Podcast appearances and mentions of Karl Polanyi

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 25, 2023 29:00

durée : 00:29:00 - Avoir raison avec... - Comment penser une démocratie "véritablement humaine" grâce à Polanyi ? Que reste-t-il de sa pensée depuis sa mort en 1964 ? Et comment se libérer des mythes qu'impose l'économie de marché ? Retrouvons, au fil des crises du 20e et du 21e siècles, ce que Polanyi a laissé. - invités : Marguerite Mendell chercheuse à l'Université Concordia au Québec et directrice de l'Institut Karl Polanyi; Augustin Sersiron enseignant-chercheur à l'université Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne, docteur en philosophie politique et en économie; Catherine Aubertin Economiste de l'environnement, et directrice de recherche à l'Institut de recherche pour le développement (IRD), affectée au Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle

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Avoir raison avec... Karl Polanyi 4/5 : L'homme n'est pas un animal économique

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 24, 2023 28:51

durée : 00:28:51 - Avoir raison avec... - Pour mieux dénoncer la toute-puissance du marché dans les sociétés modernes, Polanyi explore l'économie des sociétés archaïques. Du code d'Hammurabi à Aristote, il montre que si les échanges commerciaux structuraient les sociétés, ils étaient régis par des lois toutes autres que celles du marché. - invités : Alain Caillé Économiste, sociologue; Alain Guéry Historien, directeur de recherche au CNRS

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Avoir raison avec... Karl Polanyi 3/5 : Du marché au fascisme : "Ainsi périssent les civilisations"

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 23, 2023 28:55

durée : 00:28:55 - Avoir raison avec... - Karl Polanyi affirme qu'en niant le caractère social de la vie en communauté, la société de marché ne pouvait qu'engendrer le chaos. Comment la société née du 19e siècle a-t-elle abouti au fascisme des années 1930 ? L'économie libérale est-elle nécessairement une menace pour la démocratie ? - invités : Nicolas Postel professeur d'économie à l'Université de Lille

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Avoir raison avec... Karl Polanyi 2/5 : “Le capitalisme arriva sans avoir été annoncé”

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 22, 2023 28:58

durée : 00:28:58 - Avoir raison avec... - par : Aliette Hovine - En 1944, Karl Polanyi publie "La Grande Transformation", son œuvre la plus connue à ce jour. Il y expose les concepts fondateurs de sa pensée : désencastrement, avènement du marché autorégulateur, marchandisation fictive... Quels périls l'économiste a-t-il perçu dans l'Angleterre du 19e siècle ? - invités : Bernard Chavance Professeur émérite à l'Université Paris Diderot; Ophélie Siméon Maître de conférences en Civilisation britannique à l'université Sorbonne-Nouvelle (Paris 3)

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Avoir raison avec... Karl Polanyi 1/5 : Un économiste contre l'économisme

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 21, 2023 30:33

durée : 00:30:33 - Avoir raison avec... - par : Aliette Hovine - Pourquoi Karl Polanyi (1886-1964), intellectuel a priori bien sous tous rapports, décide-t-il de consacrer son œuvre à critiquer la société de marché ? Retour sur la construction d'une pensée iconoclaste à travers les exils et les prises de position d'un économiste rebelle à la plume bien trempée. - invités : Jérôme Maucourant Maître de conférences en sciences économiques

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Slouching towards Utopia, with Brad DeLong

The Vital Center

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 3, 2023 67:09

For most of our ten thousand years on the planet, the vast majority of humanity endured lives of dire poverty and extreme material deprivation. Most people spent most of their time worrying about securing the bare minimum of food and shelter. The Industrial Revolution began to change that dynamic. Still, the British economist and philosopher John Stuart Mill was correct to question in the early 1870s whether “all the mechanical inventions yet made have lightened the day's toil of any human being.” Soon after, however, the emergence of globalization, the industrial research laboratory, and the modern corporation made possible a rapid upward trajectory in human flourishing and an end to near-universal agrarian poverty. Another British economist, John Maynard Keynes, foresaw in 1930 that the continued progress of science and compound interest could mean that human beings, liberated from pressing economic cares, might find their real challenge to be how to occupy their leisure time and “live wisely and agreeably and well.” But the explosion of productivity and prosperity over the 140 years that followed the takeoff point in 1870 did not see humanity zooming toward Utopia; at best, we slouched fitfully in that direction. Brad DeLong, an economics professor at the University of California at Berkeley, has written a much-anticipated history of what he calls “the long twentieth century” from 1870 to 2010, entitled Slouching Towards Utopia: An Economic History of the Twentieth Century. In it, he explains how we achieved economic breakthroughs that once would have been considered miraculous — and yet fell short of what that breakthrough promised. And DeLong also explains why he believes that the era of remarkable prosperity, for all its problems and inequities, has now ended. In this podcast discussion, Niskanen's Brink Lindsey and Geoff Kabaservice talk with DeLong about why the material abundance that resulted from the great acceleration after 1870 was unevenly distributed between nations and within them, why developmental social democracy failed its sustainability test, and how the long twentieth century was in a sense a contest between the ideas of the towering thinkers Friedrich Hayek and Karl Polanyi. The discussion also covers differing perspectives on “the neoliberal turn,” speculations about how to benefit from the best aspects of neoliberalism and social democracy while avoiding their pitfalls, and a hypothesis as to why capitalism is like the brooms in “The Sorcerer's Apprentice.”

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Ep. 195: Karl Polanyi und die Entstehung des Arbeitsmarktes

Wohlstand für Alle

Play Episode Listen Later May 3, 2023 27:13

Damit der Kapitalismus funktioniert, ist er auf einen Arbeitsmarkt angewiesen, denn auch die Arbeitskraft ist eine Ware. Heute ist das eine Selbstverständlichkeit, doch in den Anfängen des kapitalistischen Systems war dies keineswegs der Fall: Während Ende des 18. Jahrhunderts in England die Industrialisierung bereits rasant wuchs und ein bürgerliches Unternehmertum entstand, sorgte ein Armengesetz dafür, dass kein freier Arbeitsmarkt sich etablieren konnte. Es gab eine verwunderliche Gleichzeitigkeit von Fortschritt und Rückschritt zu beobachten, als 1795 Friedensrichter in Speenhamland in Berkshire ein Aufstockermodell ins Leben riefen, das die Landarbeiter vor Verarmung beschützen sollte. Dieses aus gutem Ansinnen erdachte System war ein letzter Ausläufer des feudalen Paternalismus, der gleichzeitig im krassen Gegensatz zu den allgemeinen Entwicklungen in den Städten und im Welthandel stand – denn die moderne Wirtschaftswelt gierte nach Arbeitskräften. Unternehmer suchten dringend Menschen, die ihre Subsistenzwirtschaft hinter sich ließen, um möglichst viel in Fabriken zu schuften. Das ging nur mit Zuckerbrot und Peitsche. Dem aber stand das Speenhamland-System im Wege, das noch bis 1834 galt. In der neuen Folge von „Wohlstand für Alle“ ergründen Ole Nymoen und Wolfgang M. Schmitt die Entstehung des modernen Arbeitsmarkts. Ihr könnt uns unterstützen - herzlichen Dank! Paypal: https://www.paypal.me/oleundwolfgang Konto: Wolfgang M. Schmitt, Ole Nymoen Betreff: Wohlstand fuer Alle IBAN: DE67 5745 0120 0130 7996 12 BIC: MALADE51NWD Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/oleundwolfgang Steady: https://steadyhq.com/de/oleundwolfgang/about Social Media: Instagram: Unser gemeinsamer Kanal: https://www.instagram.com/oleundwolfgang/ Ole: https://www.instagram.com/ole.nymoen/ Wolfgang: https://www.instagram.com/wolfgangmschmitt/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@oleundwolfgang Twitter: Unser gemeinsamer Kanal: https://twitter.com/OleUndWolfgang Ole: twitter.com/nymoen_ole Wolfgang: twitter.com/SchmittJunior Die gesamte WfA-Literaturliste: https://wohlstand-fuer-alle.netlify.app

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Serbest Piyasa Bir Ütopya Mıdır? | Kapitalizm Serisi: Karl Polanyi

49W

Play Episode Listen Later May 1, 2023 18:48

İbrahim'le birlikte efsane serimiz Kapitalizm de yeni bölümüyle geri döndü. Ömer ve İbrahim bu bölümde Karl Polanyi neden liberallerin bizi kandırdığını düşünüyor? Serbest piyasa ekonomisinin tam olarak uygulanamamasının sebebi anti-liberal bir komplo mu? Adam Smith'in homo economicus'u gerçek mi? Neden devlet ekonomiden elini bir türlü çekemiyor? sorularını ve daha fazlasını tartışıyor.

adam smith neden serbest kapitalizm karl polanyi piyasa

Episode 143 [1/3]: Emily Ruhl: Religiously-defensible, divinely-supported genocide

