Pitchfork Economics with Nick Hanauer

Latest Episodes:

Working Toward a Full Employment Economy (with Arnab Datta) Nov 28, 2023

Show notes

In its quest to combat inflation the Federal Reserve has seemingly done everything in its power to engineer a recession, which would throw millions of people out of work. Rather than question the Fed’s actions, mainstream economists cheered them on, claiming that we need multiple months of high unemployment to bring inflation down. But do we really need to immiserate America’s working class in order to save the economy? Today’s guest, Arnab Datta, and his colleagues at Employ America are producing research that suggests we should instead be using macroeconomic policies to steer the economy to high employment and robust wage growth—which would reduce inequity, spur economic development, and expand the availability of good-paying jobs for all Americans.

Arnab Datta serves as the Senior Counsel for Employ America, which is an organization focused on economic policy research and advocacy that prioritizes full employment, wage growth, and economic stability. Employ America seeks to influence economic policy discussions and shape the narrative around employment and economic well-being.

Twitter: @ArnabDatta321, @employamerica

Website: www.employamerica.org

The Fed Is Trying To Engineer A Recession https://www.employamerica.org/blog/the-fed-is-trying

In The Right Context, Full Employment Can Support A Pickup In Productivity https://www.employamerica.org/blog/in-the-right-context-full-employment-can-support-a-pickup-in-productivity

Website: http://pitchforkeconomics.com

Twitter: @PitchforkEcon

Instagram: @pitchforkeconomics

Nick’s twitter: @NickHanauer

Understanding the Sahm Rule (with economist Claudia Sahm) Nov 21, 2023

Show notes

Mainstream economists have been predicting a recession on the horizon for over a year, with some doomsayers even making up something called “a non-recession recession” to characterize the state of the economy. There’s no better person to cut through all this bluster and nonsense than the creator of one of the most reliable economic indicators created in the last few decades: the Sahm Rule, which aims to predict and track recessions in real time. Former Federal Reserve economist Claudia Sahm joins the podcast to walk us through the Sahm Rule’s methodology and explains how it utilizes timely data to provide early warnings of economic downturns, offering policymakers, businesses, and individuals a valuable tool for proactive decision-making.

Claudia Sahm is an esteemed economist and policy expert who has served as director of macroeconomic policy at the Washington Center for Equitable Growth, Senior Economist at the Federal Reserve, and economist for the White House Council of Economic Advisers under President Obama. She’s known for her contributions to macroeconomics and the development of the Sahm Rule, her research on monetary policy, labor markets, and macroeconomic stabilization has made her a trusted advisor and consultant to policymakers and organizations seeking evidence-based insights.

Twitter: @Claudia_Sahm

Claudia Sahm Substack: https://stayathomemacro.substack.com/

‘We do not need a recession, but we may get one’: https://www.ft.com/content/3213f700-26a7-4d84-aca0-d7cc5bf11484

Nick's new book, Corporate Bullsh*t, is out now! https://www.corporatebsbook.com

Website: http://pitchforkeconomics.com

Twitter: @PitchforkEcon

Instagram: @pitchforkeconomics

Nick’s twitter: @NickHanauer

Exploring American Inequality (with Nobel Laureate Angus Deaton) Nov 14, 2023

Show notes

No matter which indicator you’re using, American inequality has been increasing in recent decades. Whether you’re measuring the growing wealth gap, the stagnant wages of the middle class, or the concentration of wealth and power among a small group of elites, every indicator unfailingly suggests that inequality is getting worse. Nobel Laureate Angus Deaton joins the podcast to talk about his recent book on the subject, Economics in America: An Immigrant Economist Explores the Land of Inequality, in which he explains how his own experience as an immigrant has shaped his understanding of American inequality and its impact on upward mobility.

Angus Deaton is a renowned economist and author known for his groundbreaking work in the fields of poverty, inequality, and health. He is a 2015 Nobel Prize Laureate and is currently a Senior Scholar and the Dwight D. Eisenhower Professor of Economics and International Affairs Emeritus at the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University.

