New Books in Economics

Marshall Poe

Episodes

Mentioned books

undefined
Feb 5, 2026 • 1h 1min

Nina Bandelj, "Overinvested: The Emotional Economy of Modern Parenting" (Princeton UP, 2026)

Nina Bandelj, Chancellor's Professor of Sociology at UC Irvine and author of Overinvested, studies how parenting became emotionally and financially all-consuming. She traces the historical shift to treating children as investments. The conversation covers rising childcare and tutoring costs, parental debt, gendered emotional labor, industry pressures to spend, and proposals to rebalance parenting toward shared responsibility.
undefined
Feb 4, 2026 • 56min

Ning Leng, "Politicizing Business: How Firms Are Made to Serve the Party-State in China" (Cambridge, 2025)

Ning Leng, Assistant Professor at Georgetown specializing in Chinese political economy, discusses how officials press private firms into visible projects to signal competence and secure promotions. She explores firms’ roles in social control, comparisons across sectors like buses and waste incineration, and the fieldwork challenges of studying state–business relations in China.
undefined
Feb 2, 2026 • 1h 6min

Gregory T. Chin and Kevin P. Gallagher, "China and the Global Economic Order" (Cambridge UP, 2025)

Gregory T. Chin, Associate Professor of Political Economy at York University, discusses his co-authored book on China and the Bretton Woods institutions. He traces China’s shift from rule-taker to rule-shaker and rule-maker. Conversations cover China’s inside-outside strategies, monetary ambitions like the digital RMB, and new development banks’ approaches to infrastructure and green finance.
undefined
12 snips
Jan 30, 2026 • 37min

Robert Yee, "The City's Defense: The Bank of England and the Remaking of Economic Governance, 1914-1939" (Cambridge UP, 2025)

Robert Yee, a Yale lecturer and economic historian of finance and central banking. He traces how the Bank of England transformed after World War I. Short takes cover its hiring of economists, overseas missions to build central banks, interventions in industry, tensions with the Treasury and the Fed, and policies that sustained sterling and London’s financial primacy.
undefined
Jan 27, 2026 • 45min

Misty L. Heggeness, "Swiftynomics: How Women Mastermind and Redefine Our Economy" (U California Press, 2026)

Misty L. Heggeness, an economist and co-director of the Kansas Population Center who built The Care Board, blends pop culture and data to spotlight women’s economic influence. She links Taylor Swift and other female icons to wider patterns of reinvention, unrecognized caregiving work, social media power, and practical reforms to help women thrive in an economy not designed for them.
undefined
Jan 27, 2026 • 38min

Duy Lap Nguyen, "Walter Benjamin and the Critique of Political Economy: A New Historical Materialism" (Bloomsbury, 2024)

Duy Lap Nguyen, Associate Professor of World Cultures and Literatures and author of books on Benjamin and Vietnamese studies, argues Walter Benjamin’s scattered writings form a coherent project. He explores Benjamin’s distinctive historical materialism, critiques of progress and Kantian history, influences from utopian socialists, the Arcades Project’s excavation of capitalist phantasmagoria, and the call for urgent political organization.
undefined
7 snips
Jan 24, 2026 • 32min

Nick Romeo, "The Alternative: How to Build a Just Economy" (PublicAffairs, 2024)

Nick Romeo, journalist and author who reports on economics and public policy, discusses bold alternatives to conventional economic dogma. He explores True Price accounting, living-wage businesses, a Vienna job guarantee pilot, public-option gig platforms, perpetual purpose trusts, and participatory budgeting. Short, vivid stories illustrate people reshaping economies around justice, dignity, and sustainability.
undefined
9 snips
Jan 22, 2026 • 1h 18min

Colin Mayer, "Capitalism and Crises: How to Fix Them" (Oxford UP, 2024)

Colin Mayer, Emeritus Professor of Management Studies at Oxford, dives into how capitalism can address looming global crises. He critiques the misconception that profit must come from harm, proposing a moral business ethic of 'profit without harm.' Mayer contrasts this with traditional views of shareholder value, emphasizing corporate accountability. He discusses models like Denmark's enterprise foundations that align ownership with societal benefits and highlights the role of technology in enhancing corporate transparency. Excitingly, he advocates for reshaping business education to prioritize purpose-driven curricula.
undefined
4 snips
Jan 19, 2026 • 49min

Emily Hund, "The Influencer Industry: The Quest for Authenticity on Social Media" (Princeton UP, 2023)

In this engaging discussion, Emily Hund, a research affiliate at the Annenberg School, dives into her book, exploring the birth of the influencer industry amid the Great Recession. She examines how early digital creators transformed their struggles into a lucrative market, emphasizing the evolution of authenticity as a commercial asset. Hund reveals the impact of social media on personal branding and discusses the industry's societal implications, including mental health challenges and the spread of misinformation. Her insights offer a fascinating look at the interplay between digital culture and our everyday lives.
undefined
Jan 18, 2026 • 45min

Laurie Parsons, "Carbon Colonialism: How Rich Countries Export Climate Breakdown" (Manchester UP, 2023)

Laurie Parsons, an academic from Royal Holloway, University of London, dives into her research on environmental politics and labor in the global South. She discusses the concept of carbon colonialism, revealing how rich countries outsource climate damage to poorer nations. The conversation critiques sustainable consumerism and exposes the harsh realities of Cambodia's garment industry. Parsons argues for political action rather than relying on individual choices, highlighting the importance of regulating global supply chains to combat environmental degradation.

The AI-powered Podcast Player

Save insights by tapping your headphones, chat with episodes, discover the best highlights - and more!
App store bannerPlay store banner
 Get the app