Pitchfork Economics with Nick Hanauer

Latest Episodes:

Making a case for the inheritance tax (with David Stasavage) Feb 06, 2024

Show notes

Over the next two decades, $30 trillion of wealth is expected to be transferred from Baby Boomers to their heirs. Journalists and financial experts have been referring to this event as the “Great Wealth Transfer,” and it's important that we understand the policies that make such a monumental transferral of generational wealth possible—not to mention the tremendous economic and societal implications of this unprecedented economic activity. In this episode, we have the privilege of speaking with David Stasavage, a renowned expert in taxation, inequality, and political economy, to help us unpack the origins and rationale behind the creation of the inheritance tax, and to explore the policies we can use to lessen economic inequality and put some of the Great Wealth Transfer to work for all Americans—not just the children of the wealthy few.

David Stasavage is a prominent political scientist known for his expertise in taxation, inequality, and political economy. He is currently the Julius Silver Professor of Politics at New York University and a Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University. He has conducted extensive research on taxation, particularly on the taxation of the wealthy and the role of inheritance taxes in addressing income inequality. His collaboration with Kenneth Scheve on inheritance taxes has shed light on public opinion and the potential effectiveness of these taxes in promoting economic fairness. He’s also the author of several books, including "States of Credit: Size, Power, and the Development of European Polities,” "Taxing the Rich: A History of Fiscal Fairness in the United States and Europe,” and “The Decline and Rise of Democracy.”

Twitter: @stasavage

Democracy, War, and Wealth: Lessons from Two Centuries of Inheritance Taxation https://kfscheve.files.wordpress.com/2020/09/schevestasavage_twocenturies_apsr_2012.pdf

States of Credit: Size, Power, and the Development of European Polities https://bookshop.org/book/9780691166735

Taxing the Rich: A History of Fiscal Fairness in the United States and Europe https://bookshop.org/book/9780691165455

The Decline and Rise of Democracyhttps://bookshop.org/book/9780691228976

Website: http://pitchforkeconomics.com

Twitter: @PitchforkEcon

Instagram: @pitchforkeconomics

Nick’s twitter: @NickHanauer

How a New Economics Went Mainstream (with Suzanne Kahn) Jan 30, 2024

Show notes

Over the past few decades, economists have gathered a lot of empirical evidence supporting the underlying truth of middle-out economics: that a thriving middle class is the cause of economic growth. Our friends at the Roosevelt Institute have produced a new report which outlines the events that led to our new understanding of how the economy really works. Suzanne Kahn, Vice President of the Think Tank at the Roosevelt Institute, joins us to talk about what's in the report and share how the progressive economic policies of the Biden Administration could mark a lasting shift away from neoliberal, trickle-down economics and toward a new era of middle-out economics.

Suzanne Kahn serves as the Vice President of the Think Tank at the Roosevelt Institute, where she oversees and manages projects to develop critical research and policy to rebalance power in our society and economy. Previously, Suzanne was Roosevelt’s director of education, jobs, and worker power and the Great Democracy Initiative. Her research and writing focus on building a network of robust public goods—for example public higher education—and labor organizations that together can empower workers to counter corporate power in the labor market and public sphere.

Suzanne Kahn @SuzMKahn

Roosevelt Institute @rooseveltinst

Think Tank at the Roosevelt Institute @RooseveltFwd

Sea Change: How a New Economics Went Mainstream

https://rooseveltinstitute.org/publications/sea-change

Website: http://pitchforkeconomics.com

Twitter: @PitchforkEcon

Instagram: @pitchforkeconomics

Nick’s twitter: @NickHanauer

Revisiting the Child Tax Credit (with Wendy Bach) Jan 23, 2024

Show notes

A bipartisan group of lawmakers has agreed to expand the Child Tax Credit again, but it will be smaller than the pandemic-era credit was. If this version of the Child Tax Credit is passed by Congress and signed into law, it would benefit 16 million children in low-income families and lift at least half a million kids out of poverty. We thought it would be a good time to revisit this episode from 2021 with professor Wendy Bach, in which she explains everything you need to know about what the Child Tax Credit actually is, why it's a good policy, and how it impacts people's lives.

This episode originally aired on August 24, 2021.

Wendy Bach is a legal scholar and professor specializing in poverty law, criminal justice, and social welfare policy. She is currently a professor of law at the University of Tennessee College of Law. Bach's work focuses on the intersection of poverty, race, and the criminal justice system, with a particular emphasis on the rights and experiences of low-income individuals. She is the author of the book Prosecuting Poverty, Criminalizing Care. She is a nationally recognized expert on poverty law and criminal justice issues.