Hardly Working with Brent Orrell

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 29, 2023 69:39

Welcome to episode 143 of Activist #MMT. Today I talk with historian, author, and Harvard master's graduate, Emily Ruhl, on her new paper and master's thesis, In League with the Devine: How Religion Influenced Nazi Perpetrators of the Holocaust. This is the first of a three-part episode. You will find my full and detailed question list at the bottom of today's show notes. Also, be sure to see the list "audio chapters" in all three parts to find exactly where each topic is discussed. (Here are links to parts two and three. A list of the audio chapters in this episode can be found right below [above the full-question list].) (In order to preserve both my podcast and sanity as I proceed through the Torrens graduate program, I've decided to slow my podcast from one episode a week to once a month.) The Nazi Party started by trying to resist and reject all religion, but soon, religion became a fundamental part of the Party's strategy of coercing and propagandizing everybody, from members of the public, to the highest ranking figures in both religious and political institutions, into accepting the brutal and systematic murder of eleven-million souls. The Nazi religion took elements of Christianity, Protestantism, and Paganism, to make one geared not to brotherly love, but primarily to erasing non-Aryans from the Earth. This Nazi pseudo-religion served both as coercion – you must kill the unworthy, or at least stand back while others do – and also as a salve, to come to terms with what you've just done. As you'll hear in the cool quote for part two (the first minute before the opening music), that salve can make the difference between sanity and insanity, and life and death. The Nazi's didn't want to murder eleven million people, they had to, because God said they had to. It was "unfortunate, but necessary." My primary goal for this interview is to demonstrate how this is parallel to mainstream economics, which is also a tool to justify suffering, this time in the form of austerity. Instead of a gun to the head at point blank range, austerity is mass deprivation and exploitation, resulting in a slow and torturous death by despair, starvation, exposure, and untreated sickness and injury – not to mention wasted potential. We currently have the ability to provide all with what they desperately need, including healthcare, education, decent food and shelter, un-poisoned water, and breathable air. As illuminated by Kate Raworth's doughnut, if we are to continue existing as a species, then we must provide the desperate with what they most desperately need. At the same time, we also have to stop the very few on top from using the vast majority of our precious and limited resources to needlessly lavish themselves. Unfortunately, we are instead digging ourselves into an even deeper ecological crisis, when we should be getting off fossil fuels entirely, and restructuring society so we don't require as much. On our current path, in the not-too-distant future, it may indeed become unfortunate but necessary to choose who must be deprived in order for the rest to live. Of course, given our obscene and still growing inequality, the most powerful few will be the ones to make those decisions, and the least powerful many will be the sacrificed. This is the lifeboat economics of the tragedy of the tragedy of the commons. Instead of the around eleven million murdered by the Nazi Party, mainstream economics is little more than a religion to justify what may ultimately result in the death of not millions, but billions. Austerity is genocide at a slower pace. As if riding in a bus hurtling towards a cliff, we as a species currently face a binary choice, between having a terrible accident, and plunging off into oblivion. As Mark Twain said, "History never repeats itself, but it does often rhyme." There is still time to learn from that history. We can choose another path. On a completely unrelated side note, while attending her master's program, writing her master's thesis and working full time, Emily also wrote… an entire fantasy novel. You can find out more about it, and read the entire first chapter, at her website, emilyruhlbooks.com. In order to preserve both my podcast and my sanity as I proceed through Torrens University and Modern Money Lab's graduate program in MMT and ecological economics (

god jesus christ history canada google earth building sound germany west phd religion christianity german jewish racism harvard world war ii nazis jews catholic beatles citizens adolf hitler indiana jones passover holocaust propaganda required mainstream vatican atlantis great depression genocide holy grail mark twain martin luther ss new deal nazi germany conversely wwi blut semitism paganism modernity protestantism macroeconomics divinely austerity duplicate modern monetary theory mmt nazi party religiously kristallnacht calvin university kate raworth coerced torrens zygmunt bauman hellos elaborating ruhl stengel aryans albert speer great transformation glass steagall polanyi karl polanyi christopher browning torrens university in league franz stangl emily ruhl european monetary union activist mmt

EP 182 Brad DeLong on An Economic History of the 20th Century

The Jim Rutt Show

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 29, 2023 96:22

Jim talks with Brad DeLong about his book Slouching Toward Utopia: An Economic History of the Twentieth Century. They discuss how everything changed around 1870, the idea of a polycrisis, Friedrich von Hayek's affirmation of the market system, the calculation problem, Karl Polanyi's response, a quantitative index of technological knowledge, the pace of growth, the necessity of a grand narrative, Malthusianism, the lead-up to the Industrial Revolution, the invention of the industrial research lab, the Edison-Tesla fight, science as an institution, the transition away from force & fraud dominance, theories about the rise of global empires, communities of engineering practice, causes of World War I, Max Weber's German chauvinism, 30 glorious years of social democracy, the Macintosh launch commercial & the neoliberal turn, the evaporation of cultural conservatism, the liminal age, and much more. Episode Transcript Slouching Towards Utopia: An Economic History of the Twentieth Century, by Brad DeLong Local And Global Networks Of Immigrant Professionals In Silicon Valley, by AnnaLee Saxenian Brad DeLong is a professor of economics at the University of California at Berkeley. He was a deputy assistant secretary for economic policy at the U.S. Treasury during the Clinton Administration. He is a New York Times instant bestselling author, for Slouching Towards Utopia: An Economic History of the Twentieth Century, which was called: “magisterial” by Paul Krugman, "required reading” by Larry Summers, “immense scope and depth” by Diane Coyle, and “impressive… written with wit and style and a formidable command of detail” by Ryan Avent. He has been too online since 1995, now in the form of a SubStack, formerly at TypePad.

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The free-market century is over

The Ezra Klein Show

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 21, 2022 57:13

Glenn Hubbard on Protectionism and Economic Opportunity

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 20, 2022 53:37

Economic changes bring prosperity, but not without cost. The globalization of how we produce and consume has left many American workers in dead end jobs without prospects for advancement. Some critics of this change have argued for the necessity of walls to protect American industries from global competition and labor exploitation. In his new book The Wall and The Bridge: Fear and Opportunity in Disruption's Wake, Glenn Hubbard argues for bridges to economic opportunity. We discuss themes from his book in today's episode. https://www.aei.org/profile/r-glenn-hubbard/ (Glenn Hubbard) https://glennhubbard.net/ (The Wall and the Bridge) https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/R/bo4138549.html (The Road to Serfdom by F. A. Hayek) https://business.ucf.edu/person/kenneth-white/ (Ken White) https://nesa.org/about/ (Eagle Scout) https://www.adamsmith.org/the-wealth-of-nations (The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith) https://www.libertyfund.org/resources/adamsmithworks/ (Adam Smith Works - Liberty Fund) https://www.adamsmith.org/the-theory-of-moral-sentiments (The Theory of Moral Sentiments) https://www.adamsmithworks.org/documents/smith-on-sympathy-lauren-hall-12-1 (Smith's Idea of Mutual Sympathy) https://www.investopedia.com/terms/l/laissezfaire.asp (Laissez-Faire Economy) https://www.aei.org/research-products/report/dignity-at-work-reimagining-talent-acquisition-and-retention-with-worker-dignity-at-the-center/ (Dignity at Work by Brent Orrell) https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2004/08/20040810-12.html (President Bush's High Growth Job Training Initiative) https://www.hudexchange.info/programs/cdbg-entitlement/cdbg-entitlement-program-eligibility-requirements/ (Block-Granting Entitlement Programs) https://www.brookings.edu/book/growing-fairly/ (Growing Fairly by Stephen Goldsmith and Kate Markin Coleman) https://commons.vccs.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1000&context=inquiry (One Counselor for Every 1,000 students - Northern Virginia) https://commons.vccs.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1000&context=inquiry (Community College System) https://www.cbpp.org/sites/default/files/archive/1-31-03ui.htm (Personal Reemployment Accounts) https://eh.net/encyclopedia/the-roots-of-american-industrialization-1790-1860/ (American Industrialization) https://www.texastribune.org/2022/04/11/texas-border-inspections-truckers-protest/ (Mexican Truck Drivers Situation) https://www.dol.gov/general/topic/training/tradeact#:~:text=The%20Trade%20Adjustment%20Assistance%20(TAA,a%20result%20of%20increased%20imports. (Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) Program) https://library.cqpress.com/cqalmanac/document.php?id=cqal62-1326212 (Trade Expansion Act of 1962) https://guides.loc.gov/morrill-act (Morrill Act) https://www.aplu.org/about-us/history-of-aplu/what-is-a-land-grant-university/ (Land-Grant University) https://www.military.com/education/gi-bill (GI Bill) https://blog.newspapers.library.in.gov/go-west-young-man-the-mystery-behind-the-famous-phrase/ (“Go west, young man” by Horace Greeley) https://warwick.ac.uk/newsandevents/features/polanyi/ (The Great Transformation by Karl Polanyi) https://www.brookings.edu/multi-chapter-report/place-based-policies-for-shared-economic-growth/ (Place-Based Policies)

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PODCAST: "Hexapodia" is þe Key Insight! XLII: "Slouching Towards Utopia"—Brad's New Book Edition

