Pitchfork Economics with Nick Hanauer

In the sixth episode of our trade series, Pitchfork Economics producer Freddy Doss talks with Mexican economist Juan Carlos Moreno-Brid about how NAFTA — and now the USMCA — reshaped Mexico’s economy in ways that those of us north of the Rio Grande almost never hear about. Yes, exports skyrocketed. But wages stagnated, domestic industry hollowed out, and Mexico became structurally dependent on the...

In the fifth episode of our series on trade, journalist and author Luke Savage joins Pitchfork Economics Producer Freddy Doss to unpack how decades of “free trade” between the U.S. and Canada have reshaped both economies—entrenching corporate power, hollowing out manufacturing, and weakening democratic control over economic policy. Savage traces how policies sold as mutually beneficial instead fue...

What if global trade isn’t really a fight between nations—but between classes? In the fourth episode of our Trade series, Nick and Goldy talk with economist and writer Matthew C. Klein, co-author of Trade Wars Are Class Wars: How Rising Inequality Distorts the Global Economy and Threatens International Peace. Klein argues that the real story behind trade imbalances isn’t about countries “winning”...

Tariffs won’t save America’s economy—but knowledge might. In the third episode of our Trade series, Nick and Goldy sit down with physicist César Hidalgo to explore how prosperity really grows—not through tariffs or trickle-down promises, but through the accumulation of knowledge and know-how. Hidalgo explains why digital exports don’t show up in trade data, why tariffs fail, and why the future bel...

In the second episode of our Trade series, Nick and Goldy talk with author Nat Dyer about his book Ricardo’s Dream: How Economists Forgot the Real World and Led Us Astray. Dyer reveals how David Ricardo’s famous theory of comparative advantage—long touted as proof that free trade is always a win-win—was built on unrealistic assumptions and a false history. They trace how this elegant but misleadin...

In this kickoff to our special series on trade, Nick and Goldy unpack why trade policy isn’t just about tariffs and treaties—it’s about people, power, and priorities. For decades, the prevailing narrative has been that trade benefits everyone by lowering prices. But the real question is: who does it help, and who does it hurt? From the false promises of globalization to the overlooked damage in ho...

Political economist Mark Blyth joins Nick and Goldy to unpack the myths and realities of rising prices, from pandemic supply shocks and corporate profiteering to central-bank missteps and decades of bad economic theory. Drawing from his new book Inflation: A Guide for Users and Losers, Blyth explains why some narratives fall flat, why others reveal deeper truths about power and inequality, and wha...

What if the relentless drive to maximize personal gain isn't human nature, but just a flawed model we built? In this Back-to-Basics episode, behavioral economist Samuel Bowles helps us lay homo economicus—the myth of the perfectly rational, self-interested actor—six feet under. He shows how this caricature not only misrepresents human behavior, but underpins an economic system that ignores coopera...

The promise of the American Dream—work hard, play by the rules, and you’ll get ahead—is unraveling before our eyes. In this Back-to-Basics episode, Christian H. Cooper and law professor Khiara Bridges join Nick and Goldy to posit whether economic mobility has ever truly existed, or if the system was rigged from the start. As wages stagnate, homeownership drifts out of reach, and inequality worsens...

When a few giants dominate the economy, democracy is the first to go. In this back-to-basics episode, author and anti-monopoly expert Matt Stoller unpacks how concentrated corporate power doesn’t just warp markets—it tilts the political playing field toward plutocracy. Drawing from his book Goliath, Stoller shows how corporate giants from banks to Big Tech leverage economic dominance into politica...

We’ve all heard the story: In a fair market, workers are paid exactly what they’re worth. Economists even have a name for it—marginal productivity theory. It’s neat, simple…and completely wrong. In this Back-to-Basics episode, economist Marshall Steinbaum and labor leader Saru Jayaraman dismantle the myth that the market fairly rewards labor. Steinbaum reveals how this theory has been weaponized t...

If you’ve ever wondered why the economy feels stuck, even when it seems like there's a lot more money in the system, this episode will blow your mind. Political economist Ann Pettifor joins Nick and Goldy to explain why money isn't flowing like it used to, and why that matters. Over the last century, the velocity of money (how quickly a dollar circulates) has plummeted. Today, each dollar in circu...