Twitter: @wendyabach

Congress is close to expanding the child tax credit again − with a smaller boost for families this time https://theconversation.com/congress-is-close-to-expanding-the-child-tax-credit-again-with-a-smaller-boost-for-families-this-time-221382#

What’s in the New Child Tax Credit Proposal https://newrepublic.com/article/178131/bipartisan-expanded-child-tax-credit

Prosecuting Poverty, Criminalizing Care https://bookshop.org/p/books/prosecuting-poverty-criminalizing-care-wendy-a-bach/18739149?ean=9781108465533

Biden’s child tax credit is a step away from a discriminatory system https://qz.com/2034199/how-does-the-us-child-tax-credit-work

Two-thirds of people now receive monthly benefit checks https://www.peoplespolicyproject.org/2021/07/19/two-thirds-of-people-now-receive-monthly-benefit-checks

The time tax https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2021/07/how-government-learned-waste-your-time-tax/619568

Website: http://pitchforkeconomics.com

Twitter: @PitchforkEcon

Instagram: @pitchforkeconomics

Nick’s twitter: @NickHanauer

Medicare Drug Price Negotiations with (Margarida Jorge) Jan 16, 2024

Show notes

The pharmaceutical industry is one of the most opaque industries in America, and they take advantage of this lack of transparency by setting ever-higher prices for lifesaving prescription drugs like insulin. But provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act are curtailing the exorbitant price-gouging strategies that the pharmaceutical industry uses to pump up their profit margins at the expense of seniors and people with disabilities who use Medicare. This week, we’re talking to Margarida Jorge, the Executive Director of Health Care for America Now, to help us understand more about drug pricing and the impact that drug price negotiations will have on Medicare and its recipients.

We apologize for the background noise you hear during this episode. We strive to provide you with the best possible audio quality, but sometimes external factors (like construction nearby) are beyond our control.

Margarida Jorge is the Executive Director of Health Care for America Now. She has been a prominent advocate for affordable and accessible healthcare for three decades, and she was the chief architect of the 47-state field program that helped win the Affordable Care Act under President Obama. Margarida has played a key role in shaping healthcare policy and has been instrumental in shaping policy discussions, advocating for reforms that prioritize the needs of patients over the profits of pharmaceutical companies, lowering drug prices, and ensuring access to life-saving medications for all.

Twitter: @MargaridaJorg17

Health Care for America Now: https://www.healthcareforamericanow.org

Lower Drug Prices Now: https://www.lowerdrugpricesnow.org

Explaining the Prescription Drug Provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act: https://www.kff.org/medicare/issue-brief/explaining-the-prescription-drug-provisions-in-the-inflation-reduction-act/#bullet01

Big Drug Companies Are in Court to Stop Medicare Negotiation and Protect Their Sky-High Profits: https://www.protectourcare.org/big-drug-companies-are-in-court-to-stop-medicare-negotiation-and-protect-their-sky-high-profits

How Prices for the First 10 Drugs Up for U.S. Medicare Price Negotiations Compare Internationally: https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/2024/jan/how-prices-first-10-drugs-medicare-negotiations-compare-internationally

Drug Companies Continue To Hike Prices Above Inflation: https://www.americanprogress.org/article/drug-companies-continue-to-hike-prices-above-inflation

U.S. Prescription Drug Prices Are 2.56 Times Those in Other Countries: https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RR2956.html

Website: http://pitchforkeconomics.com

Twitter: @PitchforkEcon

Instagram: @pitchforkeconomics

Nick’s twitter: @NickHanauer

Three Economic Issues that Could Shape the 2024 Elections Jan 09, 2024

Show notes

National elections are won and lost on the economy. Of course they are: the state of the economy affects individuals' job security, income levels, access to healthcare, education, and overall quality of life, so it's not surprising that voters evaluate candidates based on their proposed economic policies and their ability to address pressing economic challenges. As we kick off a big year for elections and the economy, we take time in this episode to discuss the three most important economic issues that could shape the 2024 elections, especially at the presidential level. These are big challenges our country currently faces, and big challenges ought to be met with big transformative ideas that will improve people’s lives and grow the economy from the middle out.

Subscribe to Civic Ventures President Zach Silk’s Substack, The Pitch: civicventures.substack.com

Dig into the biggest economic stories by visiting the Civic Ventures YouTube channel Who Gets What and Why: youtube.com/@WGWAW

Website: http://pitchforkeconomics.com

Twitter: @PitchforkEcon

Instagram: @pitchforkeconomics

Nick’s twitter: @NickHanauer

Seizing the Middle Out Moment Jan 02, 2024

Show notes

When Pitchfork Economics was started, our ideas about economic cause and effect were way outside the economic mainstream, and so much has changed in the last ten years. The economic world is shifting its thinking away from neoclassical ideas, and the primary middle-out economics messenger driving this paradigm shift is in the Oval Office. In this episode, Nick and Goldy explain how the podcast will sharpen our focus on how best to build the economy from the middle out. They’ll also distinguish the difference between Middle-Out Economics and Bidenomics and how Bidenomics is a departure from the trickle-down economics of Reaganism.

