Economic and Business History

Economic and Business History

episodes

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

Leda M Perez, "Searching for Democracy: Women, Domestic Work, and Social Reproduction in Latin America" (Temple UP, 2026)

September 13, 2026

Searching for Democracy

Leda M Perez
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

How can we achieve lasting social and political equality for women? Dr. Leda Pérez tackles this thorny question in Searching for Democracy: Women, Dom…

Gavin Healy, "A Guide to Mao’s China: Showing the Nation to Foreign Guests" (Cornell UP, 2026)

September 11, 2026

A Guide to Mao's China

Gavin Healy

A Guide to Mao’s China: Showing the Nation to Foreign Guests (Cornell UP, 2026) by Gavin Healy explores how tourism was reshaped during the Mao era. I…

Violaine Roussel, "Data-Driven Hollywood: The New Data Professionals in the Age of Streaming" (Princeton UP, 2026)

September 7, 2026

Data-Driven Hollywood

Violaine Roussel
Hosted by Pete Kunze

In Hollywood today, thousands of data specialists work for streaming video platforms, playing a role not just in distribution and marketing but also i…

Kevin Van Meter and Robert Ovetz eds. "Points of Departure: Refusal of Work and the Crisis of Capitalism: the Collected Writings of Harry Cleaver" (Common Notions, 2026)

September 7, 2026

Points of Departure

Harry Cleaver and Editors Kevin Van Meter and Robert Ovetz
Hosted by Keith Krueger

“The general thrust of capitalist policy in this period aims at the intensified imposition of work in response to ongoing struggle against it.” —Harry…

Autumn Lorimer Linford, "Extra! Extra! A History of America's Girl Newsies" (U Nebraska Press, 2026)

September 5, 2026

Extra! Extra!

Autumn Lorimer Linford
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

American pop culture loves newsies. The children who bawled out headlines and sold newspapers on city streets in the late nineteenth and early twentie…

Alfie Marcus on How Great Companies Can Rise Again

September 4, 2026

Comeback

Alfred Marcus
Hosted by Caleb Zakarin

Alfie Marcus is ordinarily the host of On the Cusp Between Strategy and Ethics, where he interviews authors about the intersection of organizational s…

Baruch Fischhoff, "Bounded Disciplines and Unbounded Problems: A Vision for Management Science" (Oxford UP, 2025)

September 4, 2026

Bounded Disciplines and Unbounded Problems

Baruch Fischhoff
Hosted by Alfred Marcus

Baruch Fischhoff's Bounded Disciplines and Unbounded Problems: A Vision for Management Science (Oxford University Press, 2025), part of the Clarendon …

Xiaochang Li, "Divination Engines: Natural Language Processing, Artificial Intelligence, and the Making of Algorithmic Culture" (U Chicago Press, 2026)

September 2, 2026

Divination Engines

Xiaochang Li
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Since the advent of computers, society has fantasized about conversing with machines. In Divination Engines: Natural Language Processing, Artificial I…

Tom Trier, "Blue Sea, Black Gold, Red Banner: The South Caucasus and Scandinavia, 1880s–1920s" (Northern Illinois UP, 2026)

August 30, 2026

Blue Sea, Black Gold, Red Banner

Tom Trier
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Blue Sea, Black Gold, Red Banner: The South Caucasus and Scandinavia, 1880s–1920s (Northern Illinois University Press, 2026) tells the story of the …

Mark S. LeClair, "Foul Play in the Nonprofit Sector: Analyzing Corruption in US Charities" (Palgrave Macmillan, 2024)

August 28, 2026

Foul Play in the Nonprofit Sector

Mark S. LeClair
Hosted by Nick Pozek

It is quite easy to find corruption within nonprofits. This is particularly the case in the subsector of not-for-profits that are incorporated as trad…

Kanchana N. Ruwanpura and Wilfried Swenden eds., "Protecting Workers? Crisis, COVID-19 and South Asia" (Helsinki UP, 2026)

August 27, 2026

Protecting Workers?

Kanchana N. Ruwanpura and Wilfried Swenden eds.

In our recent conversation about Protecting Workers? Crisis, COVID-19 and South Asia (Helsinki UP, 2026), the editors Kanchana N. Ruwanpura and Wilfri…

China Office of Finnish Industries

August 27, 2026

China Office of Finnish Industries

Kevin Broady, Marleena Makkonen and Anton Karppanen

Why have Finland’s biggest multinationals teamed up to create a globally unique analysis hub just to decode the future of China? Meet the analysts who…

Dimple Abichandani, "A New Era of Philanthropy: Ten Practices to Transform Wealth into a More Just and Sustainable Future" (North Atlantic Books, 2025)

August 26, 2026

A New Era of Philanthropy

Dimple Abichandani
Hosted by Nick Pozek

Can philanthropy be an anti-racist, feminist, relational, and joyful expression of solidarity? This book argues that it not only can be for the future…

Shelly Lundberg "How Economics Discovered Women: Bringing Gender Economics into the Twenty-First Century" (U California Press, 2026)

August 25, 2026

How Economics Discovered Women

Shelly Lundberg
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

In the 1970s, as women started to enter the labor force in unprecedented numbers, economists began to examine their roles as economic actors. The resu…

Brian Callaci, "Chains of Command: The Rise and Cruel Reign of the Franchise Economy" (U Chicago Press, 2026)

August 25, 2026

Chains of Command

Brian Callaci
Hosted by Anna Olteanu

Chains of Command: The Rise and Cruel Reign of the Franchise Economy (University of Chicago Press, 2026) is a surprising look at the big business of o…

Sandeep Vaheesan, "Democracy in Power: A History of Electrification in the United States" (U Chicago Press, 2024)

August 22, 2026

Democracy in Power

Sandeep Vaheesan
Hosted by Anna Olteanu

In Democracy in Power: A History of Electrification in the United States (University of Chicago Press, 2024), Sandeep Vaheesan recounts the rather ove…

China Comes to Town: Chinese Investment and Local Politics in the U.S. with Emily Conrad

August 21, 2026

China Comes to Town:

with Emily Conrad

Chinese investment in the United States has become an increasingly contentious issue that is much more complicated than headlines suggest. In this epi…

A Succinct View of How AI is Changing Business and Work Right Now

August 20, 2026

A Succinct View of How AI is Changing Business and Work Right Now

Stephanie Kim

Does it seem like the business world is in its own version of an arms race to figure out AI? It’s a moment when even a little wisdom, grounded in exp…

Claudia Kreklau, "The Making of Modern Eating: How the German Middle Class Forged the Way We Eat, 1780–1910" (Berghahn, 2026)

August 20, 2026

The Making of Modern Eating

Claudia Kreklau
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Nineteenth-century Germany invented the way we eat. Women experimenting in households, French chefs fleeing guillotines, and one of the most rapid…

Nancy Folbre, "Making Care Work: Why Our Economy Should Put People First" (U California Press, 2026)

August 19, 2026

Making Care Work

Nancy Folbre

A bold critique of conventional economics that reveals why the time and money we devote to care work is vital to our economic future.Our economy is mu…