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Economic and Business History
The Future of . . . with Owen Bennett-Jones June 3, 2023

The Future of Big Finance

A Discussion with Anastasia Nesvetailova

Anastasia Nesvetailova and Ronen Palan

Hosted by Owen Bennett-Jones
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How common is financial malpractice in big, well known financial companies? Is it so common that it should really be seen as a business model more than an occasional aberration …

Economic and Business History

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Interviews with scholars of economic and business history about their new books.

Biography June 2, 2023

Money and Empire

Charles P. Kindleberger and the Dollar System

Perry Mehrling

Hosted by Caleb Zakarin
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Charles Kindleberger ranks as one of the twentieth century's best known and most influential international economists. This book traces the evolution of his thinking in the context of a 'key-currency' …
Sociology June 2, 2023

The Narrow Corridor

States, Societies, and the Fate of Liberty

Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson

Hosted by Gregory LaBlanc
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Does a strong state mean a weak market? This is a common misconception amongst economists. Many view the state as either taxing and regulating the market too much or too …
Sociology June 1, 2023

The Delusions of Crowds

Why People Go Mad in Groups

William J. Bernstein

Hosted by Gregory LaBlanc
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What do financial bubbles and religious millenarianism have in common? They both involve collective delusion. When Charles Mackey wrote a book on the Madness of Crowds in the 19th century …
Economic and Business History May 31, 2023

International Business in Australia before World War One

Shaping a Multinational Economy

Simon Ville and David Merrett

Hosted by Paula De La Cruz-Fernández
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This episode features Professor Simon Ville talking about his latest book with David Merrett International Business in Australia Before World War One: Shaping a Multinational Economy (Palgrave MacMillan, 2022). This …
Economic and Business History May 28, 2023

Better Money

Gold, Fiat, or Bitcoin?

Lawrence H. White

Hosted by Bernardo Batiz-Lazo
The recent rise of dollar, pound, and euro inflation rates has rekindled the debate over potential alternative monies, particularly gold and Bitcoin. Though Bitcoin has been much discussed in recent …
Indian Ocean World May 27, 2023

Cargoes in Motion

Materiality and Connectivity Across the Indian Ocean

Burkhard Schnepel and Julia Verne

Hosted by Ahmed Almaazmi
Cargoes in Motion: Materiality and Connectivity Across the Indian Ocean (Ohio University Press, 2022) is an innovative collection of essays that foregrounds specific cargoes as a means to understand connectivity and …
Early Modern History May 26, 2023

In Fortune's Theater

Financial Risk and the Future in Renaissance Italy

Nicholas Scott Baker

Hosted by Michael Martoccio
In this episode, I was joined by Nicholas Scott Baker to discuss his book, In Fortune’s Theater: Financial Risk and the Future in Renaissance Italy (Cambridge University Press, 2021). Professor …
Madison's Notes May 26, 2023

Missing: Men at Work

A Conversation with Nick Eberstadt

Nick Eberstadt

Hosted by Annika Nordquist
Over six million prime-age men are neither working nor looking for work; America's low unemployment rate hides the fact that many men have dropped out of the workforce altogether. Our …
General History May 26, 2023

On Time

A History of Western Timekeeping

Kenneth Mondschein

Hosted by Boris Karpa
Western culture has been obsessed with regulating society by the precise, accurate measurement of time since the Middle Ages. In On Time: A History of Western Timekeeping (Johns Hopkins UP …
Jewish Studies May 25, 2023

A Brilliant Commodity

Diamonds and Jews in a Modern Setting

Saskia Coenen Snyder

Hosted by Miranda Melcher
During the late nineteenth century, tens of thousands of diggers, prospectors, merchants, and dealers extracted and shipped over 50 million carats of diamonds from South Africa to London. The primary …
Economics May 24, 2023

The Global Architecture of Multilateral Development Banks

A System of Debt or Development?

Adrian R. Bazbauers and Susan Engel

Hosted by Sidney Michelini
Adrian Bazbauers and Susan Engel’s 2021 book The Global Architecture of Multilateral Development Banks: A System of Debt or Development? (Routledge, 2023) explores the evolution of the 30 functioning multilateral development …
Military History May 23, 2023

The Rise of the Military Entrepreneur

War, Diplomacy, and Knowledge in Habsburg Europe

Suzanne Sutherland

Hosted by Douglas Bell
In The Rise of the Military Entrepreneur: War, Diplomacy, and Knowledge in Habsburg Europe (Cornell UP, 2022), Suzanne Sutherland explores the role of the military entrepreneur and explains how these international …
American West May 22, 2023

Arid Empire

The Entangled Fates of Arizona and Arabia

Natalie Koch

Hosted by Miranda Melcher
The iconic deserts of the American southwest could not have been colonized and settled without the help of desert experts from the Middle East. For example: In 1856, a caravan …
Madison's Notes May 22, 2023

Truth, Fiction, and Student Loan Forgiveness

A Conversation with Beth Akers

Beth Akers

Hosted by Annika Nordquist
With the Biden Administration's student loan relief coming down the pike, Annika sits down with Dr. Beth Akers, a Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute who specializes in higher …
African Studies May 20, 2023

Touts

Recruiting Indentured Labor in the Gulf of Guinea

Enrique Martino

Hosted by Sara Katz
Touts: Recruiting Indentured Labor in the Gulf of Guinea (de Gruyter, 2022) is a historical account of the troubled formation of a colonial labor market in the Gulf of Guinea …
British Studies May 19, 2023

Eating the Empire

Food and Society in Eighteenth-Century Britain

Troy Bickham

Hosted by Morteza Hajizadeh
When students gathered in a London coffeehouse and smoked tobacco; when Yorkshire women sipped sugar-infused tea; or when a Glasgow family ate a bowl of Indian curry, were they aware …
Madison's Notes May 19, 2023

Inflation, Past and Present

A Conversation with Tyler Goodspeed

Tyler Goodspeed

Hosted by Annika Nordquist
We all know that things are a little more expensive when we head to the grocery store. But what does inflation actually mean? How did we get to where we …
Public Policy May 18, 2023

The Ends of Freedom

Reclaiming America's Lost Promise of Economic Rights

Mark Paul

Hosted by Caleb Zakarin
Since the Founding, Americans have debated the true meaning of freedom. For some, freedom meant the provision of life's necessities, those basic conditions for the "pursuit of happiness." For others …
Politics & Polemics May 17, 2023

Silent Coup

How Corporations Overthrew Democracy

Claire Provost and Matt Kennard

Hosted by Miranda Melcher
As European empires crumbled in the 20th century, the power structures that had dominated the world for centuries were up for renegotiation. Yet instead of a rebirth for democracy, what …