Podcasts · Government · Business

Capitalisn't

University of Chicago Podcast Network

255 episodes

We investigate how capitalism is—or more often isn’t—working in our world today.

More about the show

Hosted by economist Luigi Zingales and business journalist Bethany McLean, our podcast explains why capitalism can go wrong and what we can do to fix it.

Send us your questions or comments by emailing capitalisntpod@gmail.com

Cover photo attributions: https://www.chicagobooth.edu/research/stigler/about/capitalisnt.

Episodes page 1 of 6

  1. 2026 Midterms: Promises vs. Economics

    · 37 min · S2 E176

    Everyone covers the 2026 midterms like a sports match, so we pulled the candidates' actual economic platforms and stress-tested the math. Instead of asking who is up by two points in Michigan, Texas, or South…

  2. The Case That Could End Super PACs - ft. Larry Lessig

    · 48 min · S2 E175

    Everyone blames Citizens United for super PACs. Harvard Law professor Lawrence Lessig says they're blaming the wrong case, and he is actually taking his argument to court. The ruling that actually created super PACs,…

  3. The Workplace Is a Dictatorship? - ft. Elizabeth Anderson

    · 48 min · S2 E174

    At the center of our market economy sits an institution that runs more like a dictatorship. The firm you work for writes the rules and enforces them. There is no vote, no appeal, and no constitution. The only real…

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

    · 52 min · S2 E173

    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 the beer distributorship in your town, the…

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

    · 57 min · S2 E172

    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 story with the touchscreen, the GPS and the voice…

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

    · 1 h 01 min · S2 E171

    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 Reach, Garicano and co-authors Jin Li and Yanhui…

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

    · 54 min · S2 E170

    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 Nobel Prize-winning economist Daron Acemoglu, that…

  8. How Washington Privatized The Capital Market - ft. Renée Jones

    · 49 min · S2 E169

    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 an IPO because public markets carry too many…

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

    · 46 min · S2 E168

    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 this episode, Bethany and Luigi sit down with…

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

    · 51 min · S2 E167

    Were the foundations of American governance engineered to protect the wealthy? Harvard Law professor Michael Klarman argues that the US Constitution was actually a counter-revolutionary coup to constrain democracy…

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

    · 50 min · S2 E166

    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 of everyone else. Their book Fixed points to a…

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

    · 51 min · S2 E165

    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 decades, the economic consensus treated free…

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

    · 46 min · S2 E164

    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 the Corporations", traces a 200-year campaign by…

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

    · 43 min · S2 E163

    How does a free, decentralized, volunteer-run encyclopedia produce something more trusted than nearly any for-profit institution? Luigi Zingales and Bethany McLean sit down with Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales to…

  15. Is Healthcare Making Capitalism Sick? - ft. Zack Cooper

    · 1 h 00 min · S2 E162

    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 Zingales that the U.S. healthcare market is failing…

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

    · 56 min · S2 E161

    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 reconcile capitalism with democracy. Today, a radical…

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

    · 1 h 05 min · S2 E160

    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 disconnect between macroeconomic data and everyday…

  18. Is The College Promise Broken? - ft. Noam Scheiber

    · 41 min · S2 E159

    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 finding themselves trapped in low-paying service…

  19. The Real Cause Of Wage Stagnation - ft. Arin Dube

    · 48 min · S2 E158

    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 University of Massachusetts Amherst and author of…

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

    · 31 min · S2 E157

    Most people associate Adam Smith with free markets and “the invisible hand”. But does this conventional narrative purposefully ignore Smith’s deep suspicions about monopolies and power? Georgetown assistant professor…

  21. Why Human Progress Is Not Inevitable - ft. Carl Frey

    · 42 min · S2 E156

    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 society assumes that groundbreaking ideas will…

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

    · 50 min · S2 E155

    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 plummeted to historic lows. Many observers blame a…

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

    · 56 min · S2 E154

    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 modern economics. But, have we undermined those…