For decades, orthodox economics has treated morality as irrelevant—as if economic decisions happen in a vacuum, separate from our values and social bonds. But that approach has failed spectacularly, giving cover to policies that divide and exploit us. In this episode, Heather McGhee joins Nick and Paul to argue that morality must be central to how we think about the economy. They explore how racia...

Is economic growth just about money, trade, and GDP? Or is something deeper at play? In this episode, economist W. Brian Arthur and physicist Cesar Hidalgo join Nick and Goldy to reveal the real drivers of rising prosperity: human knowledge, know‑how, and innovation. They challenge the old assumptions of growth and argue that innovation isn't a byproduct of a strong economy—it's a cause of economi...

Trickle-downers love to pretend that "Econ 101" is a convincing argument against policies like the minimum wage that invest in working Americans. But the truth is that mainstream economists are terrible at predicting how the economy will behave in the future…Is Econ 101 broken? In this key foundational episode for the podcast, we dismantle the myths of orthodox economics and expose Econ 101 for wh...

Ever find yourself halfway through a Pitchfork Economics episode thinking, “Wait… what’s a monopsony?” You’re not alone. In this listener-favorite episode, Nick and Goldy break down some of the most important—and most misunderstood—economic terms we use on the show. From ‘neoclassical’ and ‘neoliberal’ to ‘monopoly’, ‘monopsony,’ ‘stock buybacks,’ and ‘heterodox economics,’ we cut through the jarg...

In 2014, Nick Hanauer sounded the alarm: if economic inequality kept growing, the pitchforks would come—for him, and for the rest of America’s wealthy elite. Then 2016 happened. Donald Trump was elected president on a wave of economic populism that correctly identified massive inequality as a problem, but which offered all the wrong solutions. The inaugural episode of Pitchfork Economics lays the...

Conventional wisdom says immigration drives down wages and takes jobs from American workers. But what if that story is fueled by bad economics? Journalist Rogé Karma joins Nick and Goldy to challenge the Econ 101 logic that supercharges anti-immigrant rhetoric—and to explain what the data actually shows. Drawing on research from the U.S., Denmark, and beyond, Karma makes the case that immigrants d...

With inequality rising, housing out of reach, and young Americans falling further behind, some argue the American Dream is dead. But NYU professor Scott Galloway has a different take: America hasn’t fallen—it’s adrift. Originally recorded in late 2022, this episode features a candid conversation about what’s really hollowed out the middle class: generational wealth hoarding, runaway corporate cons...

As Republicans work at break-neck speed to push another round of massive tax cuts for the wealthy, we thought it would be a good idea to revisit our 2019 conversation with Bruce Bartlett, a Reagan policy adviser and key architect of the 1981 tax cuts. Bartlett explains how the trickle-down logic he once championed turned out to be economic snake oil, because tax breaks for the wealthy don’t grow t...

The GOP’s new tax bill isn’t just a massive giveaway to the rich—it’s an all-out assault on SNAP, one of the most effective anti-poverty programs in the U.S. That’s because SNAP is more than just a program designed to end hunger. It’s also a powerful economic engine, stabilizing local economies as well as supporting retailers and farmers. Lily Roberts from the Center for American Progress joins us...

What makes a company good—and who gets to decide? Economist Lenore Palladino joins Nick and Goldy to dismantle the myth of shareholder primacy and explain how our current system of corporate governance has warped innovation, deepened inequality, and undermined democracy. Drawing from her new book Good Company: Economic Policy after Shareholder Primacy, Palladino outlines a bold vision for how we c...

With Trump’s second major tax bill clearing committee and heading to the House floor—packed, as promised, with massive giveaways to the ultra-wealthy—we’re revisiting our timely conversation with Samantha Jacoby of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Originally recorded before Trump’s reelection, this episode breaks down the real impact of the tax bill that Trump signed into law back in 20...

During COVID, corporations blamed supply chain shocks for rising prices while quietly raising prices higher than costs, thereby boosting their profits to record levels. We know they did this because they bragged about doing it on corporate earnings calls. Economist Hal Singer warns that Trump’s proposed tariffs could spark a repeat, giving corporations another “golden opportunity” to jack up price...

Decades of trickle-down thinking hollowed out our government—and now the anti-democracy crowd is finishing the job. This week, legal scholar and former Biden advisor K. Sabeel Rahman joins Nick and Goldy to talk about what happens when the rule of law becomes optional, what the Biden administration got right (and what it didn’t,) and why simply restoring the old system isn’t enough. If we want a r...