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Civic Ventures

Pitchfork Economics with Nick Hanauer

Economic debates often focus on poverty — how to raise wages, strengthen safety nets, and ensure people don’t fall too far behind. But what if fairness also requires asking a different question: how much wealth is too much?

This week, we’re resharing our conversation with ethics professor Ingrid Robeyns about her idea of limitarianism — the argument that societies should place moral limits on extreme wealth accumulation. Rather than starting with policy prescriptions, Robeyns asks a deeper question about justice, democracy, and what kind of economy we want to live in.

As inequality continues to dominate public debate, this conversation invites listeners to reconsider something we rarely question: not just how to lift people up, but whether an economy without limits at the top can truly work for everyone.

Ingrid Robeyns is a distinguished scholar and Professor of Ethics of Institutions at Utrecht University, and author of the new book, Limitarianism: The Case Against Extreme Wealth. Professor Robeyns’ research in the field of Ethics and Political Philosophy focuses on issues of justice, inequality, well-being, and the ethical dimensions of societal structures and policies.

Social Media:

 @IngridRobeyns

Further reading: 

Limitarianism: The Case Against Extreme Wealth

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Should There Be a Limit to Wealth? (with Ingrid Robeyns)

Every wave of new technology has come with the same promise: productivity rises, and everyone benefits. That’s not how it usually plays out.

This week, we’re resharing our conversation with MIT economist David Autor, one of the world’s leading experts on how technological change reshapes labor markets. Autor challenges the familiar story that innovation inevitably destroys good jobs, arguing instead that AI could expand human expertise and help rebuild pathways into the middle class — if the gains are broadly shared.

As companies race to adopt AI and workers wonder what comes next, this episode offers a clearer way to think about the future of work: technology doesn’t determine economic outcomes. The rules we build around it do.

David Autor is a labor economist and professor of economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who studies how technological change and globalization affect workers. He is also co-director of the MIT Shaping the Future of Work Initiative and the National Bureau of Economic Research Labor Studies Program.

Social Media:

@davidautor.bsky.social

@davidautor

Further reading: 

NOEMA - AI Could Actually Help Rebuild The Middle Class

New York Times - How One Tech Skeptic Decided A.I. Might Benefit the Middle Class

Website: http://pitchforkeconomics.com

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Substack: ⁠The Pitch⁠

AI Won’t Decide the Future of Work—We Will (with David Autor)

If you could order a presidential administration to do one specific thing to improve the lives of working people — what would it be?

At Democracy Journal’s recent conference in Washington, DC, Nick and Goldy heard some of the country’s leading economic thinkers take their best shot at that magic-wand question: one idea, three minutes, no BS. 

The result is a rapid-fire lineup of bold proposals — from fixing Social Security and raising wages to reclaiming time, strengthening unions, and rethinking what “affordability” really means.

This week, we’re sharing some of our favorites with you. This episode is a quick policy lightning round packed with big ideas, sharp arguments, and plenty to discuss.

Elizabeth Garlow is a Senior Fellow at New America focused on economic policy and the future of work, with research centered on time, caregiving, and policies that improve everyday economic security.

Jim Kessler is the Executive Vice President for Policy at Third Way, where he works on economic reforms aimed at expanding wealth-building opportunities and retirement security for working families.

Thea Lee is a visiting fellow at American University and a longtime labor economist specializing in worker rights, trade policy, and labor standards in global supply chains.

Heidi Shierholtz is president of the Economic Policy Institute, where she focuses on wage growth, labor markets, and policies that strengthen workers’ bargaining power and reduce inequality.

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Substack: ⁠The Pitch⁠

LIVE FROM DC: The Magic Wand Question — Policy Pitches for Working People

Can we build an economy that delivers abundance without abandoning democratic accountability and economic equity?

Recorded live at Democracy Journal’s “Can’t We All Just Get Along?” conference, this episode features a wide-ranging panel discussion on one of the most consequential debates shaping today’s political economy: whether abundance and social democracy are in tension—or whether they’re mutually reinforcing.

Moderated by Ed Luce of the Financial Times, the panel brings together Baillee Brown (Inclusive Abundance), Jerusalem Demsas (The Argument), Mike Konczal (Economic Security Project), and Sandeep Vaheesan (Open Markets Institute) to wrestle with what it actually takes to deliver housing, clean energy, and public goods at scale—without ceding power to concentrated markets or hollowing out democratic governance.

At a moment of deep political discontent and institutional distrust, this conversation helps clarify the real choices facing policymakers—and why getting this balance right is essential to rebuilding public faith in government.

Ed Luce (moderator) is the U.S. national editor and a columnist at the Financial Times, where he writes on American politics, democracy, and global political economy.

