Capitalisn't

Why Congress Protects Car Dealers More Than Elon Musk - ft. Eric Zwick

For every member of the Forbes 400, there are more than 4,000 private business owners worth at least $10 million. You probably have never heard of any of them. They own

Can Capitalism Serve the Common Good? - ft. Mariana Mazzucato

The drugs in your medicine cabinet were probably discovered on your dime, in a university lab, with NIH money. You don't hold the patent. You don't set the price. Same st

The One Thing That Could Decide If AI Takes Your Job - Ft. Luis Garicano

AI is coming for your job; AI isn't coming for your job. Economist Luis Garicano thinks both camps are asking the wrong question.  In Messy Jobs: The Work That AI Cannot

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

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 Nob

How Washington Privatized The Capital Market - ft. Renée Jones

Amazon went public three years after it was founded. SpaceX stayed private for 24 years. What changed and why does it matter? The standard story is that companies avoid

A Conservative's Attack On Neoliberalism - Ft. Chris Griswold

The Republican Party is often associated with free-market fundamentalism, deregulation, and tax cuts. But a new faction on the right is challenging that consensus. In th

Was The Constitution An Anti-Democratic Coup? - ft. Michael Klarman

Were the foundations of American governance engineered to protect the wealthy? Harvard Law professor Michael Klarman argues that the US Constitution was actually a counte

Our Personal Finance Mistakes Are The Industry's Profits - ft. John Campbell & Tarun Ramadorai

Is personal finance rigged against ordinary people? Economists John Campbell and Tarun Ramadorai argue the system rewards the wealthy and financially savvy at the expense

Was Free Trade Ever Really Free? - ft. Fmr. Biden Trade Rep. Katherine Tai

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.  For

Why Corporations Always Win At The Supreme Court - ft. Adam Winkler

Corporations are people in the eyes of the law. But how did that happen, and why does it hand them rights you don't have?  UCLA law professor Adam Winkler, author of "We

You Can't Buy Trust - ft. Wikipedia Co-Founder Jimmy Wales

How does a free, decentralized, volunteer-run encyclopedia produce something more trusted than nearly any for-profit institution? Luigi Zingales and Bethany McLean sit d

Is Healthcare Making Capitalism Sick? - ft. Zack Cooper

Are stagnant wages the hidden price tag of a broken healthcare system? On this week's Capitalisn't, Yale health economist Zack Cooper tells Bethany McLean and Luigi Zinga

How “Muskism” Is Changing American Capitalism - ft. Quinn Slobodian

For the better part of the 20th century, the American economy relied on the steady social peace of "Fordism"—an era of mass production and consumption that helped reconci

Is Capitalism Delivering For The Majority? - ft. Steve Kaplan

The US economy looks great on paper: high GDP, low unemployment, and booming markets. So why does it feel like the system is broken for so many people? To unpack the dis

Is The College Promise Broken? - ft. Noam Scheiber

For decades, Americans were promised that a college degree guaranteed a secure spot in the middle class. But instead of entering corporate management, many graduates are

The Real Cause Of Wage Stagnation - ft. Arin Dube

Economic models have treated the labor market like a perfectly competitive system where wages naturally align with worker value. Arin Dube, economics professor at the Uni

Is Everyone Getting Adam Smith Wrong? - ft. Glory Liu

Most people associate Adam Smith with free markets and “the invisible hand”. But does this conventional narrative purposefully ignore Smith’s deep suspicions about monopo

Why Human Progress Is Not Inevitable - ft. Carl Frey

We tend to view technological advancement as an unstoppable force that naturally improves our living standards over time. From the printing press to the internet, modern

The Hidden Economic Dangers Of Supreme Court Overreach - ft. Steve Vladeck

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 pl

Adam Smith In The Age of The “Epstein Class” - ft. MP Jesse Norman

As we approach the 250th anniversary of Adam Smith's “Wealth of Nations" this March, his theories on competition and the invisible hand remain part of the bedrock of mode