This week, Nick and Goldy are joined by journalist and historian Yoni Appelbaum to discuss his forthcoming book, Stuck: How the Privileged and the Propertied Broke the Engine of American Opportunity. They explore how decades of failed economic policies and zoning regulations have restricted mobility, stifled economic growth, and worsened inequality—revealing ... Show More
Oct 6
Who Is Industrial Policy Really For? (with Isabel Estevez)
Industrial policy is back at the center of the economic debate. But tariffs, factories, and reshoring are only part of the story. In this 2023 conversation, development economist Isabel Estevez joins Nick and Goldy to argue that industrial policy is ultimately about choices: what ... Show More
35m 13s
Sep 29
When Companies Run the Courts: How Corporate Power Becomes Legal Power (with Brendan Ballou)
We like to think that if a company cheats us, steals our wages, or breaks the law, we can take them to court. Unfortunately, there’s a good chance you’ve already signed that right away. This week, Brendan Ballou returns to the podcast to explain how forced arbitration created wha ... Show More
31m 29s
Jun 2025
Confronting the affordable-housing crisis
The US housing crunch is bad—and it’s getting worse. Wider access to safe, affordable homes is vital to enabling economic mobility for all Americans—and to harnessing what McKinsey Partner JP Julien, a leader of the McKinsey Institute for Economic Mobility, calls a “massive” unta ... Show More
25m 28s
Mar 2022
Why it’s so hard to move in America
Dylan Matthews and Jerusalem Demsas are joined by Nick Buttrick (@NickButtrick), a psychologist at Princeton, to talk about interstate mobility in the US (or the lack thereof). They talk about why it is so hard to move; why some of those reasons, Jerusalem argues, are arbitrary; ... Show More
43m 49s
May 2025
Kleptocracy, Inc. — with Anne Applebaum
Anne Applebaum, a Pulitzer Prize–winning historian and staff writer at The Atlantic, joins Scott to discuss the rise of kleptocracy in America, the global playbook of autocrats, and solutions to our democratic slide. Follow Anne, @anneapplebaum. Algebra of Happiness: greatness is ... Show More
1h 10m
Feb 2024
Conversation with David Leonhardt — The State of the US Economy
David Leonhardt, a senior writer at The New York Times, where he writes “The Morning” newsletter, joins Scott to discuss themes from his book, “Ours Was the Shining Future: The Story of the American Dream.” We hear about the state of the US economy, investments that could fuel ec ... Show More
50m 16s
Sep 2025
The Fragile State of the AI Economy | Kyla Scanlon
Is America running on three economies at once? Zaid Admani sits down with Kyla Scanlon (economist, creator, and New York Times bestselling author) to break down the speculative economy, the real economy, and the meme economy.We dive into whether AI is a bubble and why its trillio ... Show More
26m 36s
Nov 2020
“You Can’t Have Capitalism Without Capital"
In a country where policies blocking Black people from obtaining mortgages, land, and capital have created an immense wealth gap between Black and white Americans that persists to this day, inequality is a threat to our democracy, says Mehrsa Baradaran, professor of law and assoc ... Show More
33m 4s