logo
episode-header-image
Nov 2023
44m 42s

Exploring American Inequality (with Nobe...

Civic Ventures
About this episode

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

Up next
Aug 19
Back to Basics Series: How Monopolies Feed Plutocracy (with Matt Stoller)
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 fr ... Show More
31m 58s
Aug 12
Back to Basics Series: Does the Market Really Pay You What You’re Worth? (with Marshall Steinbaum and Saru Jayaraman)
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 Ja ... Show More
50m 51s
Aug 5
Back to Basics Series: The Velocity of Money (with Ann Pettifor)
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. O ... Show More
42m 30s
Recommended Episodes
Oct 2023
Angus Deaton: An Immigrant Economist Explores the Land of Inequality
Economics Nobel laureate Sir Angus Deaton discusses his latest book, Economics in America, which takes an autobiographical approach to how the field of economics addresses the most pressing issues of our time—from poverty, retirement, and the minimum wage to the ravages of the na ... Show More
1h 7m
Jul 2023
#205 — The Failure of Meritocracy
Sam Harris speaks with Daniel Markovits about the problems with meritocracy. They discuss the nature of inequality in the United States, the disappearance of the leisure class, the difference between labor and capital as sources of inequality, the way the education system amplifi ... Show More
44m 44s
Jan 2024
ECONOMICS FOR THE 99% - with Professor Ha-Joon Chang
Max and Nafkote interview the world-famous economist Professor Ha Joon Chang to ask what is causing the inequality crisis and what governments can do to stop it.How are traffic lights, neoliberalism, and the Catholic Church in medieval times linked? How can we create a new genera ... Show More
28m 38s
Jul 2023
Checks and Balance: Inequality qualities
By some measures, in the aftermath of the pandemic, income inequality in America is either increasing or remaining stubbornly high. On the left, the gap between rich and poor has long been an urgent issue—and more people on the right now agree. As both sides of the aisle look for ... Show More
48m 25s
May 2021
Who Is Inherited Wealth?
If you work hard in the United States, there is no limit to the possibility of what you might achieve. That’s the American Dream. But the reality is that America today increasingly resembles aristocratic societies of the past, which were characterized by little social mobility an ... Show More
47m 23s
Jul 2020
Angus Deaton: The cost of the 'deaths of despair'
How do we judge the health of our economic systems? HARDtalk’s Stephen Sackur speaks to the Nobel Prize winning economist Sir Angus Deaton who believes it’s about much more than the headline numbers on jobs and growth. He has focused on what he calls the deaths of despair – those ... Show More
22m 59s
Jun 2023
Why This Economist Wants to Give Every Poor Child $50,000
“Wealth is the paramount indicator of economic prosperity and well-being,” says the economist Darrick Hamilton. He’s right. Policy analysis tends to focus on income, but it is wealth that often determines whether we can send our kids to college, pay for an illness, quit a job, st ... Show More
52m 54s
Mar 2023
Mark Robert Rank, "The Poverty Paradox: Understanding Economic Hardship Amid American Prosperity" (Oxford UP, 2023)
The paradox of poverty amidst plenty has plagued the United States throughout the 21st century--why should the wealthiest country in the world also have the highest rates of poverty among the industrialized nations? Based on his decades-long research and scholarship, one of the n ... Show More
31m 42s
May 2020
#205 — The Failure of Meritocracy
Sam Harris speaks with Daniel Markovits about the problems with meritocracy. They discuss the nature of inequality in the United States, the disappearance of the leisure class, the difference between labor and capital as sources of inequality, the way the education system amplifi ... Show More
58m 59s