"Hexapodia" Is the Key Insight: by Noah Smith & Brad DeLong

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 20, 2022 84:50

Key Insights:Since 1870, we humans have done amazingly astonishingly uniquely and unprecedentedly well at baking a sufficiently large economic pie.But the problems of slicing and tasting the pie—of equitably distributing it, and then using our technological powers to live lives wisely and well—continue to flummox us. The big reason we have been unable to build social institutions for equitably slicing and then properly tasting our now more-than-sufficiently-large economic pie is the sheer pace of economic transformation.Since 1870 humanity's technological competence has doubled every generationHence Schumpeterian creative destruction has taken hold.Our immensely increasing wealth has come at the price of the repeated destruction of industries, occupations, livelihoods, and communities.And we have been frantically trying to rewrite the sociological code running on top of our rapidly changing forces-of-production hardwareThe attempts to cobble together a sorta-running sociological software code have been a scorched-earth war between two factions.Faction 1: followers of Friedrich von Hayek, who say: "the market giveth, the market taketh away: blessed be the name of the market"Faction 2: followers of Karl Polanyi, who say: "the market was made for man; not man for the market"Let the market start destroying "society", and society will react by trying to destroy the market orderThus the task of governance and politics is to try to manage and perhaps one day supersede this dilemma. &, of course, HEXAPODIA!!Thank you for reading Brad DeLong's Grasping Reality. This post is public so feel free to share it.References:J. Bradford DeLong: Slouching Towards Utopia: An Economic History of the 20th Century Robert Gordon: The Rise and Fall of American Growth Gary Gerstle: The Rise and Fall of the Neoliberal Order: America and the World in the Free Market Era Vaclav Smil: Creating the 20th Century: Technical Innovations of 1867-1914 and Their Lasting Impact Vaclav Smil: Transforming the 20th Century: Technical Innovations and Their Consequences Friedrich von Hayek: The Road to Serfdom Karl Polanyi: The Great Transfomation: The Political and Economic Origins of Our Time John Maynard Keynes: The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money +, of course:Vernor Vinge: A Fire Upon the Deep Get full access to Brad DeLong's Grasping Reality at braddelong.substack.com/subscribe

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RFH Ep. 76 Sociological Marxism” and Capitalist Crises––Interview with Gavin Rae

Radio Free Humanity: The Marxist-Humanist Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 9, 2022 57:19

The co-hosts welcome sociologist Gavin Rae, to discuss his critique of “Sociological Marxism,” which well-known left sociologists Erik Olin Wright and Michael Burawoy proposed two decades ago. They rejected Marx's theory of capitalist crisis, claiming that state economic management has caused capitalism to stabilize, and that the value theory underlying Marx's crisis theory is internally inconsistent. Gavin argues that the Great Recession soon showed that the notion of stable capitalism is dubious, and that the temporal single-system interpretation of Marx's value theory has made it untenable to uncritically repeat the charge of the internal inconsistency. He and the co-hosts also discuss Wright and Burawoy's embrace of Karl Polanyi's thought and his focus on markets instead of production. Gavin argues that Marx's crisis theory and the “dominance of production” can be incorporated into sociology, and he suggests several ways to do so. Current-events segment: New Mexico judge bars Capitol insurrectionist from holding office. Will more disqualifications follow?

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Ep125[1/3,1/6] John Harvey: MMT, the UK, and pound sterling

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 3, 2022 56:51

Welcome to episode 125 of Activist #MMT. Today's the first in a six-part series with Texas Christian University (TCU) economics professor and Cowboy Economist, John Harvey. The first three parts are hosted by me, the final three by MMT researcher, Texas lawyer, and my previous guest, Johnathan Wilson. Jonathan and John talk about how MMT can apply to nations outside the US, using Russia as an example, and also some of the core theoretical and ideological differences between MMTers and mainstream economists, focusing on a recent critique of MMT by Drumetz and Pfeister. (You can hear my own interview with Jonathan in episodes 106 and 107.) (Here's a link to all six parts in this series: parts two and three with me, and parts four, five, and six with Jonathan. A list of the audio chapters in this episode can be found at the bottom of this post. For a link to every Activist #MMT interview with John, go here.) Regarding parts one to three, John and I talk about his chapter in the upcoming book called Modern Monetary Theory: Key Insights, Leading Thinkers. The book will be published by the UK-based Gower Institute for Modern Money Studies, or GIMMS; it's edited by L. Randall Wray and GIMMS; and is scheduled for January 2023 release. John is one of 15 authors. John's chapter is called "Modern Monetary Theory, the UK, and pound sterling". He was asked to write the chapter for two major reasons: First because there is not enough MMT-specific analysis on exchange rate determination, and second, to address the reality of the so-called sterling crisis in the United Kingdom. John and I don't specifically discuss the latter topic, but it is addressed in the paper. It addresses the following criticism of MMT (this is a quote from the chapter): "MMT-inspired policies will cause high rates of price inflation which will, in turn, lower the international value of a domestic currency – perhaps catastrophically." Importantly, the critique is based on the following three assumptions: The false idea that we are already, or soon will be, at full employment A fantastical theory of exchange rate determination A terrible and lazy mischaracterization of MMT John and I spend most of our time discussing the reality of these three assumptions. Surprisingly, however, the main insight I take from this conversation is a much clearer understanding of inflation in general. I'm going to describe that insight in the introduction to part two. The heart of our conversation is on the above three assumptions, but we start and end with mostly unrelated subjects. Part one begins with John describing his experience as chair of the economics department at TCU, he discusses the Russian-Ukrainian conflict only as it relates to exchange rate determination, and he also answers a question from an Activist #MMT patron, regarding his opinion of our possibility of experiencing a recession. At the end of part three, we talk about how, for most of those that most of us directly interact with, mainstream economic theory is not, in fact, a big conspiracy. We end by discussing the good and bad of math in economics. Thanks to the recommendation of a patron, with every episode of Activist #MMT as of several months ago, you can pinpoint any part of this interview by referring to the full list of audio chapters, which can be found at the bottom of the show notes. So, for example, if you wanted to skip over this introduction and go right to the beginning of the interview proper, now you can know exactly what timestamp to go to. And now, on to my conversation with John Harvey. Enjoy. Resources My previous interviews with John: Episode 43: John Harvey on John Harvey, discrimination, and aliens. Episodes 45 and 46: On inflation: mainstream versus Post Keynesian (and the MMT job guarantee) Episodes 72 and 73: The Battle of the Bulge (and the nitty gritty of Exchange Rate Determination) Books: Fred Lee's A History of Heterodox Economics (2006) Karl Polanyi's The Great Transformation (2001 edition, 1944) Naomi Klein's The Shock Doctrine (2007) Nancy Maclean's Democracy in Chains Audio chapters 6:02 - Attics, squeaky toys, dogs, and rats 8:51 - Economics chairmanship 16:21 - Being Post Keynesian chair in a mainstream department 21:04 - Patron question: Recession coming? 26:10 - Russia-Ukraine conflict 31:31 - My lawn mower runs out of gas 32:36 - Start of main questions 33:20 - Demand-pull inflation 44:39 - George Selgin 47:35 - Back to inflation 52:55 - Duplicate of introduction, but with no background music (for listeners sensitive to the opening music)

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Ep125[1/3,1/6] John Harvey: MMT, the UK, and pound sterling

Historiansplaining: A historian tells you why everything you know is wrong

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 3, 2022 56:50

Welcome to episode 125 of Activist #MMT. Today's the first in a six-part series with Texas Christian University (TCU) economics professor and , John Harvey. The first three parts are hosted by me, the final three by MMT researcher, Texas lawyer, and my previous guest, Johnathan Wilson. Jonathan and John talk about how MMT can apply to nations outside the US, using Russia as an example, and also some of the core theoretical and ideological differences between MMTers and mainstream economists, focusing on a recent critique of MMT . (You can hear my own interview with Jonathan in episodes and .) (Here's a link to all six parts in this series: parts two and three with me, and parts four, five, and six with Jonathan. A list of the audio chapters in this episode can be found at the bottom of this post. For a link to every Activist #MMT interview with John, .) Regarding parts one to three, John and I talk about his chapter in the upcoming book called . The book will be published by the UK-based Gower Institute for Modern Money Studies, or GIMMS; it's edited by L. Randall Wray and GIMMS; and is scheduled for January 2023 release. John is one of 15 authors. John's chapter is called "Modern Monetary Theory, the UK, and pound sterling". He was asked to write the chapter for two major reasons: First because there is not enough MMT-specific analysis on exchange rate determination, and second, to address the reality of the so-called sterling crisis in the United Kingdom. John and I don't specifically discuss the latter topic, but it is addressed in the paper. It addresses the following criticism of MMT (this is a quote from the chapter): "MMT-inspired policies will cause high rates of price inflation which will, in turn, lower the international value of a domestic currency – perhaps catastrophically." Importantly, the critique is based on the following three assumptions: The false idea that we are already, or soon will be, at full employment A fantastical theory of exchange rate determination A terrible and lazy mischaracterization of MMT John and I spend most of our time discussing the reality of these three assumptions. Surprisingly, however, the main insight I take from this conversation is a much clearer understanding of inflation in general. I'm going to describe that insight in the introduction to part two. The heart of our conversation is on the above three assumptions, but we start and end with mostly unrelated subjects. Part one begins with John describing his experience as chair of the economics department at TCU, he discusses the Russian-Ukrainian conflict only as it relates to exchange rate determination, and he also answers a question from an Activist #MMT patron, regarding his opinion of our possibility of experiencing a recession. At the end of part three, we talk about how, for most of those that most of us directly interact with, mainstream economic theory is not, in fact, a big conspiracy. We end by discussing the good and bad of math in economics. Thanks to the recommendation of a patron, with every episode of Activist #MMT as of several months ago, you can pinpoint any part of this interview by referring to the full list of audio chapters, which can be found at the bottom of the show notes. So, for example, if you wanted to skip over this introduction and go right to the beginning of the interview proper, now you can know exactly what timestamp to go to. And now, on to my conversation with John Harvey. Enjoy. Resources My previous interviews with John: : John Harvey on John Harvey, discrimination, and aliens. Episodes and : On inflation: mainstream versus Post Keynesian (and the MMT job guarantee) Episodes and : The Battle of the Bulge (and the nitty gritty of Exchange Rate Determination) Books: Fred Lee's (2006) Karl Polanyi's (2001 edition, 1944) Naomi Klein's (2007) Nancy Maclean's Audio chapters 6:02 - Attics, squeaky toys, dogs, and rats 8:51 - Economics chairmanship 16:21 - Being Post...

