Listen in: Deaths of Despair November 12, 2023 Deaths of despair from suicide, drug overdose, and alcoholism are rising dramatically in the United States, claiming hundreds of thousands of American lives. Anne Case and Angus Deaton explain the overwhelming surge in these deaths and shed light on the social and economic forces that are making life harder for the working class. Read More
A conversation with Kimberly Kay Hoang, author of the 2023 PROSE Awards R.R. Hawkins Award Winner Spiderweb Capitalism: How Global Elites Exploit Frontier Markets October 20, 2023 Kimberly Kay Hoang is an award-winning scholar, author, teacher, current Professor of Sociology and the College and the Director of Global Studies at the University of Chicago, and the author of two books: Spiderweb Capitalism and Dealing in Desire. Read More
Listen in: Economics in America October 17, 2023 Blending rare personal insights with illuminating perspectives on the social challenges that confront us today, Angus Deaton offers a disarmingly frank critique of his own profession while shining a light on his adopted country’s policy accomplishments and failures. Read More
Angus Deaton on Economics in America October 03, 2023 Deaton tells the story of the last 40 years of economics in America, not by writing about economics directly, but by telling stories about the adventures of economists—including himself —in research and in policy. Read More
Virtuous Bankers August 07, 2023 The eighteenth-century Bank of England was an institution that operated for the benefit of its shareholders—and yet came to be considered, as Adam Smith described it, “a great engine of state.” Read More
In dialogue: Rethinking climate change and catastrophe July 18, 2023 This month, in pursuit of clarity and advice, we gathered some of our authors and asked the following question: How should we think about the future in the face of climate change? Their perspectives offer us the tools to collectively rethink catastrophe in order to generate alternative possibilities of hope, action, or simple awareness regarding the planet and its beings. Read More
The corporation as institutional adaptation June 27, 2023 Both external events and government policy have profoundly influenced the shape and extent of the American corporation. Read More
Return to office? How COVID-19 and remote work reshaped the economy May 30, 2023 The last great battle of the COVID-19 pandemic is not over masks or vaccines or big government policies. It’s over remote work. Read More
Can bankers ever be virtuous? May 24, 2023 There are few today who link banking with virtue. The common view is of an industry greedy for profits and far too willing to take risks that, when they go wrong, lead to expensive bail outs using tax-payers’ money while the perpetrators walk away with their bonuses intact. Read More
Why economists—and everyone else—should care about hope April 13, 2023 The U.S. is experiencing a nationwide crisis of despair. Despair is not only linked with premature mortality, but with the vulnerability to misinformation that is plaguing our society, our health systems, and our democracy. Read More
Lessons from the past about the future of capitalism January 02, 2023 The capitalist economic system has delivered wealth to the world population on an unprecedented scale. At the same time, many people feel unhappy about how little the economy does for them. Read More
A time for utopias November 21, 2022 “Generation Dread,” “The World as We Knew It,” or “Global Burning.” This is just a small sample of book titles from this year that deal with global warming and its environmental, socio-economic, political, and cultural consequences. Read More
Playing in the gray October 28, 2022 How do global elites capitalize on risky frontier markets? They master the art of playing in the gray. Read More
Spiderweb Capitalism October 25, 2022 In 2015, the anonymous leak of the Panama Papers brought to light millions of financial and legal documents exposing how the superrich hide their money using complex webs of offshore vehicles. Read More
Capitalism: The word and the thing October 12, 2022 Capitalism is a word used variously to describe an economic and social system, a modern form of political power, a dynamic mode of production, a stage in a world-historical process running from feudalism to communism, a western object of ideological allegiance, a durable form of inequality or, more simply, a thing. Read More
