Economic and Business History

Economic and Business History

episodes

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

Kati Curts, "Assembling Religion: The Ford Motor Company and the Transformation of Religion in America" (NYU Press, 2025)

June 2, 2026

Assembling Religion

Kati Curts
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Henry Ford did not just mass produce cars. As a member of the Episcopal Church, reader of New Thought texts, believer in the “gospel of reincarn…

Chloe Chapin, "Suitable: The Sartorial Revolution and the Fashioning of Modern Men" (Oxford UP, 2026)

May 31, 2026

Suitable

Chloe Chapin
Hosted by Caleb Zakarin

How did black suits become so ubiquitous? Why has men's business clothing been so plain for the last 250 years? How did a style adopted by the Foundin…

Charlie Qiuli Xue and Arwen Yingting Chen, "American-Designed Shopping Malls in China" (Hong Kong UP, 2026)

May 30, 2026

American-Designed Shopping Malls in China

Charlie Qiuli Xue and Arwen Yingting Chen
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

China’s remarkable journey from poverty to becoming the world’s second-largest economic power is marked by extraordinary urban growth and consumpt…

Kevin Warsh: "What did you have to say in order to get this job?"

May 30, 2026

Kevin Warsh: "What did you have to say in order to get this job?"

Claire Jones, Michael Redmond and Catarina Saraiva
Hosted by Tim Jones

More than any single institution, the US Federal Reserve drives global financial markets with its decisions and communications. While its interest rat…

Sean Scalmer, "A Fair Day's Work: The Quest to Win Back Time" (Simon and Schuster, 2025)

May 29, 2026

A Fair Day's Work

Sean Scalmer
Hosted by Hannah Forsyth

Australia has a special place in the history of struggle for a Fair Day's Work. In giving a history of Australian worker struggles over the length of…

Ashley Rose Young, "Nourishing Networks: The Public Culture of Food in New Orleans" (Oxford UP, 2025)

May 29, 2026

Nourishing Networks

Ashley Rose Young
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

For much of the Crescent City's history, days began with the cries of roaming street vendors and the percussive thwack of butchers' meat cleavers echo…

Billionaire Backlash: Can It Help Save Democracy?

May 26, 2026

Billionaire Backlash

Pepper Culpepper, Blavatnik Professor of Government and Public Policy at Oxford University

This week on Democracy Dialogues, host Maya Tudor speaks with her colleague and fellow political scientist Pepper Culpepper about his new book Billion…

Jeremy Yellen, "The Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere: When Total Empire Met Total War" (Cornell UP, 2019)

May 25, 2026

The Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere

Jeremy Yellen
Hosted by Nathan Hopson

Jeremy Yellen’s The Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere: When Total Empire Met Total War (Cornell University Press, 2019) is a challenging transnat…

Daniela Soto-Hernández, "Lithium Extraction in Chile: Ontological, Ecological and Economic Dimensions" (Routledge, 2025)

May 24, 2026

Lithium Extraction in Chile

Daniela Soto-Hernández

Lithium Extraction in Chile: Ontological, Ecological and Economic Dimensions (Routledge, 2025) is a new book from Dr Daniela Soto-Hernández, a Social …

Jason S. Spicer, "Co-Operative Enterprise in Comparative Perspective: Exceptionally Un-American?" (Oxford UP, 2024)

May 23, 2026

Co-Operative Enterprise in Comparative Perspective

Jason S Spicer
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Co-operative enterprises, which are democratically owned and governed by their workers, customers, or suppliers, have long captured the imagination of…

Utku Balaban, "Industrial Islamism: How Authoritarian Movements Mobilize Workers" (U California Press, 2025)

May 20, 2026

Industrial Islamism

Utku Balaban
Hosted by Jaclyn Michael

What explains the rise of religious populism in contemporary Turkish politics and society? How does industrialization help to explain change and…

Alice von Bieberstein, "Temptations in Ruin: Sovereign Accumulation and the Making of Post-Genocide Turkey" (U Pennsylvania Press, 2025)

May 17, 2026

Temptations in Ruin

Alice von Bieberstein
Hosted by Armanc Yildiz

Temptations in Ruin: Sovereign Accumulation and the Making of Post-Genocide Turkey (U Pennsylvania Press, 2025) examines the political-economic afterl…

Gerald F. Davis, "Taming Corporate Power in the 21st Century" (Cambridge UP, 2022)

May 16, 2026

Taming Corporate Power in the 21st Century

Gerald F. Davis
Hosted by Alfred Marcus

Information and communication technologies have fundamentally altered the markets for capital, labor, supplies, and distribution in ways that underm…

Jesper Rangvid, "How Low Interest Rates Change the World: Global Trends Caused by Low Rates and Emerging Factors Shaping the Future of Rates" (Oxford UP, 2025)

May 16, 2026

How Low Interest Rates Change the World

Jesper Rangvid

How Low Interest Rates Change the World: Global Trends Caused by Low Rates and Emerging Factors Shaping the Future of Rates (Oxford UP, 2025) explore…

Gordon Simmons, "Mutiny in the Mountains: West Virginia Public Workers, 1969-2019" (PM Press, 2026)

May 15, 2026

Mutiny in the Mountains

Gordon Simmons
Hosted by Michael Stauch

Mutiny in the Mountains: West Virginia Public Workers, 1969-2019 (PM Press, 2026) uses labor history to show the way forward for millions of workers s…

Photis Lysandrou, "Dollar Dominance: Why It Rules the Global Economy and How to Challenge It" (Policy Press, 2025)

May 12, 2026

Dollar Dominance

Photis Lysandrou

In a world shaken by crises, why does the dollar continue to dominate? In Dollar Dominance: Why It Rules the Global Economy and How to Challenge It (P…

Benjamin Robert Siegel, "Markets of Pain: Opium, Capitalism, and the Global History of Painkillers" (Oxford UP, 2026)

May 12, 2026

Markets of Pain

Benjamin Robert Siegel
Hosted by Tom Sojka

Markets of Pain offers a sweeping history of the business of licit opium--following cultivators, merchants, scientists, and policymakers--and shows ho…

Stephan Meier, "The Employee Advantage: How Putting Workers First Helps Business Thrive" (PublicAffairs, 2024)

May 9, 2026

The Employee Advantage

Stephan Meier
Hosted by Alfred Marcus

In an ever-shifting work landscape, leaders can no longer ignore their most overlooked stakeholders—their employees. In The Employee Advantage: How Pu…

Claudia Goldin, "Career and Family: Women’s Century-Long Journey toward Equity" (Princeton UP, 2021)

May 6, 2026

Career and Family

Claudia Goldin
Hosted by Marshall Poe

A century ago, it was a given that a woman with a college degree had to choose between having a career and a family. Today, there are more female coll…

Angela Dimitrakaki, "Feminism. Art. Capitalism" (Pluto Press, 2026)

May 6, 2026

Feminism. Art. Capitalism.

Angela Dimitrakaki
Hosted by Dave O'Brien

Can art change the contemporary world? In Feminism, Art, Capitalism Angela Dimitrakaki, a Professor of Contemporary Art History and Theory at the univ…