  24. How Inequality Distorts the Law - ft. Katharina Pistor

    · 49 min · S2 E153

    If we want to understand why capitalism feels broken, do we need to stop looking at the economy and start looking at the legal code that underpins it? In our system, capital is often described as money, machinery, or…

  25. Are Betting Apps Engineered for Addiction? - ft. Jonathan Cohen

    · 57 min · S2 E152

    If a sports betting app has the data to know exactly when a user is struggling financially, should it have a legal duty to cut that person off? On this episode of Capitalisn't, we dive into the murky waters of the…

  26. Can We Build a Middle Class Without Factories? - ft. Dani Rodrik

    · 42 min · S2 E151

    Is the era of manufacturing-led growth officially over? For decades, the path to a stable middle class was paved through industrialization, but today, even manufacturing giants like China are losing millions of factory…

  27. Who Should The Fed Answer To? - ft. Sir Paul Tucker

    · 53 min · S2 E150

    Is the Federal Reserve’s independence a pillar of democracy or a convenient shield that allows elected officials to duck their responsibilities? This week on Capitalisn’t, we confront a shift in Washington after the…

  28. How To Fix The American Tax System - ft. Ray Madoff

    · 55 min · S2 E149

    Is the American tax code a fair engine for growth, or a "second estate" where the rich choose whether or not to pay? We are often told that the top 1% of earners already pay 40% of all taxes, while nearly half of…

  29. How Capitalism Became Global ft. Sven Beckert

    · 53 min · S2 E148

    Is capitalism a force of nature, or a human-made order that we have the power to shape? In this episode, Luigi and Bethany sit down with Sven Beckert, a Harvard historian and author of the new book A Global History of…

  30. How to Stop “Ensh*ttification” Before It Kills the Internet - ft. Cory Doctorow

    · 56 min · S2 E147

    There’s a word that’s gained a lot of popularity in the last year: “ensh*ttification”. It refers to a trajectory many see with digital platforms: they initially offer immense value to users, only to systematically…

  31. Why Matthew Yglesias Is Skeptical Of Anti-Monopoly Policies

    · 58 min · S2 E146

    A recent proposal by Lina Khan, co-chair of Zohran Mamdani's mayoral transition team, to cap the price of beer at stadiums in New York City sparked a debate on X last month. At the center of that debate was Matthew…

  32. Are Big Tech’s Regulators “Cowards”? ft. Tim Wu

    · 1 h 02 min · S2 E145

    Did you know Amazon makes $37 billion a year—more than double the revenue of all the newspapers in the world combined—from its sponsored results alone? Yes, the same, spammy, sponsored results at the top of a search…

  33. Why Economists Should Care About Inequality, with Branko Milanovic

    · 47 min · S2 E144

    Recently, Bethany and Luigi joined economist and wealth inequality expert Branko Milanovic in front of a live audience at the Aspen Ideas Festival to explore how capitalism, democracy, and income inequality interact.…

  34. Nobel Economist Reveals Why Economic Models Keep Failing Us, ft. Richard Thaler

    · 46 min · S2 E143

    Standard economic theory informs how we think about business strategy and the economy and presumes that people are selfish, have well-defined preferences, and consistently make welfare-maximizing choices. In other…

  35. What Everyone’s Getting Wrong About AI, with Arvind Narayanan

    · 49 min · S2 E142

    Every major technological revolution has come with a bubble: railroads, electricity, dot-com. Is it AI’s turn? With investments skyrocketing and market valuations reaching the trillions, the stakes are enormous. But…

  36. Why Capitalism Stopped Working In Japan, with Takeo Hoshi

    · 48 min · S2 E141

    The Japanese economy was once the envy of the world. By the 1980s, it looked set to surpass the United States in size. Real estate prices were high, the stock market was booming—the entire world was asking if Japan had…