Twitter: @DeatonAngus

Economics in America: An Immigrant Economist Explores the Land of Inequality https://bookshop.org/p/books/economics-in-america-an-immigrant-economist-explores-the-land-of-inequality-angus-deaton/19785471?ean=9780691247625

Nick's new book, Corporate Bullsh*t, is out now! https://www.corporatebsbook.com

Website: http://pitchforkeconomics.com

Twitter: @PitchforkEcon

Instagram: @pitchforkeconomics

Nick’s twitter: @NickHanauer

The return of child labor (with Nina Mast and Jennifer Sherer) Nov 07, 2023

Show notes

At a time when violations of child labor laws are on the rise nationally, state lawmakers around the country are successfully rolling back child labor protections. Jennifer Sherer and Nina Mast from the Economic Policy Institute have authored an article that insists lawmakers must act to strengthen standards, not erode the existing minimal standards designed to safeguard children from exploitation. They share insights into why weakening child labor protections could have detrimental effects on the middle class and the overall economy.

Nina Mast is an economic analyst for the Economic Analysis and Research Network (EARN) at EPI. She also worked on issue campaigns at The Hub Project and efforts to advance a progressive economic worldview at the Groundwork Collaborative.

Jennifer Sherer is the director of the Economic Analysis and Research Network (EARN) State Worker Power Initiative. Her work focuses on expanding the ability of working people to achieve racial, gender, and economic justice through organizing, collective bargaining, and public policies that promote worker voice.

Twitter: @EconomicPolicy

Florida legislature proposes dangerous rollback of child labor protections https://www.epi.org/blog/florida-legislature-proposes-dangerous-roll-back-of-child-labor-protections-at-least-16-states-have-introduced-bills-putting-children-at-risk

Nick's new book, Corporate Bullsh*t, is out now! https://www.corporatebsbook.com

Website: http://pitchforkeconomics.com

Twitter: @PitchforkEcon

Instagram: @pitchforkeconomics

Nick’s twitter: @NickHanauer

The path of political disintegration (with Peter Turchin) Oct 31, 2023

Show notes

When Nick warned back in 2013 that the pitchforks were coming, he meant that if we continued immiserating the majority of citizens by enriching a wealthy few at the expense of everyone else, an uprising was inevitable. Unfortunately, this warning is still just as relevant ten years later. Peter Turchin joins the podcast to discuss his new book, End Times: Elites, Counter-Elites, and the Path of Political Disintegration, which looks to history (as well as the current turmoil in the United States) to better understand exactly what causes political communities to fall apart.

Peter Turchin is Project Leader at the Complexity Science Hub in Vienna, Research Associate at University of Oxford, and Emeritus Professor at the University of Connecticut.

End Times https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/703238/end-times-by-peter-turchin

Nick's new book, Corporate Bullsh*t, is out now! https://www.corporatebsbook.com

Website: http://pitchforkeconomics.com

Twitter: @PitchforkEcon

Instagram: @pitchforkeconomics

Nick’s twitter: @NickHanauer

Corporate Bullsh*t (with Joan Walsh and Donald Cohen) Oct 24, 2023

Show notes

Politicians and business interests have lied to the American people for centuries in order to protect their power and profits—and they tell the exact same lies every single time. Nick has co-written a book titled Corporate Bullsh*t with Joan Walsh and Donald Cohen, which reveals this trickle-down duplicity as plain as day by placing egregious past quotes from corporate executives and politicians next to equally outrageous contemporary arguments—all of which justify outcomes that line the pockets of the wealthy and powerful while harming everyone else. Joan and Donald join the show to discuss why they wrote this book and to explain why it’s a must-read for anyone who's tired of getting conned, bamboozled, and ripped off.

Joan Walshis national affairs correspondent for The Nation, the co-producer of the Emmy-nominated documentary The Sit-In: Harry Belafonte Hosts the Tonight Show, and the author of What’s the Matter with White People?

Donald Cohenis the founder and executive director of the research and policy center In the Public Interest and the co-author (with Allen Mikaelian) of The Privatization of Everything.

Order a copy of Corporate Bullsh*t

Website: http://pitchforkeconomics.com

Twitter: @PitchforkEcon

Instagram: @pitchforkeconomics

Nick’s twitter: @NickHanauer

The economics of belonging (with john a. powell) Oct 17, 2023

Show notes

If you’re a long-time listener, you’ve definitely heard us discuss the golden rule of middle out economics: The more people you include in the economy, the faster and more prosperous it grows for everybody. The Director of the Othering & Belonging Institute, john a. powell, agrees that inclusion is the key to a thriving economy, and he joins us to explain why the concept of belonging is so important for a healthy community.

