vultures are Circling Our Fragile Economy The Production of Money The Case for the Green New Deal Website: http://pitchforkeconomics.com Instagram: @pitchforkeconomics Threads: pitchforkeconomics Bluesky: @pitchforkeconomics.bsky.social TikTok: @pitchfork_econ Twitter: @PitchforkEcon, @NickHanauer, @civicaction YouTube: @pitchforkeconomics LinkedIn: Pitchfork Economics Substack: The Pitch
SummaryBack to Basics Series: Is Economics Moral? (with Heather McGhee)
Jul 29, 202500:35:57Summary readyFor decades, orthodox economics has treated morality as irrelevant—as if economic decisions happen in a vacuum, separate from our values and social bonds. But that approach has failed spectacularly, giving cover to policies that divide and exploit us. In this episode, Heather McGhee joins Nick and Paul to argue that morality must be central to how we think about the economy. They explore how racial division has been weaponized to undermine collective action, why “structural racism” can’t be addressed without naming the powerful actors behind it, and how inclusive economic policies lead to more prosperity for everyone. Part of our Back-to-Basics summer series—essential listening for anyone ready to reject trickle-down and reimagine the economy as a moral system built on trust, justice, and cooperation. This episode originally aired April 2, 2019. Heather McGhee is a policy expert, author, and advocate for economic and racial justice. She is the former president of the progressive think tank Demos and currently serves as a Distinguished Senior Fellow. Heather is the author of the New York Times bestselling book, The Sum of Us, and her work has appeared in outlets such as The New York Times, The Nation, and NBC News. Further reading: The Moral Burden on Economists The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together Website: http://pitchforkeconomics.com Instagram: @pitchforkeconomics Threads: pitchforkeconomics Bluesky: @pitchforkeconomics.bsky.social TikTok: @pitchfork_econ Twitter: @PitchforkEcon, @NickHanauer, @civicaction YouTube: @pitchforkeconomics LinkedIn: Pitchfork Economics Substack: The Pitch
SummaryBack to Basics Series: Where does economic growth really come from? (with W. Brian Arthur and Cesar Hidalgo)
Jul 22, 202500:46:51Summary readyIs economic growth just about money, trade, and GDP? Or is something deeper at play? In this episode, economist W. Brian Arthur and physicist Cesar Hidalgo join Nick and Goldy to reveal the real drivers of rising prosperity: human knowledge, know‑how, and innovation. They challenge the old assumptions of growth and argue that innovation isn't a byproduct of a strong economy—it's a cause of economic growth. Once we understand that, it changes how we think about investing in people and shaping the economy. Part of our Back‑to‑Basics summer series. Essential listening for anyone who believes that growth should empower people, not enrich the status quo. This episode originally aired January 15, 2019. W. Brian Arthur is an economist and complexity theorist, renowned for his work on technology and innovation. A longtime researcher at the Santa Fe Institute and former Stanford professor, he’s the author of The Nature of Technology, in which he argues that economic growth stems from evolving combinations of existing technologies. Cesar Hidalgo is a physicist, professor at the Toulouse School of Economics, and Director at the Center for Collective Learning at Corvinus University of Budapest. He’s also the author of Why Information Grows, where he explores how knowledge and know-how shape economies, arguing that real prosperity comes from embedding insights in people and collaborative networks. Social Media: @cesifoti.bsky.social Further reading: The Nature of Technology Why Information Grows Complexity Economics: A Different Framework for Economic Thought Economic Complexity: From useless to keystone Complexity Economics Shows Us Why Laissez-Faire Economics Always Fails Website: http://pitchforkeconomics.com Instagram: @pitchforkeconomics Threads: pitchforkeconomics Bluesky: @pitchforkeconomics.bsky.social Twitter: @PitchforkEcon, @NickHanauer, @civicaction YouTube: @pitchforkeconomics LinkedIn: Pitchfork Economics Substack: The Pitch
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