  37. How Profit and Politics Hijacked Scientific Inquiry, with John Ioannidis

    · 48 min · S2 E140

    Why does a podcast about capitalism want to talk about science? Modern capitalism and science have evolved together since the Enlightenment. Advances in ship building and navigation enabled the Age of Discovery, which…

  38. Will Privatizing The Mortgage Giants Solve The Housing Crisis?

    · 45 min · S2 E139

    This week, the Trump administration announced it would sell around 5% of mortgage giants and government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The sale would begin to reintroduce the two firms to…

  39. Trump's Great Private Equity Bailout, with Dan Rasmussen

    · 54 min · S2 E138

    For decades, private equity has been the darling of pension funds, university endowments, and sovereign wealth funds, promising high returns and low volatility. Now, President Donald Trump has made it possible for…

  40. Should Chatbots Teach Our Children? With Khan Academy CEO Sal Khan

    · 45 min · S2 E137

    What is the right way, if there is one at all, to integrate artificial intelligence (AI) technology into our education system? For Sal Khan, CEO of one of the world’s largest nonprofit education technology platforms,…

  41. Can The Dollar Be Dethroned?, with Ken Rogoff

    · 58 min · S2 E136

    Americans are often told that they benefit from the privilege of the dollar serving as the world's currency. A strong dollar makes imports cheaper, facilitates demand for American companies, and is tied to cheap…

  42. Revealing the Secret Architects of Capitalism, with Chris Hughes

    · 49 min · S2 E135

    After the 2008 financial crisis, and especially after the COVID pandemic of 2020, an increasing number of Americans are questioning the wisdom of unregulated markets and envisioning a more active role for the state.…

  43. How The Democrats Lost Labor And Found Capital, with David Sirota

    · 50 min · S2 E134

    The Democratic Party has become too focused on appeasing its billionaire donors and has failed to communicate its commitment to the working class, argues long-time political journalist David Sirota. The question moving…

  44. Why Cliff Asness Believes Markets Are Getting Dumber

    · 51 min · S2 E133

    Are financial markets becoming less efficient? Famous investor Cliff Asness certainly thinks so. In his paper published last year, “The Less-Efficient Market Hypothesis,” Asness argues that social media and low…

  45. How Democrats Forgot To Be Normal, with Joan Williams

    · 44 min · S2 E132

    Back in 2016, Joan Williams, distinguished professor of law (emerita) at UC Law San Francisco, wrote an essay for the Harvard Business Review on why President Donald Trump attracted so many non-college voters. It went…

  46. Lina Khan's Vision of Capitalism

    · 48 min · S2 E131

    Lina Khan recently concluded her term as one of the Biden administration’s most controversial leaders. Her tenure as chair of the Federal Trade Commission raised the profile of the relatively obscure antitrust agency…

  47. The Economics of Law Firms’ Resistance to Trump, with John Morley

    · 48 min · S2 E130

    The rule of law is essential to the flourishing of liberal democracy and capitalism. Yet, it is now under pressure in the United States, and corporate law firms are in the eye of the storm. Over the last few weeks,…

  48. Profit or Purpose? OpenAI's $300 Billion Question, with Rose Chan Loui

    · 48 min · S2 E129

    All too often, capitalism is identified with the for-profit sector. However, one organizational form whose importance is often overlooked is nonprofits. Roughly 4% of the American economy, including most universities…

  49. Is Silicon Valley Turning Fascist?

    · 38 min · S2 E128

    Silicon Valley’s traditionally Democratic tech leaders are turning toward President Donald Trump, but are the reasons as straightforward as lower taxes and favorable regulations? Perhaps not, if we consider the…

  50. Why Trump Is Deregulating In The Wrong Way, with Sam Peltzman

    · 45 min · S2 E127

    In President Donald Trump's recent joint address to Congress, he said, "To unshackle our economy, I have directed that for every one new regulation, ten old regulations must be eliminated." Elon Musk, whom Trump has…

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