This episode originally aired on May 24, 2022.

john a. powell is the Director of the Othering & Belonging Institute at the University of California, Berkeley.

Twitter: @profjohnapowell

Targeted universalism: a solution for inequality? https://www.cbs8.com/article/news/local/california/targeted-universalism/509-2127090b-7f50-4a91-91e7-04c47acf3309

Othering & Belonging Institute https://belonging.berkeley.edu/john-powell

Pre-Order Nick's new book, Corporate Bullsh*t https://www.corporatebsbook.com

Website: http://pitchforkeconomics.com

Twitter: @PitchforkEcon

Instagram: @pitchforkeconomics

Nick’s twitter: @NickHanauer

How neoliberalism turned the work ethic against workers (with Elizabeth Anderson) Oct 10, 2023

Show notes

The majority of U.S. workers aren’t compensated anywhere near the value that they actually create for society, while the few who make the most money often work the least and contribute very little. Decades of neoliberal thinking has twisted one of the foundational American beliefs—the idea that hard work eventually reaps great rewards—into a celebration of greed and a dismissal of those of us who work the hardest. Returning guest Elizabeth Anderson explains how we can reclaim the American work ethic in order to once again center workers as the true heroes of the American economy.

Professor Elizabeth Anderson specializes in moral, social and political philosophy, feminist theory, social epistemology, and the philosophy of economics and the social sciences. She is the author of several books including Private Government: How Employers Rule Our Lives and, most recently, Hijacked: How Neoliberalism Turned the Work Ethic against Workers and How Workers Can Take It Back.

Hijacked: How Neoliberalism Turned the Work Ethic against Workers and How Workers Can Take It Back https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/hijacked/E7E4A7D850C1E7289BA7AAF910455136#fndtn-information

Pre-Order Nick's new book, Corporate Bullsh*t https://www.corporatebsbook.com

Website: http://pitchforkeconomics.com

Twitter: @PitchforkEcon

Instagram: @pitchforkeconomics

Nick’s twitter: @NickHanauer

Setting the record straight on inflation (with Mike Konczal) Oct 03, 2023

Show notes

There have been a lot of bad takes on inflation out there in the media, from wild speculation about its causes to absurd predictions about when and how the wave of price increases would finally come to an end. But now just about everyone agrees that after two years of rising prices, inflation has finally slowed down. And while there’s still a long way to go, the situation is dramatically better now than it was even six months ago. Mike Konczal from the Roosevelt Institute recently did some research into the disinflation we’ve been seeing, and he returns to the show to tell us what’s really bringing prices back down to earth.

Mike Konczal is director of Macroeconomic Analysis at the Roosevelt Institute, where he focuses on full employment, inequality, and the role of public power in a democracy.

Twitter: @mtkonczal

Supply-Side Expansion Has Driven the Decline in Inflation

https://rooseveltinstitute.org/publications/supply-side-expansion-has-driven-the-decline-in-inflation

How Goldilocks Came to the U.S. Economy https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/11/opinion/inflation-unemployment-phillips-recession.html

Pre-Order Nick's new book, Corporate Bullsh*t https://www.corporatebsbook.com

Website: http://pitchforkeconomics.com

Twitter: @PitchforkEcon

Instagram: @pitchforkeconomics

Nick’s twitter: @NickHanauer

The Tyranny of Merit (with Michael Sandel) Sep 26, 2023

Show notes

In this wide-ranging conversation with one of our favorite authors, philosopher Michael Sandel explains how the concept of meritocracy has helped to create such a massive divide in American politics and culture.

Michael Sandel is a world-renowned philosopher who teaches political philosophy at Harvard University. His course “Justice” is the first Harvard course to be made freely available online and has been viewed by tens of millions of people around the world. Sandel’s books relate enduring themes of political philosophy to the most vexing moral and civic questions of our time. They include The Tyranny of Merit (2020), Democracy’s Discontent (2022), and more.

The Tyranny of Merit: What's Become of the Common Good https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374289980/thetyrannyofmerit

Democracy’s Discontent: A New Edition for Our Perilous Times https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674270718

Website: http://pitchforkeconomics.com

Twitter: @PitchforkEcon

Instagram: @pitchforkeconomics

Nick’s twitter: @NickHanauer