Baillee Brown (panelist) is a policy advocate and the founder of Inclusive Abundance, where she works with lawmakers to advance a pro-building, outcomes-focused approach to delivering housing, clean energy, and public goods.

Jerusalem Demsas (panelist) is founder and Editor in Chief of The Argument a publication and podcast covering housing, economic policy, and the politics of affordability.

Mike Konczal (panelist) is the Senior Director of Policy and Research at the Economic Security Project, where he focuses on inequality, housing, industrial policy, and the political economy of growth.

Sandeep Vaheesan (panelist) is the legal director at the Open Markets Institute and a leading voice on antitrust, corporate power, and the role of public authority in building a more equitable economy.

Website: http://pitchforkeconomics.com

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Twitter: @PitchforkEcon, @NickHanauer

Substack: ⁠The Pitch⁠

LIVE FROM DC: Abundance and Social Democracy: Enemies or Allies?

If democracy is going to survive, it has to deliver.This week, Goldy and Civic Ventures president Zach Silk are joined by Hannah Garden-Monheit, a former senior official in the Biden-Harris administration, for a conversation about one of the most urgent questions in American politics: why our government so often fails to produce visible results for working people—and what that means for what comes next.At a time when public institutions are being dismantled faster than they were ever built, this episode looks beyond easy cynicism and asks what it would take to rebuild a government people can trust, feel, and believe in again. Because the next governing moment won’t just be about having the right values or policies. It will hinge on whether leaders are willing to use democratic power to make government deliver in ways that are visible, tangible, and real.

Hannah Garden-Monheit is a Senior Fellow at the American Economic Liberties Project and co-author of Building a More Effective, Responsive Government, a report from the Roosevelt Institute. She previously served as Director of the Office of Policy Planning at the Federal Trade Commission and as Special Assistant to the President for Economic Policy on the White House National Economic Council. 

Further reading: 

Building a More Effective, Responsive Government: Lessons Learned from the Biden-Harris Administration

Website: http://pitchforkeconomics.com

Instagram: @pitchforkeconomics

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Twitter: @PitchforkEcon, @NickHanauer, @civicaction

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Substack: ⁠The Pitch⁠

A Government Built to Stall—and What That Means for Democracy (with Hannah Garden-Monheit)

As inequality deepens, democratic institutions strain, and climate risk accelerates, it’s becoming impossible to ignore a basic question: What is capitalism actually for?

This week, we revisit our conversation with Harvard Business School professor Rebecca Henderson who argues that today’s economic crises aren’t the result of isolated failures, but of an economic system designed around the wrong goal—maximizing shareholder value at any cost. Drawing from her book Reimagining Capitalism in a World on Fire, Henderson makes the case that markets built around cooperation, dignity, and shared prosperity don’t just serve the public good—they often outperform extractive, low-road models, while decades of trickle-down economics hollowed out institutions, rewarded cheating over value creation, and left businesses dependent on a society they are actively undermining. Together, they ask what it would take to build a new economic paradigm—one where firms exist to strengthen the communities, democracy, and planet they rely on to survive.

Rebecca Henderson is the John and Natty McArthur University Professor at Harvard Business School, where she teaches the acclaimed course Reimagining Capitalism and explores how business can help build a more just, sustainable economy. She is the author of Reimagining Capitalism in a World on Fire, and a research fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research, a fellow of the British Academy and American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and has served on the boards of major public companies.

Social Media:

@RebeccaReCap

Further reading: 

Reimagining Capitalism in a World on Fire

TED Talk: To save the climate, we have to reimagine capitalism

Website: http://pitchforkeconomics.com

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Twitter: @PitchforkEcon, @NickHanauer

Substack: ⁠The Pitch⁠

Revisiting Reimagining Capitalism (with Rebecca Henderson)

Every era runs on an economic story. For the last half-century, ours has been neoliberalism — the belief that if you free markets from constraints, prosperity will follow.

This week we revisit a bracing conversation with historian Gary Gerstle about how neoliberalism took hold, why it once felt inevitable, and why it’s now breaking down in plain sight. Drawing on his book The Rise and Fall of the Neoliberal Order, Gerstle joins Nick and Goldy to trace how a seductive promise of “freedom” — economic, cultural, and political — helped neoliberalism crowd out the New Deal order, even as it hollowed out communities, deepened inequality, and set the stage for today’s volatility. Along the way, they explore how economic crises create openings for new ideas, why the collapse of an old order is never smooth, and what it will take to build a post-neoliberal, middle-out economy that actually delivers for working people.

Gary Gerstle is an author, historian, and scholar of American political and economic history. He is the Paul Mellon Professor of American History Emeritus at the University of Cambridge and a Professor Emeritus of History at Vanderbilt University.