texas uk battle russia united kingdom economics tcu bulge naomi klein modern monetary theory mmt russian ukrainian attics john harvey nancy maclean karl polanyi texas christian university tcu pound sterling mmters activist mmt

Another Great Transformation

Interplace

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 11, 2022 22:59

Hello Interactors,Where, how, and when people work continues to shift. Meanwhile, scores of people are moving to urban regions in search of opportunities. Some of which are more accessible than others. It’s putting stresses on how cities plan, how we move, and what kinds of freedoms are afforded and to whom. But hidden in the complexities of societies are patterns of hope. As interactors, you’re special individuals self-selected to be a part of an evolutionary journey. You’re also members of an attentive community so I welcome your participation.Please leave your comments below or email me directly.Now let’s go…REMOTE CONTROLThe workplace will never be the same again. What it becomes won’t either. But don’t tell Elon Musk. He threw a temper tantrum last week accusing employees at Tesla of slacking off working from home. In a company-wide email he became the over-controlling parent and grounded everyone. He wrote, “Everyone at Tesla is required to spend a minimum of 40 hours in the office per week” and that they “must be where your actual colleagues are located, not some remote pseudo office.” He claimed had he not been on the factory floor “working alongside” his employees that Tesla would have “long ago gone bankrupt.” I’m sure every factory floor worker he has replaced by a robot might have something to say about that.Some work does require a physical presence. Teeth cleaning comes to mind. But there is something to coming together physically that is hard to replicate online. There are also many kinds of service jobs that require a physical presence, though some of those are getting replaced by robots. Last year, a Dallas restaurant turned to a Robot called Bella when they had trouble filling waiter jobs. The owner said, “They don’t complain and they’re happy to do it!” It even happily sings Happy Birthday.But even white-collar jobs require some together time. I heard one academic say he worked two years during COVID on a joint research project over Zoom. When the team finally came together physically, they accomplished more in a single day than they did in those two years. Every company from Tesla to Target are feeling the reverberations of pandemic induced workplace alterations. Even Microsoft, a company that has long envisioned the promise of hybrid-work, is struggling through a new rhythm and workplace model. Mandatory in-office strategies like Musk tried aren’t practical. Even senior leaders are choosing to move to remote locations. Meanwhile, some high-tech teams were already distributed around the world. Despite these trends, companies continue to build new office space. Cranes loom on the horizon all around Seattle. While some of these high-rises will be housing, much of it is office space. What will they do with all this space?I met a new friend last week who is trying to figure that out. She works as a product designer for a company headquartered in Rotterdam called MapIQ. They build software and services that allow companies to optimize the space they have. She’s been busy conducting research. She talks to employees, facility managers, IT departments, human resources, and corporate realtors who are struggling with a new workplace reality. She told me one of the most acute issues for facility managers is space utilization. These companies pay a lot of money to have attractive and effective workplaces. Seeing them empty is troubling financially but also psychologically. She said, “Employees are struggling to know when it is best to come to the office. They don't want to be the only one at home in a hybrid meeting and they don't want to be in an empty office either.”Facility managers are scrambling to find ways to make the most of what they have. She said one popular outcome is subletting workspace. But even subletters will only use it occasionally and sporadically. They use software and sensors to better manage who is using it, when, and for how long. This was not how these buildings were designed and not how these companies were envisioned to be run. MapIQ has identified five trends emerging in the workplace:The office as standard. Most all employees work four or five days a week in the office.Local hybrid. Most people work two or three days a week in the office.Remote friendly. Most employees are in the office only once or twice a week.Remote first. Working in the office is completely optional with no geographic requirement.Fully distributed. There is no office at all and everyone works wherever they want.The nature of work in the foreseeable future is decidedly different than the past. It will take some time for optimizations to emerge. Meanwhile, how will this affect our built environment and how cities plan? Our roads, rails, wires, and spires, boulevards, buildings, drains and ditches were all planned and produced with a certain permanency and predictability that surrounds our economies, societies, and psychologies. These features of the physical and social landscape were assumed to be towering rocks anchored and resolute. But it turns out it was a mirage. They are made of sand and the winds of the pandemic has created a sandstorm. What shape these forms of fortune take is unknown and possibly unknowable.The landscape of living amidst this storm is hard to predict and control. The best way to know what direction we’re headed is to look where we came from. Only then can we understand how we got here. A lot has changed in how and where we live. Since the end of WWII, the world’s population has more than tripled. Over half alive right now live in urban areas and nearly three-quarters will by 2050. North America is one of the most urbanized regions in the world. In 2018 82% of the population lived in urban areas. And it’s growing every day. Europe is 74% urbanized and their cities are also growing. Half of the world’s population lives in Asia and half of those live in urban areas.Not all regions grow at the same rate. The fastest growing areas are projected to continue to be in low-income and middle-income nations. Thirty-three of the fastest growing countries between 2000 and 2020 were in Africa. Twelve were in Asia. But urbanization is both a blessing and a curse. Access to better public health, nutrition, and education improves the lives of those who suffer most, but puts increased strains on housing, transportation, energy, and other infrastructure systems. This is having widespread, varying, and compounding impacts on all who live in urban areas. But these growing pains are not equally felt by all. Understanding these sensitivities will be necessary if we’re going to find ways to solve them.SUPER SIZING THE SUPER RICH WITH SUPERLINEAR WEALTHUrban scientists have found naturally occurring mathematical patterns in growing cities. They mimic power-laws found across a diverse array of cities just as they do across plants and animals. For example, as cities grow in population their GDP, number of patents, and productivity grow at a predictable scale. However, congestion, crime, and contagious diseases also predictably grow. Doubling the size of a city will increase wages, wealth, and innovation (as measured by number of patents) by roughly 15 percent. But so will garbage and theft. Population growth has a predictable superlinear positive and negative effect on urban areas. It’s the great paradox of urbanity.There are big advantages to scale. With each doubling of population there’s also a 15 percent savings in total length of rail lines, electrical lines, water lines, and roads. This sublinear effect predictably leads to a city of 10 million people needing 15 percent less infrastructure than a city half its size. It pays to grow.But these numbers, as predictable as they are, can also be misleading. Whenever population datasets get crunched and averaged the analysis ends up crunching the realities of the average person. Hidden in the convenient clustering of ‘low-income‘, ‘middle-income’, and ‘high-income’ are varying degrees, durations, and directions as diverse as those lived experiences of the people behind the numbers. This realization has led some of those same urban scaling researchers to scrutinize their own findings. Increased wealth disparities, for example, got them wondering. If wage growth is so predictable compared to urban growth, and more people are predictably moving to urban areas, why aren’t all wages predictably growing?They wondered if there are similar scaling laws that predict income inequality based on city size. How are incomes different among the rich and the poor compared to the size of the city? After adjusting for cost-of-living differences, are poor people in a big city better off than poor people in a small city? Are rich people richer the bigger the city?To answer their questions, they broke down income brackets into percentiles. Traditional economic inequality research looks at dispersed distributions across income or wealth. Meaningful individual differences are hidden in these distributions. What they found is the wealth of the poorest 10% scales almost linearly with population size. In contrast, the top 10% shows superlinear growth. This means poor folks moving closer to the city in hopes of becoming wealthier may find themselves to be continually poor compared to those in higher income brackets. The rich get richer, and the poor stay poor.They conclude that “much has been written about the apparent increasing gains of large cities, such as greater GDP, higher wages, and more patents per capita.” But in the end, “the increasing benefits of city size are not evenly distributed to people within those cities.” For example, they found the ratio of housing costs to income is a function of city population size. The poorer the income brackets, the greater the proportion of income is spent on housing. This results in sharp increases in costs with city size. Meanwhile, in the wealthiest brackets the proportion of income spent on housing stays level.So whatever superlinear growth in GDP, innovation, and wage growth that comes with increased city size is highly concentrated in the upper income brackets. Existing research in urban scaling and innovation points to empirical evidence that these gains are due in large part to the increase in social interactions and sharing of ideas. Larger and more diverse pools of people co-located in urban areas results in an explosion of creativity, opportunity, and resources. The accumulation of shared knowledge and passion only increases the potential for innovation.This theory is found in the work of economist Karl Polanyi. In his landmark 1944 book, The Great Transformation, Polanyi gives this concept a name: embeddedness – those who share a common social context have an embedded relationship that drives a desire to provide for one another. Stanford economic sociologist, Mark Granovetter, reaffirmed the idea in his oft referenced 1973 paper, “The Strength of Weak Ties.”And one of the most influential economists in the 20th century, Austrian turned American, Joseph Shumpeter, described these acts of economic invention and innovation as ‘creative destruction’. For every new innovation that brings increased wealth another must be destroyed or devalued. Capitalists celebrate it as the unfortunate inevitability of social and economic progress while Socialists deride it as the inevitable annihilating force of capitalism.Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels wrote in their 1848 Communist Manifesto that, “Modern bourgeois society, with its relations of production, of exchange and of property, a society that has conjured up such gigantic means of production and of exchange, is like the sorcerer who is no longer able to control the powers of the nether world whom he has called up by his spells… In these crises, there breaks out an epidemic that, in all earlier epochs, would have seemed an absurdity – the epidemic of over-production. Society suddenly finds itself put back into a state of momentary barbarism; it appears as if a famine, a universal war of devastation, had cut off the supply of every means of subsistence; industry and commerce seem to be destroyed; and why? Because there is too much civilisation, too much means of subsistence, too much industry, too much commerce.”This grim prognosis from one of Capitalisms only inciteful critics is, sadly, all too relatable these days. Marx would not at all be surprised to hear there’s now empirical evidence to back his 174-year-old theory. But he would probably also be shocked to see China rising as a global superpower by combining elements of Capitalism with Socialism. Markets seem to have a way of formalizing Polanyi’s notion of embeddedness. He believed we all have the desire and creative ability to contribute to each others success and well being as part of our livelihoods. It’s not just goods and services that need exchanged but also values, moral concerns, and relationships. But to do that we must remain connected.CONNECTING THE DOTS TO FREEDOMThose urban scaling researchers hypothesize that one of the reasons income inequalities are so pronounce and unfairly propagated in our wealthiest cities is because the various income brackets have become increasingly geographically and socially segregated. Like ecosystems, the less diversity there is the greater the propensity to collapse. These researchers warn that urban regions that “inhibit mixing between diverse populations, will underperform with respect to income scaling.” If lessening income inequality is a goal, the research suggests “cities that are better mixed, allowing diverse parts of the population to be exposed to one another, should be overperforming with respect to urban scaling.”Connecting diverse sets of people across urban regions seems a more productive, and fun, way to tackle income inequality than redistribution of wealth through a government program. Ricardo Hausmann is the founder and Director of Harvard University’s Growth Lab. They uncover international growth diagnostics and develop economic complexity research methodologies. In a recent interview he said,“In my mind, the real solution to inequality is not so much redistribution as inclusion – as incorporating people into the possibility of mixing what they are…that leads to a very different agenda for inequality reduction. Do you send people a check or do you connect them to the urban transport network?...Do you connect it to the labor market? Do you connect to the schooling system?”He was joined in this interview by J. Doyne Farmer. He is the Director of Complexity Economics at the Oxford Institute of New Economic Thinking. Farmer points out that when economists look at the distribution of productivity, they commonly use a statistical technique that lops off a chunk of a giant tail of the distribution curve that is seemingly inconsequential to their analysis. This gives them a distorted point of view of productivity. And to underline Hausmann’s point about the importance of diversity needed to be connected, he said, “that there's a huge diversity out there” hidden in the fat tails those distribution curves. He adds, “And we really have to cope with that because it's inherent to the economy.” The question is, how connected physically do people have to be, how often, and for how long to achieve optimal productivity gains? These are questions being asked by companies around the world and firms like MapIQ are there to help answer them. But how many of these companies are already segregating themselves from the socio-economic diversity of their headquarters, satellite offices, or shared urban and suburban workspaces?Arjun Ramani, a Stanford economist and journalist for The Economist, said last year in an interview by Leesman, a leader in workplace research, that “people are now willing to live an hour away in exchange for a bigger house, because they don’t have to commute in every day.” He believes it’s leading to the ‘donuting’ of cities which I mentioned may be occurring in Des Moines, Iowa. Ramani also reminds us that in the 1800s 40% of workers were working from home. He said, “working from home was quite common. Workers would go into a city or to a market to get raw materials and goods and return home to work – for example in the manufacture of clothes.”Today that just may be a 3D printer in a suburban garage or a rural toolshed, but the materials would probably be delivered to their door or flown in on a drone. But there’s no question some segment of jobs will require a more centralized physical presence. I’m not yet ready to have my teeth cleaned by a robot, though it looks like that also may be around the corner too. Even farming is moving toward robots.Regardless of what kind of job is available or desired or how much physical presence needed, there is little question getting more people connected – regardless of where they live – increases the odds of diverse interactions. My own experience tells me, and mounds of research supports, diverse collections of people and ideas yield unexpectedly miraculous outcomes. It’s not always easy or pleasant working with people of differing backgrounds, beliefs, and inclinations, but out of contention come good ideas.It's also hard to imagine how we become more connected amidst increasing geographic segregation, political polarization, religious ideology, and economic disparities. This may be today’s most perplexing social dilemma. It seems each opportunity to come together is met with an excuse to move apart. Meanwhile, there are powerful forces alive today bent on suppressing individual freedoms. And yet we live in a time when personal freedoms to choose where to live and where work are reignited. But those freedoms are not afforded to all which is an unjust outcome of an unjust history. And so the struggle continues.It’s sometimes hard to remain optimistic as the sand dunes of our institutions are shaped by the unpredictable storms of change. But hidden in the complexities of distribution curves, growing populations, and the shifting sands of urbanity are predictable patterns that offer us clues – kernels of clarity and certainty; pathways to pursue, and lessons to learn. It’s the certainty we need if we want to uphold our freedoms.When Polanyi wrote about the great transformation occurring in 1944 it was during a dark time. He started the book during the depression in the 1930s and had lived through political and economic upheaval in England. A world war preceded his writing, and the book was published during a second. He recognized the complexity of society and spoke of the freedoms that come with it.In the final chapter titled, Freedom in a Complex Society, he writes,“Uncomplaining acceptance of the reality of society gives man indomitable courage and strength to remove all removable injustice and unfreedom. As long as he is true to his task of creating more abundant freedom for all, he need not fear that either power or planning will turn against him and destroy the freedom he is building by their instrumentality. This is the meaning of freedom in a complex society; it gives us all the certainty that we need.” This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit interplace.io

