Podcast: Economics & Beyond

Peter Goodman, New York Times correspondent and author of the just-published book, Davos Man: How the Billionaires Devoured the World, talks to Rob about how inequality is not inevitable, but has been engineered through the political process by selling us a false idea of what is possible.

Patrick Bond, sociology professor at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa, discusses the urgent need for climate reparations for Africa, in light of the COP26 climate summit, and why market solutions will not work to address the problems Africa is currently facing. Part 2 of 2.

Patrick Bond, sociology professor at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa, discusses the urgent need for climate reparations for Africa, in light of the COP26 climate summit, and why market solutions will not work to address the problems Africa is currently facing. Part 1 of 2.

Stanislav Shmelev, the director of Environment Europe Foundation in Oxford, discusses the many dimensions we need to consider when preparing our cities, businesses, and economies to the demands of ecological sustainability.

Geoff Mann, professor of geography at Simon Fraser University and co-author of the book, Climate Leviathan, discusses the authoritarian dangers ahead, as the world tried to cope with climate change, and how all institutions, including central banking, need to evolve so they address the problem adequately.

MIT economic historian Peter Temin discusses parts of his forthcoming book, focusing on the history of mass incarceration of uneducated Blacks and how it has created a permanent class of poor Black Americans

Umass Lowell Economics professor William Lazonick, outlines the history of how government policy and economic conditions contributed to the rise and fall of a Black blue-collar middle class. Part 2 takes a closer look at the role of finance and stock buybacks and what can be done to reverse the trend towards growing inequality.

FT columnist and associate editor Rana Foroohar discusses how the disruptions and excessive complexity of digital markets are benefitting the powerful and why we need clear new values and ground rules for these markets as we enter the post-pandemic landscape.

Luke Burgis, the author of the just-released book “Wanting,” talks about his book, how we come to desire what we desire, and how we can transform desire so as to make the world a better place.

Climate scientist Michael Mann discusses his new book, The New Climate War, in which he outlines the many ways in which powerful interests deflect, divide, and delay, to prevent real action that would avert the climate crisis