Website: http://pitchforkeconomics.com

Twitter: @PitchforkEcon

Instagram: @pitchforkeconomics

Nick’s twitter: @NickHanauer

Middle-Out Wins Dec 26, 2023

Show notes

2023 was a big year for middle-out policy and research, so we are recapping some of the biggest middle-out moments that are improving people's lives and helping us close the book on America’s neoliberal era. Today, Civic Ventures writer Paul Constant joins Goldy to help recap the biggest middle-out successes of 2023 that have benefited workers, and are changing the way people think about economic cause and effect. This episode shines a light on policies, movements, labor actions/strikes, groundbreaking reports, and research that have made a real difference in people's lives and is changing the way economists and policymakers think about and manage economic policy.

Voicemail: 731-388-9334

Email: pitch@pitchforkeconomics.com

Bidenomics is Real Economics https://time.com/6343967/bidenomics-is-real-economics

The Transformation at the Heart of Biden’s Middle-Out Economic Agenda https://prospect.org/economy/2023-02-09-biden-middle-out-agenda

Minimum Wage Effects and Monopsony Explanations https://justinwiltshire.com/minimum-wage-effects-and-monopsony-explanations

Website: http://pitchforkeconomics.com

Twitter: @PitchforkEcon

Instagram: @pitchforkeconomics

Nick’s twitter: @NickHanauer

How the UAW strike benefits all workers (with Kate Bahn) Dec 19, 2023

Show notes

Business reporting on labor unions tends to focus on speculation about how much striking workers might hurt the economy. But the reality is that successful strikes have a long-term positive impact on economic growth because they raise wages for all workers. Economist and researcher Kate Bahn, Director of Research from WorkRise argues that strikes, especially historic strikes such as the recent UAW strike, benefit both unionized and non-union workers, and have much broader ripple effects across the whole economy because they increase worker power and competition for workers across various sectors and industries.

Kate Bahn is an economist and researcher, currently serving as the Director of Research for WorkRise, a research-to-action network hosted by the Urban Institute. Bahn's expertise lies in labor markets, gender economics, and income inequality. She has conducted extensive research on topics such as the gender wage gap, paid family leave, and the impact of automation on employment. Bahn's work combines rigorous analysis with a commitment to addressing the needs and challenges faced by marginalized communities.

Twitter: @LipstickEcon

How the UAW strike might benefit all workers: https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/15/opinions/union-member-negotiations-uaw-pay-bahn/index.html

Labor unions are good for workers, and here’s why they also make good business sense: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/labor-unions-are-good-for-workers-and-heres-why-they-also-make-good-business-sense-a39f3697

Website: http://pitchforkeconomics.com

Twitter: @PitchforkEcon

Instagram: @pitchforkeconomics

Nick’s twitter: @NickHanauer

How Economists Invented Austerity and Paved the Way to Fascism (with Clara Mattei) Dec 12, 2023

Show notes

We already know that many mainstream economists advocate against the economic interests of the majority of working Americans and for the benefit of a tiny handful of super-rich people and corporations. But Clara Mattei argues that economists are actually guilty of something even more insidious: By promoting austerity measures that destabilize working people and consolidate wealth and power at the very top of the income scale, economists have created the perfect conditions for fascism to take root around the world. Is it too late to rebuild our democratic institutions through a new economic understanding?

Clara Mattei is a distinguished academic in the field of economics and an Associate Professor of Economics at The New School for Social Research in New York City. Her research examines the history of capitalism, exploring the critical relationship between economic ideas and technocratic policymaking. She’s the author of the book, The Capital Order: How Economists Invented Austerity and Paved the Way to Fascism.

Twitter: @claraemattei

The Capital Order: How Economists Invented Austerity and Paved the Way to Fascism https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/C/bo181707138.html

Website: http://pitchforkeconomics.com

Twitter: @PitchforkEcon

Instagram: @pitchforkeconomics

Nick’s twitter: @NickHanauer

Revisiting the history of Middle-Out Economics (with Michael Tomasky) Dec 05, 2023

Show notes

We’ve lived in the shadow of trickle-down economics for over 40 years. During that time, our leaders unquestioningly embraced economic policies that prioritize the wealthiest and most powerful, with the idea that their wealth will eventually “trickle down” to everyone else.Of course, that wealth never has trickled down. Thankfully, our economic understanding has finally started to shift. This has been a landmark year in passing middle-out economic policies that prioritize the vast majority of working Americans over the wealthy few. In a future episode we’ll be discussing the middle-out research and policies that are making a real difference in people's lives, thereby changing the way we think about economic cause and effect. But before we look ahead to the glorious middle-out future, it’s important to revisit the history of middle-out economics via a conversation with journalist Michael Tomasky, author of a recent book detailing the rise of progressive economics in the United States.

This episode originally aired on October 18, 2022

Michael Tomasky is a journalist and author. He’s top editor of The New Republic. He’s editor of Democracy: A Journal of Ideas, as well as a contributing opinion writer for The New York Times.

Twitter: @mtomasky

The Middle Out https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/671443/the-middle-out-by-michael-tomasky

Website: http://pitchforkeconomics.com

Twitter: @PitchforkEcon

Instagram: @pitchforkeconomics

Nick’s twitter: @NickHanauer