Social Media:

@glgerstle

Further reading: 

Writing the History of Neoliberalism: A Comment

1984 Super Bowl APPLE MACINTOSH Ad

The Rise and Fall of the Neoliberal Order: America and the World in the Free Market Era

Website: http://pitchforkeconomics.com

Facebook: Pitchfork Economics Podcast

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Substack: The Pitch

Revisiting the Rise and Fall of the Neoliberal Order (with Gary Gerstle)

Americans have been told that working harder is the path to dignity, security, and success. But what if that promise was hijacked?

This week, we’re revisiting our episode with Professor Elizabeth Anderson, where she exposes how neoliberalism weaponized the “work ethic” — transforming a moral tradition that once honored workers into a system that blames them, exploits them, and rewards extraction over contribution. Drawing from her new book Hijacked, Anderson traces how today’s economy punishes labor, glorifies predatory wealth, and rigs the rules against working people — and what it would take to take the work ethic back.

Elizabeth Anderson is the Max Mendel Shaye Professor of Public Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at University of Michigan. She is the author of Value in Ethics and Economics, The Imperative of Integration, and Private Government: How Employers Rule Our Lives (and Why We Don't Talk about It). She is a MacArthur Fellow and Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Social Media:

@UMPhilosophy

Further reading: 

Hijacked: How Neoliberalism Turned the Work Ethic Against Workers and How Workers Can Take It Back

Private Government: How Employers Rule Our Lives (and Why We Don't Talk about It)

Website: http://pitchforkeconomics.com

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Twitter: @PitchforkEcon, @NickHanauer

Substack: ⁠The Pitch⁠

Revisiting How Neoliberalism Turned the Work Ethic Against Workers (with Elizabeth Anserson)

Most people buy the fiction that markets are “natural,” inequality is inevitable, and government should step aside — but where did that idea come from?

In this episode from 2019, Nick and Goldy talk with English journalist George Monbiot and American journalist and author Binyamin Appelbaum about how neoliberalism was deliberately built and sold — not stumbled into.

They unpack how economists, funders, and institutions rewrote the rules to favor markets over people, shifted political norms, and made extreme inequality seem inevitable — and what that history means for reclaiming an economy that works for everyone.

George Monbiot is an English journalist, author, and political/environmental activist. He writes a regular column for The Guardian and has published several books on politics, ecology, and society. He’s known for critiquing corporate power, neoliberal economics, and environmental degradation. 

Binyamin Appelbaum is an American journalist and author. He is a lead writer on business and economics for The New York Times editorial board. He previously covered the Federal Reserve and economic policy for the Times and has written widely on how markets and policy shape society.

Social Media:

georgemonbiot.bsky.social

bcappelbaum.bsky.social

@BCAppelbaum

Further Reading: 

The Economists' Hour: False Prophets, Free Markets, and the Fracture of Society

Website: http://pitchforkeconomics.com

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Twitter: @PitchforkEcon, @NickHanauer

Substack: ⁠The Pitch⁠

The Story That Built Today’s Economy (with George Monbiot and Binyamin Appelbaum)

For more than a century, economists have told us they’re simply “describing the world as it is.” But what if their theories aren’t neutral — and are quietly doing enormous harm?

This week, we’re joined by economist George DeMartino, author of The Tragic Science, who makes a devastating case that modern economics has helped legitimize policies that shattered communities, fueled inequality, and even cost millions of lives — all while claiming scientific objectivity. DeMartino exposes how orthodox economics trained itself to dismiss real suffering as abstract and acceptable — as long as the aggregate numbers looked good.

If you’ve ever wondered why economic “expertise” keeps failing working people, this conversation connects the dots.

George DeMartino is a Professor of Economics at the Josef Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver. He is the author of The Tragic Science: How Economists Cause Harm (Even as They Aspire to Do Good) and The Economist’s Oath. His work examines the moral obligations of economists, the profession’s history of harm—including what he calls econogenic harm—and the need for a new ethics grounded in humility, uncertainty, and democratic accountability.

Further reading: 

The Tragic Science: How Economists Cause Harm (Even as They Aspire to Do Good)

The Economist’s Oath: On the Need for and Content of Professional Economic Ethics

Website: http://pitchforkeconomics.com

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Substack: ⁠The Pitch⁠

How Economists Cause Harm Even as They Aspire to Do Good (with George DeMartino)

We at Pitchfork Economics were saddened to learn of the passing of the brilliant economist Alan Krueger last weekend. We were fortunate to speak with him last year - here’s the full conversation.

BONUS: Alan Krueger - Unedited Conversation

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