covid-19 american director europe china freedom england zoom society africa strength seattle elon musk local north america modern hidden robots 3d connecting world war ii target iowa tesla employees farmers stanford happy birthday traditional remote workers markets harvard university twelve capitalism economists teeth meaningful increased thirty gdp population facilities socialism austrian marx mandatory existing rotterdam socialists larger des moines karl marx doubling another great cranes communist manifesto capitalists ramani hausmann friedrich engels oxford institute great transformation growth lab new economic thinking weak ties polanyi karl polanyi ricardo hausmann leesman

The Market Fetish - Part 3

historicly

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 29, 2022 66:05

Today Jeffrey Epstein talks with Asad Zaman about the 2001 edition of Karl Polanyi's 1944 book, The Great Transformation. Professor Zaman is a PhD economist based in Pakistan, with many lectures, papers, and posts on the topic. The Great Transformation reveals, essentially, that what we think to be a foundation of our economy and society is, in fact, an illusion. Specifically, Polanyi calls capitalism and its free or "self-regulating" market "a stark Utopia". By definition, a Utopia (an imagined place where everything is perfect) is impossible to achieve. However, the attempt to achieve it – to eliminate literally all market regulation – can result only in the complete destruction of all human life and the land they live on. This is evidenced by our increasingly likely extinction at the hands of a human-created ecological crisis, caused largely by unprecedented and still-growing levels of inequality and the mass exploitation of all natural resources, including most human beings.Here's Polanyi, on the first page of the first chapter:Our thesis is that the idea of a self-adjusting market implied a stark utopia. Such an institution could not exist for any length of time without annihilating the human and natural substance of society; it would have physically destroyed man and transformed his surroundings into a wilderness.Unfortunately, the only way to maintain the fiction of the self-regulating market, is to continue the mass exploitation of the poor. Instead of treating human beings as the infinitely precious and unique beings they are, they are rather treated as mere interchangeable and disposable cogs to run the Unending Greed Machines; most often under terrible conditions. Polanyi calls this grave maltreatment the commodification of labor.The only way to get human beings to submit to these terrible conditions, is to threaten them with an even more terrible condition: starvation and death. As quoted in the book, starvation "can tame even the wildest beast". Not even the strongest man can overcome it.How is this starvation made possible? By eliminating the possibility of self sufficiency. A major tool to do this was the invention of the concept of the private ownership of land. This justified the ejection of all former occupants, who must now, for example, in modern society, purchase our food at a distant store. We have to drive to that store, and the food, plus the car and its gas, must all be paid for with money, which in turn can only be obtained by laboring at the Greed Machines. What this all means is that the commodification of labor also requires the commodification of the land.Those being potentially annihilated by the destruction of the self-regulating market resist that destruction. This results in what Polanyi calls the double movement. This is the ideological battle that has raged for centuries, where one side tries to eliminate all market regulation, while the other tries to protect itself by imposing some. When the amount of regulations are only enough to moderately reduce that destruction, as is unfortunately most often the case, then the resistance can only perpetuate and further enable the pursuit of that stark Utopia.What underlies and justifies this horror is the most dominant religion in the world, which is greed. Without Polanyi's book and his work, this religion, and its byproducts of inequality and mass exploitation, are made to appear normal, inevitable, and unstoppable – in other words, natural. The truth that Polanyi's history reveals (and as is reinforced by my recent interview with Wesley Wiles)is that inequality, exploitation, and greed are not "unfortunate, but necessary", they're deliberate choices. Those who benefit most from the self-regulating market have incentive to deceive the rest of us into thinking that these terrible things are indeed natural. This is the role played by neoclassical economics: to provide that official, neutral, and natural-sounding justification.The core problem in our society is not "capitalism" or "the free market", per se, but rather the mass exploitation of the poor. Therefore, the core solution is to empower the poor. The nature of this empowerment is simple: provide them with what they desperately need: like healthcare, education, a job, un-poisoned water, and a world that doesn't threaten to collapse around them. These things all serve to empower the poor which ultimately reduces inequality – of both wealth and income.We will annihilate the fiction of the self-regulating market or it will annihilate us. There is no gray area. We will provide for those on the bottom or we will go extinct. The first step is to emancipate ourselves from the chains of false history and false economics, and from the idea that everything horrible is "unfortunate, but necessary". Only then can we take a step back and start thinking of alternatives.As a final note, you'll hear some of Professor Zaman's thoughts on the potential form a sustainable future society might take. These are not ideas from the book but his own, in an attempt to start a discussion on one of the greatest questions of our time: how do we resist and annihilate the self-regulating market, and what can and will society be like when we do? Perhaps you have some ideas of your own. Let's start that discussion.Chapters9:27 - Hellos10:35 - The commodification of labor - what it really means14:41 - The fantasy of power, to vent the frustration of being powerless17:01 - The self-regulating market is a fiction and a stark Utopia. The double movement19:41 - Movies- Don't Look Up and Encanto22:45 - How do you resist the self-regulating market and beat it, instead of perpetuate it?26:30 - Whatever the answer, it starts with you29:33 - Peace is a balance of power, but only in a belligerent world38:20 - Peace is controlled violence - violence by, not against, the powerful40:19 - Individual imbalance of power, fiction of nation states44:38 - Corporations are more powerful than nation states46:56 - The gold standard was the glue that held the world together but for a terrible reason (and mercantilism)54:48 - Fascism is not something in and of itself, rather it's something to fill in the vacuum left by the wreckage of the self-regulating market Get full access to Historic.ly at historicly.substack.com/subscribe

