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Economic and Business History
Higher Education February 2, 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 …

Economic and Business History

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

Peoples & Things February 1, 2023

Inventing American Telecommunications

A Conversation with Richard John

Richard John

Hosted by Lee Vinsel
Historian Richard John, professor of journalism at Columbia University, talks about his book, Network Nation: Inventing American Telecommunications, with Peoples & Things host, Lee Vinsel. Network Nation is a history …
Gender Studies January 31, 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 …
Diplomatic History January 31, 2023

Petroleum and Progress in Iran

Oil, Development, and the Cold War

Greg Brew

Hosted by Grant Golub
From the 1940s to 1960s, Iran developed into the world's first “petro-state,” where oil represented the bulk of state revenue and supported an industrializing economy, expanding middle class, and powerful …
Peoples & Things January 28, 2023

Business in Socialist Hungary

A Discussion with Phil Scranton

Phil Scranton

Hosted by Lee Vinsel
Philip Scranton, University Board of Governors Professor Emeritus of the history of industry and technology at Rutgers University-Camden, talks about his book, Business Practice In Socialist Hungary, Volume 1: Creating …
The Future of . . . with Owen Bennett-Jones January 28, 2023

The Future of Computer Chips

A Discussion with Julian Kamasa

Julian Kamasa

Hosted by Owen Bennett-Jones
Microchips are both important and in short supply. So how important? And what can be done to make them more plentiful? Also, what are the geopolitical implications of having the …
Peoples & Things January 27, 2023

The History of Electricity in Mexico

A Discussion with Diana Montaño

Diana Montaño

Hosted by Lee Vinsel
In her detailed cultural history of technological change, Electrifying Mexico, Diana Montaño argues that ordinary Mexicans became electrifying agents who actively negotiated the extent and manner electricity entered their lives …
Peoples & Things January 26, 2023

The Archaeology of Innovation

A Discussion with Catherine Frieman

Catherine Frieman

Hosted by Lee Vinsel
Catherine Frieman, an associate professor of European Archaeology at the School of Archaeology, talks about her recent book, An Archaeology of Innovation: Approaching Social and Technological Change in Human Society …
SSEAC Stories January 26, 2023

Shaping Civilisations

The Sea in Asian History

Eric Tagliocozzo

Hosted by Natali Pearson
The ocean is more connective device than barrier, bringing together diverse topics, time-periods and geographies. It has linked and connected the various littorals of Asia into a segmented, yet at …
Economics January 24, 2023

Power and Prediction

The Disruptive Economics of Artificial Intelligence

Ajay Agrawal, Joshua Gans, and Avi Goldfarb

Hosted by Peter Lorentzen
Disruption resulting from the proliferation of AI is coming. The authors of the bestselling Prediction Machines describe what you can do to prepare. Banking and finance, pharmaceuticals, automotive, medical technology …
Peoples & Things January 24, 2023

The History of Temp Work

A Discussion with Louis Hyman

Louis Hyman

Hosted by Lee Vinsel
Historian Louis Hyman, professor and director of the Institute of Workplace Studies at Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations, talks about his book, Temp: How American Work, American …
Caribbean Studies January 22, 2023

Tell My Mother I Gone to Cuba

Stories of Early Twentieth-century Migration from Barbados

Sharon Milagro Marshall

Hosted by Carmen Gomez-Galisteo
Barbadians were among the thousands of British West Indians who migrated to Cuba in the early twentieth century in search of work. They were drawn there by employment opportunities fueled …
Environmental Studies January 21, 2023

Endangered Maize

Industrial Agriculture and the Crisis of Extinction

Helen Anne Curry

Hosted by Isobel Akerman
In Endangered Maize: Industrial Agriculture and the Crisis of Extinction (U California Press, 2022), historian Helen Anne Curry investigates more than a hundred years of agriculture and conservation practices to …
Economics January 21, 2023

Risky Business

Why Insurance Markets Fail and What to Do About It

Liran Einav, Amy Finkelstein, and Ray Fisman

Hosted by John Emrich
Why is dental insurance so crummy? Why is pet insurance so expensive? Why does your auto insurer ask for your credit score? The answer to these questions lies in understanding …
Economic and Business History January 21, 2023

Critical Junctures and Historical Legacies

Insights and Methods for Comparative Social Science

David Collier and Gerardo L. Munck

Hosted by Javier Mejia
Over the past 50 years, scholars across the social sciences have employed critical juncture analysis to understand how social orders are created, become entrenched, and change. In this book, leading …
Asian Review of Books January 19, 2023

Ships in the Desert

Jeff Fearnside

Hosted by Nicholas Gordon
Many of us have likely seen photos of the Aral Sea, and the rusted Soviet-era ships, sitting in the desert with no water in sight. The Aral Sea is now …
Peoples & Things January 19, 2023

Automating Finance

A Discussion with Juan Pablo Pardo-Guerra

Juan Pablo Pardo-Guerra

Hosted by Lee Vinsel
Sociologist Juan Pablo Pardo-Guerra, a professor at University of California San Diego, talks about his book Automating Finance: Infrastructures, Engineers, and the Making of Electronic Markets (Cambridge UP, 2019) with Peoples & …
Peoples & Things January 18, 2023

Shoddy: Recycled Textiles in History

A Discussion with Hanna Rose Shell

Hanna Rose Shell

Hosted by Lee Vinsel
Historian Hanna Rose Shell, a professor at University of Colorado – Boulder, talks about her book Shoddy: From Devil’s Dust to the Renaissance of Rags with Peoples & Things host Lee …
Critical Theory January 17, 2023

The Coming of the American Behemoth

The Origins of Fascism in the United States, 1920 -1940

Michael Joseph Roberto

Hosted by Stephen Dozeman
The election of Donald Trump in 2016 shocked and appalled a number of people, forcing a critical reevaluation of what was possible, and what we ought to be vigilant …
Peoples & Things January 17, 2023

The Ideology of Innovation in India

A Conversation with Lilly Irani

Lilly Irani

Hosted by Lee Vinsel
Science and Technologies scholar Lilly Irani talks her book, Chasing Innovation: Making Entrepreneurial Citizens in Modern India (Princeton UP, 2019) with Peoples & Things host Lee Vinsel. Irani’s work examines the ideological …