peace phd market pakistan individual historic corporations utopia look up fascism fetish great transformation polanyi karl polanyi

Are we in the Mirror Universe?- Part 2 with Jackson Winter

historicly

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 19, 2022 55:30

Today's part two of my two-part conversation with Jackson Winter, on the 2001 edition of Karl Polanyi's 1944 book, The Great Transformation. This is also part two of a larger four-part series on the book. Jackson is co-writer and editor for PEGS Institute, which is a project to demystify and explain some commonly misunderstood realities of the modern world. Here's their YouTube channel.(A list of the "audio chapters" in this episode can be found at the bottom of this post. A link to all four parts in the series can be found in Part 1I'll summarize the book in next week's introduction. Even experienced MMTers can't know this stuff. You think you understand the foundation of our economy and society, but you don't. As described in The Great Transformation, there's another foundation underneath it.(Before we start the interview, I'm making an announcement at the request of a patron, and that is: the podcast Pod Save America, which is hosted by former Obama staffers, has millions of followers, many of who like to think of themselves as progressives. Unfortunately, although the hosts say many smart things, they still live solidly in a pay-for, scarcity, zero-sum world. Please consider contacting the hosts via Twitter and urging them to interview an MMT guest such as Stephanie Kelton, Warren Mosler, Bill Mitchell, and Randy Wray. The Twitter handles for the podcast and its hosts can be found in the show notes, and in the social media shares for this episode. Thanks for your help in spreading the word!Here at the Twitter handles for Pod Save America and its hosts: Dan Pfiffer: [@danpfeiffer], Jon Favreau: [@jonfavs], Tommy Vietor: [@tvietor08], Jon Lovett: [@jonlovett])And now, let's get right back to my conversation with Jackson Winter. Enjoy.Audio chapters4:31 - Choosing to commodify other humans is a gamble that you won't become one of them7:37 - The gold standard was the glue that held the (belligerent and greedy) world together13:53 - Individual balance of power17:41 - Fascism is a consequence of the neglect and deprivation of neoliberalism20:41 - Thinking of a better economic and political system (and if we should)27:17 - Unregulated versus regulated teenager29:58 - Childhood memories and how we change31:59 - Protecting privilege, at all levels38:35 - We are all doing tiny little evils (because it's necessary in order to survive), that add up to a lot of evil.43:22 - Haute finance and arms dealers (I win capitalism)46:15 - My upcoming online course with Asad Zaman48:11 - Closing thoughts50:41 - Polanyi was a proto-MMTer52:48 - GoodbyesOther updates:Sorry for the delays. Our editor Esha Krishnaswamy fell on the subway platform and broke her nose. She is out of the hospital now, but unfortunately her insurance does not cover fixing her broken nose. So we are going to have to crowd source this. If you have already not become paid subscriber, please become one: You can also do a one off donation via paypal orVenmo Get full access to Historic.ly at historicly.substack.com/subscribe

thinking barack obama childhood protecting individual historic fascism jon favreau haute mmt pod save america unregulated mirror universe stephanie kelton bill mitchell jon lovett great transformation tommy vietor polanyi karl polanyi warren mosler mmters randy wray

Dissecting the "Dawn of Everything" -- A Conversation with Geoff Shullenberger

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 19, 2022 167:55

I join with Geoff Shullenberger of "Outsider Theory" to discuss the sweeping and challenging new book, "The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity" by David Graeber and David Wengrow. We consider the book's marshalling of new archaeological evidence to debunk mechanistic and deterministic assumptions about the rise of civilization, its deep rejection of Marxism, and its insistence on the human ability to imagine and create an infinite range of social and political futures. We examine the weaknesses and limitations of the book, including its over-emphasis on personal freedom, its gross inaccuracy with regard to the eighteenth century, and its blindspot regarding the profound powers of myth, ritual, and the natural environment, all of which deeply guide and shape societies in ways that Graeber & Wengrow ignore or casually discount. Please support this podcast to help keep it coming and hear patron-only lectures! -- www.patreon.com/user?u=5530632 Other books & authors mentioned: Marshall Sahlins, "The Original Affluent Society" Yuval Noah Harari, "Sapiens" James C. Scott, "Against the Grain" Claude Levi-Strauss, "The Savage Mind" Victor Turner, "The Ritual Process" Karl Wittfogel, "Oriental Despotism" John Rawls, "A Theory of Justice" Francoise de Graffigny, "Letters of a Peruvian Woman" Niccolo Machiavelli, "Discourses on Livy" Jared Diamond, "Guns, Germs, and Steel" JN Heard, "The Assimilation of Captives on the American Frontier in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries," LSU thesis David Graeber, "On Flying Cars and the Declining Rate of Profit," "Debt: The First 5000 Years" Karl Polanyi, "The Great Transformation" Mark Fisher, "Capitalist Realism" Orlando Patterson, "Slavery and Social Death" Bruno Latour, "We Have Never Been Modern" Roberto Calasso, "The Ruin of Kasch" Ivan Illich Rene Girard Richard Wolff Thomas Sowell Divya Cherian

conversations guns humanity theory profit letters slavery steel ruin geoff grain dissecting marxism germs sapiens yuval noah harari assimilation captives david graeber mark fisher discourses jared diamond john rawls eighteenth bruno latour graeber american frontier david wengrow niccolo machiavelli capitalist realism great transformation james c scott debt the first everything a new history karl polanyi claude levi strauss wengrow victor turner geoff shullenberger orlando patterson

S3 Ep. 10 Ethan Buchman – Why Blockchain should be plural: Cosmos and Inter-Blockchain Communication

Boundaryless Conversations Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 14, 2022 56:49

Ethan Buchman is the co-founder of the Cosmos network and serves as the CEO of Informal Systems. Informal Systems is a member-driven worker's cooperative building software that enables trustworthy relationships between protocols and people to flourish. Ethan also serves as the President of the Interchain Foundation which funds and coordinates development of public goods in the Cosmos ecosystem. Tune in to this discussion as we explore the current ‘moment' blockchain is experiencing and the implications of having a community computer. We also discuss the personal computer revolution, polycentricity, and how Informal Systems is organized to enable their employees to self-organize. A full transcript of the episode can be found on our website: https://boundaryless.io/podcast/ethan-buchman/ Key highlights we discussed: > Where blockchain fits in with the the history of computing > The concept of embedded cooperativism > The role of sovereignty and multi-chain interoperability > Standardization and commodification > How individuals can participate in structural change > How Informal Systems is structured through a high trust environment and ‘promises' To find out more about Ethan's work: > Twitter: https://twitter.com/buchmanster > Website: https://ebuchman.github.io/ Other references and mentions: > Karl Polanyi, The Great Transformation, 1944: https://www.amazon.com/Great-Transformation-Political-Economic-Origins/dp/080705643X > Informal Systems: https://informal.systems/ > Informal Systems Twitter: https://twitter.com/informalinc > Informal Systems' internal organisation: workflow.informal.systems > Cosmos: https://cosmos.network/ Find out more about the show and the research at Boundaryless at https://boundaryless.io/resources/podcast/ Thanks for the ad-hoc music to Liosound / Walter Mobilio. Find his portfolio here: https://boundaryless.io/podcast-music Recorded on 16 February 2022.

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Ep112[2/2,4/4]: Asad Zaman: Polanyi's Great Transformation

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 13, 2022 54:28

Welcome to episode 112 of Activist #MMT. Today's part two of my two-part conversation with Asad Zaman, on the 2001 edition of Karl Polanyi's 1944 book, The Great Transformation. This is also the final part in a larger four-part series on the book. Parts one and two are with Jackson Winter. Jackson and I are two smart layperson MMTers trying to come to terms with the depth of what we just read, and connecting it to our lives and MMT. Parts three and four are with Professor Zaman, who is a PhD economist with many lectures, papers, and posts on the topic (all of which you can find in the show notes to part one with Professor Zaman). (A link to all four parts in the series can be found in part one with Jackson. A list of the audio chapters in this episode can be found at the bottom of this post.) Part one also contains a summary of the book. You think you understand the foundation of our economy and society, but as described in The Great Transformation, there's another foundation beneath it. If you like what you hear, then I hope you might consider becoming a monthly patron of Activist #MMT. Patrons have exclusive access to several full-length episodes, right now. A full list is here, each with a brief highlight. Patrons also get the opportunity to ask my academic guests questions (including my recent episode with Warren Mosler). They also support the development of my large and growing collection of learn MMT resources, and the course with Professor Zaman. To become a patron, you can start by going to patreon.com/activistmmt. Every little bit helps a little bit, and it all adds up to a lot. Thanks. And now, let's get right back to my conversation with Asad Zaman. Enjoy. Audio chapters 4:11 - Mercantilism 8:10 - Fascism is not something in and of itself, rather it's something to fill in the vacuum left by the wreckage of the self-regulating market 10:58 - The ideology and religion of greed 12:22 - Jane Austen- The poorest AMONG THE ARISTOCRACY (the movie Ever After) 15:43 - The importance of history to the study of economics. 22:28 - Those who benefit most from of capitalism want us to focus on the imaginary, not history. 24:08 - Entanglement- The methodology of Polanyi (history shapes our ideas which shapes history) 29:17 - "Government is bad", but the self-regulating market requires even more government to suppress the protestations of those suffering at the hand of the self-regulating market 34:47 - Average people serve as gatekeepers for the exploiters (protecting privilege) 39:21 - What do I tell my kids? 48:43 - Goodbyes 52:38 - Duplicate of introduction, but with no background music

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Ep112[2/2,4/4]: Asad Zaman: Polanyi's Great Transformation

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 13, 2022 54:38

Welcome to episode 112 of Activist #MMT. Today's part two of my two-part conversation with Asad Zaman, on the 2001 edition of Karl Polanyi's 1944 book, . This is also the final part in a larger four-part series on the book. Parts one and two are with Jackson Winter. Jackson and I are two smart layperson MMTers trying to come to terms with the depth of what we just read, and connecting it to our lives and MMT. Parts three and four are with Professor Zaman, who is a PhD economist with many lectures, papers, and posts on the topic (all of which you can find in the show notes to with Professor Zaman). (A link to all four parts in the series can be found in . A list of the audio chapters in this episode can be found at the bottom of this post.) Part one also contains a summary of the book. You think you understand the foundation of our economy and society, but as described in The Great Transformation, there's another foundation beneath it. If you like what you hear, then I hope you might consider becoming a monthly patron of Activist #MMT. Patrons have exclusive access to several full-length episodes, right now. A full list is , each with a brief highlight. Patrons also get the opportunity to ask my academic guests questions (including my recent episode ). They also support the development of my large and growing collection of , and the course with Professor Zaman. To become a patron, you can start by going to . Every little bit helps a little bit, and it all adds up to a lot. Thanks. And now, let's get right back to my conversation with Asad Zaman. Enjoy. Audio chapters 4:11 - Mercantilism 8:10 - Fascism is not something in and of itself, rather it's something to fill in the vacuum left by the wreckage of the self-regulating market 10:58 - The ideology and religion of greed 12:22 - Jane Austen- The poorest AMONG THE ARISTOCRACY (the movie Ever After) 15:43 - The importance of history to the study of economics. 22:28 - Those who benefit most from of capitalism want us to focus on the imaginary, not history. 24:08 - Entanglement- The methodology of Polanyi (history shapes our ideas which shapes history) 29:17 - "Government is bad", but the self-regulating market requires even more government to suppress the protestations of those suffering at the hand of the self-regulating market 34:47 - Average people serve as gatekeepers for the exploiters (protecting privilege) 39:21 - What do I tell my kids? 48:43 - Goodbyes 52:38 - Duplicate of introduction, but with no background music

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Ep111[1/2,3/4]: Asad Zaman: Polanyi's Great Transformation

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 6, 2022 67:57

Welcome to episode 111 of Activist #MMT. Today I talk with Asad Zaman about the 2001 edition of Karl Polanyi's 1944 book, The Great Transformation. Professor Zaman is a PhD economist based in Pakistan, with many lectures, papers, and posts on the topic. This is part one of a two-part episode, but it's also part three in a larger four-part series on Polanyi's book. Parts one and two are with Jackson Winter. Jackson and I are two smart layperson MMTers trying to come to terms with the depth of what we just read, and connecting it to our lives and MMT. (A link to all four parts in the series can be found in part one with Jackson. A list of the audio chapters in this episode can be found at the bottom of this post.) As I briefly describe in part one with Jackson, Professor Zaman and I are developing a free online course called "Historical Context for Real-World Economics". It's almost entirely through an MMT lens, but mostly, it's history, not directly MMT. However, it provides critical context for those who want to understand MMT better. The course is produced by Activist #MMT, and hosted by Bill Mitchell's MMTed and Esha Krishnaswamy's Historic-ly. There are five lecture chapters currently being developed, and I look forward to sharing them with you. The next seven lectures are all on Polanyi's Great Transformation. Links to the seven lectures, plus several related sources by Professor Zaman can be found [in the show notes.] in the "Resources" section at the bottom of this post. (The below summary and resources have been collected into this post: A summary of Polanyi's Great Transformation (with many sources to learn more)) The Great Transformation reveals, essentially, that what we think to be a foundation of our economy and society is, in fact, an illusion. Specifically, Polanyi calls capitalism and its free or "self-regulating" market "a stark Utopia". By definition, a Utopia (an imagined place where everything is perfect) is impossible to achieve. However, the attempt to achieve it – to eliminate literally all market regulation – can result only in the complete destruction of all human life and the land they live on. This is evidenced by our increasingly likely extinction at the hands of a human-created ecological crisis, caused largely by unprecedented and still-growing levels of inequality and the mass exploitation of all natural resources, including most human beings. Here's Polanyi, on the first page of the first chapter: Our thesis is that the idea of a self-adjusting market implied a stark utopia. Such an institution could not exist for any length of time without annihilating the human and natural substance of society; it would have physically destroyed man and transformed his surroundings into a wilderness. Unfortunately, the only way to maintain the fiction of the self-regulating market, is to continue the mass exploitation of the poor. Instead of treating human beings as the infinitely precious and unique beings they are, they are rather treated as mere interchangeable and disposable cogs to run the Unending Greed Machines; most often under terrible conditions. Polanyi calls this grave maltreatment the commodification of labor. The only way to get human beings to submit to these terrible conditions, is to threaten them with an even more terrible condition: starvation and death. As quoted in the book, starvation "can tame even the wildest beast". Not even the strongest man can overcome it. How is this starvation made possible? By eliminating the possibility of self sufficiency. A major tool to do this was the invention of the concept of the private ownership of land. This justified the ejection of all former occupants, who must now, for example, in modern society, purchase our food at a distant store. We have to drive to that store, and the food, plus the car and its gas, must all be paid for with money, which in turn can only be obtained by laboring at the Greed Machines. What this all means is that the commodification of labor also requires the commodification of the land. Those being potentially annihilated by the destruction of the self-regulating market resist that destruction. This results in what Polanyi calls the double movement. This is the ideological battle that has raged for centuries, where one side tries to eliminate all market regulation, while the other tries to protect itself by imposing some. When the amount of regulations are only enough to moderately reduce that destruction, as is unfortunately most often the case, then the resistance can only perpetuate and further enable the pursuit of that stark Utopia. What underlies and justifies this horror is the most dominant religion in the world, which is greed. Without Polanyi's book and his work, this religion, and its byproducts of inequality and mass exploitation, are made to appear normal, inevitable, and unstoppable – in other words, natural. The truth that Polanyi's history reveals (and as is reinforced by my recent interview with Wesley Wiles)is that inequality, exploitation, and greed are not "unfortunate, but necessary", they're deliberate choices. Those who benefit most from the self-regulating market have incentive to deceive the rest of us into thinking that these terrible things are indeed natural. This is the role played by neoclassical economics: to provide that official, neutral, and natural-sounding justification. The core problem in our society is not "capitalism" or "the free market", per se, but rather the mass exploitation of the poor. Therefore, the core solution is to empower the poor. The nature of this empowerment is simple: provide them with what they desperately need: like healthcare, education, a job, un-poisoned water, and a world that doesn't threaten to collapse around them. These things all serve to empower the poor which ultimately reduces inequality – of both wealth and income. We will annihilate the fiction of the self-regulating market or it will annihilate us. There is no gray area. We will provide for those on the bottom or we will go extinct. The first step is to emancipate ourselves from the chains of false history and false economics, and from the idea that everything horrible is "unfortunate, but necessary". Only then can we take a step back and start thinking of alternatives. As a final note, you'll hear some of Professor Zaman's thoughts on the potential form a sustainable future society might take. These are not ideas from the book but his own, in an attempt to start a discussion on one of the greatest questions of our time: how do we resist and annihilate the self-regulating market, and what can and will society be like when we do? Perhaps you have some ideas of your own. Let's start that discussion. If you like what you hear, then I hope you might consider becoming a monthly patron of Activist #MMT. Patrons have exclusive access to several full-length episodes, right now. A full list is here, each with a brief highlight. Patrons also get the opportunity to ask my academic guests questions, such as my recent patron-question episode with Warren Mosler. (A Patron question was also asked of Professor Zaman.) They also support the development of my large and growing collection of learn MMT resources, and the course with Professor Zaman. To become a patron, you can start by going to patreon.com/activistmmt. Every little bit helps a little bit, and it all adds up to a lot. Thanks. And now, onto my conversation with Asad Zaman. Enjoy Resources Bill Mitchell's 2022 blog post, To reclaim the state, we have to start with ourselves, which contains a substantial comment from Professor Zaman. For a good, short and basic introduction to the flaws of capitalism and its economics, Professor Zaman recommends this 17-minute 2020 TED talk by Nick Hanauer. Here are the seven lectures by Professor Zaman that will be used in the course : Adv Micro L13: Entanglement of History with Social Theories Adv Micro L14: Emergence of Economics Theories in Economic Context Adv Micro L15: 19th Century European Economic Ideas In Historical Context. Adv Micro L16: Economics from Hunter/Gatherer to World War 2 Adv Micro L17: Polanyi Great Transformation Part 2 Adv Micro L18: Polanyi TGT cont - part 3 Adv Micro L19: Polanyi TGT- Concluding Lecture Here's the overall curriculum from which these lectures come: 21st Century Economics: An Islamic Approach More from Professor Zaman on Polanyi: Video lecture summary and a written summary of The Great Transformation The Methodology of Polanyi's Great Transformation: video lecture, 2014 paper, response by Anne Mayhew Not directly related to Polanyi, but as important context (and s were briefly discussed), below are sources from the Professor on the topic of redefining "the poor" to mean the poorest among the aristocracy, such as in Jane Austen novels. Iâve provided the Professorâs full comments for context: …EJ1083726.pdf These just came up on a search, there is a lot of stuff on it which I haven't read …/kuwahara.pdf This might be the best: …/jane-austen-family-slavery-essay-devoney-looser/ Search term "Jane Austen and Colonial Politics" -- but "imperialism" would have worked too There is chapter in Edward Said "Culture and Imperialism" called: Jane Austen and Empire. This is bound to be good. I have not read the book, but it is on my reading list. Audio chapters 10:55 - The commodification of labor - what it really means 15:01 - The fantasy of power, to vent the frustration of being powerless 17:21 - The self-regulating market is a fiction and a stark Utopia. The double movement 20:01 - Movies- Don't Look Up and Encanto 23:04 - How do you resist the self-regulating market and beat it, instead of perpetuate it? 26:49 - Whatever the answer, it starts with you 29:52 - Peace is a balance of power, but only in a belligerent world 38:39 - Peace is controlled violence - violence by, not against, the powerful 40:39 - Individual imbalance of power, fiction of nation states 44:58 - Corporations are more powerful than nation states 47:15 - The gold standard was the glue that held the world together but for a terrible reason (and mercantilism) 55:07 - Fascism is not something in and of itself, rather it's something to fill in the vacuum left by the wreckage of the self-regulating market 59:40 - Duplicate of introduction, but with no background music

history peace phd professor search empire pakistan individual historic corporations world war utopia look up jane austen fascism encanto imperialism zaman historical context duplicate mmt hunter gatherer bill mitchell great transformation nick hanauer polanyi karl polanyi warren mosler mmters activist mmt

Ep111[1/2,3/4]: Asad Zaman: Polanyi's Great Transformation

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 6, 2022 67:56

Welcome to episode 111 of Activist #MMT. Today I talk with Asad Zaman about the 2001 edition of Karl Polanyi's 1944 book, . Professor Zaman is a PhD economist based in Pakistan, with many lectures, papers, and posts on the topic. This is part one of a two-part episode, but it's also part three in a larger four-part series on Polanyi's book. Parts one and two are with Jackson Winter. Jackson and I are two smart layperson MMTers trying to come to terms with the depth of what we just read, and connecting it to our lives and MMT. (A link to all four parts in the series can be found in . A list of the audio chapters in this episode can be found at the bottom of this post.) As I briefly describe in part one with Jackson, Professor Zaman and I are developing a free online course called "Historical Context for Real-World Economics". It's almost entirely through an MMT lens, but mostly, it's history, not directly MMT. However, it provides critical context for those who want to understand MMT better. The course is produced by , and hosted by Bill Mitchell's and Esha Krishnaswamy's . There are five lecture chapters currently being developed, and I look forward to sharing them with you. The next seven lectures are all on Polanyi's Great Transformation. Links to the seven lectures, plus several related sources by Professor Zaman can be found [in the show notes.] in the "Resources" section at the bottom of this post. (The below summary and resources have been collected into this post: ) The Great Transformation reveals, essentially, that what we think to be a foundation of our economy and society is, in fact, an illusion. Specifically, Polanyi calls capitalism and its free or "self-regulating" market "a stark Utopia". By definition, a Utopia ( where everything is perfect) is impossible to achieve. However, the attempt to achieve it – to eliminate literally all market regulation – can result only in the complete destruction of all human life and the land they live on. This is evidenced by our increasingly likely extinction at the hands of a human-created ecological crisis, caused largely by unprecedented and still-growing levels of inequality and the mass exploitation of all natural resources, including most human beings. Here's Polanyi, on the first page of the first chapter: Our thesis is that the idea of a self-adjusting market implied a stark utopia. Such an institution could not exist for any length of time without annihilating the human and natural substance of society; it would have physically destroyed man and transformed his surroundings into a wilderness. Unfortunately, the only way to maintain the fiction of the self-regulating market, is to continue the mass exploitation of the poor. Instead of treating human beings as the infinitely precious and unique beings they are, they are rather treated as mere interchangeable and disposable cogs to run the Unending Greed Machines; most often under terrible conditions. Polanyi calls this grave maltreatment the commodification of labor. The only way to get human beings to submit to these terrible conditions, is to threaten them with an even more terrible condition: starvation and death. As quoted in the book, starvation "can tame even the wildest beast". Not even the strongest man can overcome it. How is this starvation made possible? By eliminating the possibility of self sufficiency. A major tool to do this was the invention of the concept of the private ownership of land. This justified the ejection of all former occupants, who must now, for example, in modern society, purchase our food at a distant store. We have to drive to that store, and the food, plus the car and its gas, must all be paid for with money, which in turn can only be obtained by laboring at the Greed Machines. What this all means is that the commodification of labor also requires the commodification of the land. Those being potentially annihilated by the destruction of the self-regulating market resist that...

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Ep109[1/2,1/4]: Jackson Winter: Polanyi's Great Transformation (layperson discussion)

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 20, 2022 64:39

Welcome to episode 109 of Activist #MMT. Today I talk with Jackson Winter, about the 2001 edition of Karl Polanyi's 1944 book, . Jackson is co-writer and editor for , which is a project to demystify and explain some commonly misunderstood realities of the modern world. Here's . (A list of the "audio chapters" in this episode can be found at the bottom of this post. Here are links to all four episodes in the series about Polanyi's Great Transformation: with Jackson, and parts and with Asad Zaman.) (Here are my , after having read only the forward, introduction, and first chapter [be sure to see the show notes for a disclaimer]. It comes from an unreleased episode, with Jonathan Wilson.) This is part one of a two-part conversation with Jackson, but it's also the first in a larger four-part series on Polanyi's book. Jackson and I are two smart layperson MMTers, trying to come to terms with the depth of what we just read, and connecting it to our lives and MMT. Parts three and four are with Asad Zaman, a PhD economist with many lectures, papers, and posts on the topic. I'll summarize the book more at the beginning of part one with Professor Zaman, but very briefly: The Great Transformation is the centuries-long history of how our current rentier capitalism came to be, and what preceded it. It reveals that much of what we believe to be inevitable and unchangeable – natural – about our society is, in fact, a deliberate choice. Those who most benefit from this system (the rentiers, those who collect rent) would like nothing more than for the rest of us (those who pay rent) to believe this system – and their unending greed – to be natural, inevitable, unchangeable and, indeed, best for everyone. I'd like to describe my journey to the book and this interview. I first interviewed Professor Zaman in November 2020, in episodes and . Our topic was his personal story, and, after decades immersed in neoclassical economics, his journey to MMT and real-world economics. For the past year, I've been working with the Professor to create a free online course, centered around his many video lectures. Each lecture is split into fifteen-minute segments, and each segment is accompanied by a very substantial five-to-eight question quiz. I compose the quizzes with lots of assistance and support from my recent guest, Jonathan Wilson [episodes and ]. The course is titled "Historical Context for Real-World Economics", which is produced by Activist #MMT and hosted by Bill Mitchell's and Esha Krishnaswamy's . I look forward to sharing it with you. As we get closer, I'll release part three with Jonathan, where we spend the entire time talking about the course. (Patrons of Activist #MMT can hear the whole thing right now. .) The first five lecture-chapters for the course are completed, but four remain in draft form and still require a good amount of work. I'm currently resolving detailed feedback I've received from the Professor. However, we've already decided on the next seven chapters for the course, which are all on Polanyi's book. You'll find a link to the seven video lectures, plus several additional resources by Professor Zaman, in the show notes of part one with the Professor, coming in two weeks. I purchased the 2001 edition of the book and read the forward, introduction, and first chapter. It blew me away. What most of us think is the foundation of our society and economy is actually not the foundation. There's another one below it. A few days ago, I released , after having read only this much. At that same time, I saw Jackson on Twitter say he's studying the history of commodification of labor. (Very briefly, commodification of labor is threatening the poor with starvation and death unless they work the Unending Greed Machines of the rich.) I told Jackson to consider Polanyi's book as a critical source on the topic. Jackson said he would add it to his infinite reading list. I urged him just read the forward and intro. Two days...

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Snippet from part three with Jonathan Wilson: Polanyi's Great Transformation - first impressions (see important note)