Pitchfork Economics with Nick Hanauer

In the fifth episode of our series on trade, journalist and author Luke Savage joins Pitchfork Economics Producer Freddy Doss to unpack how decades of “free trade” between the U.S. and Canada have reshaped both economies—entrenching corporate power, hollowing out manufacturing, and weakening democratic control over economic policy. Savage traces how policies sold as mutually beneficial instead fueled inequality and deindustrialization—eroding the livelihoods of working people. He argues for a new kind of trade built to serve the interests of workers and communities, not multinational corporations.  Luke Savage is a Canadian journalist, author, and political commentator whose work examines the failures of liberalism and the possibilities of democracy. A staff writer at Jacobin and co-host of the podcast Michael and Us, Savage has written for The Atlantic, The Guardian, The Washington Post, and The New Statesman. He is the author of The Dead Center: Reflections on Liberalism and Democracy After the End of History and co-author of Seeking Social Democracy with the late Ed Broadbent.  Social Media: @lukewsavage.bsky.social [https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:5xltkajeuzmgmtuof3btdvut] @LukewSavage [https://x.com/lukewsavage?lang=en] Lukewsavage [https://www.instagram.com/lukewsavage/?hl=en] Further reading:  Luke Savage | Substack [https://www.lukewsavage.com/] The Dead Center: Reflections on Liberalism and Democracy After the End of History [https://bookshop.org/a/101360/9781682193334] Seeking Social Democracy: Seven Decades in the Fight for Equality [https://bookshop.org/a/101360/9781770417380] Website: http://pitchforkeconomics.com [http://pitchforkeconomics.com/] Instagram: @pitchforkeconomics [https://www.instagram.com/pitchforkeconomics/?hl=en] Threads: pitchforkeconomics [https://www.threads.net/@pitchforkeconomics] Bluesky: @pitchforkeconomics.bsky.social [https://bsky.app/profile/pitchforkeconomics.bsky.social] TikTok: @pitchfork_econ [https://www.tiktok.com/@pitchfork_econ] Twitter: @PitchforkEcon [https://twitter.com/PitchforkEcon], @NickHanauer [https://twitter.com/nickhanauer?lang=en], @civicaction [https://twitter.com/civicaction] YouTube: @pitchforkeconomics [https://www.youtube.com/@pitchforkeconomics] LinkedIn: Pitchfork Economics [https://www.linkedin.com/company/pitchfork-economics/] Substack: ⁠The Pitch⁠ [https://civicventures.substack.com/]

What if global trade isn’t really a fight between nations—but between classes? In the fourth episode of our Trade series, Nick and Goldy talk with economist and writer Matthew C. Klein, co-author of Trade Wars Are Class Wars: How Rising Inequality Distorts the Global Economy and Threatens International Peace. Klein argues that the real story behind trade imbalances isn’t about countries “winning” or “losing”—it’s about how elites hoard profits while workers everywhere pay the price. From China’s suppressed wages to Wall Street’s endless appetite for financial assets, this conversation exposes how the true conflict in trade is between labor and capital—and what it would take to build a more equitable global economy. Matthew Klein is an economist, writer, and co-author of Trade Wars Are Class Wars: How Rising Inequality Distorts the Global Economy and Threatens International Peace. He writes The Overshoot, a publication focused on global economics and financial markets, and his work has appeared in the Financial Times, Barron’s, and The Economist. Social Media: @M_C_Klein [https://x.com/M_C_Klein] Further reading:  Trade Wars Are Class Wars: How Rising Inequality Distorts the Global Economy and Threatens International Peace [https://bookshop.org/a/101360/9780300261448] THE OVERSHOOT [https://theovershoot.co/]: Making sense of the global economy and financial markets Website: http://pitchforkeconomics.com [http://pitchforkeconomics.com/] Instagram: @pitchforkeconomics [https://www.instagram.com/pitchforkeconomics/?hl=en] Threads: pitchforkeconomics [https://www.threads.net/@pitchforkeconomics] Bluesky: @pitchforkeconomics.bsky.social [https://bsky.app/profile/pitchforkeconomics.bsky.social] TikTok: @pitchfork_econ [https://www.tiktok.com/@pitchfork_econ] Twitter: @PitchforkEcon [https://twitter.com/PitchforkEcon], @NickHanauer [https://twitter.com/nickhanauer?lang=en], @civicaction [https://twitter.com/civicaction] YouTube: @pitchforkeconomics [https://www.youtube.com/@pitchforkeconomics] LinkedIn: Pitchfork Economics [https://www.linkedin.com/company/pitchfork-economics/] Substack: ⁠The Pitch⁠ [https://civicventures.substack.com/]

Tariffs won’t save America’s economy—but knowledge might. In the third episode of our Trade series, Nick and Goldy sit down with physicist César Hidalgo to explore how prosperity really grows—not through tariffs or trickle-down promises, but through the accumulation of knowledge and know-how. Hidalgo explains why digital exports don’t show up in trade data, why tariffs fail, and why the future belongs to countries that invest in research, strategy, and human talent. César Hidalgo is the director of the Center for Collective Learning, with offices at the Toulouse School of Economics and Corvinus University of Budapest. A physicist by training, he is also the founder of Datawheel, a company specializing in data visualization and distribution systems. Hidalgo is the author of Why Information Grows, a groundbreaking book on the relationship between knowledge, innovation, and economic prosperity, and his forthcoming book, The Infinite Alphabet and the Laws of Knowledge, explores the dynamics of how knowledge evolves and diffuses globally. Social Media: @cesifoti.bsky.social  [https://bsky.app/profile/cesifoti.bsky.social] @cesifoti [https://x.com/cesifoti] Further reading:  Why Information Grows: The Evolution of Order, from Atoms to Economies [https://bookshop.org/a/101360/9780465096848] The Infinite Alphabet and the Laws of Knowledge [https://bookshop.org/a/101360/9780241655672] Website: http://pitchforkeconomics.com [http://pitchforkeconomics.com/] Instagram: @pitchforkeconomics [https://www.instagram.com/pitchforkeconomics/?hl=en] Threads: pitchforkeconomics [https://www.threads.net/@pitchforkeconomics] Bluesky: @pitchforkeconomics.bsky.social [https://bsky.app/profile/pitchforkeconomics.bsky.social] TikTok: @pitchfork_econ [https://www.tiktok.com/@pitchfork_econ] Twitter: @PitchforkEcon [https://twitter.com/PitchforkEcon], @NickHanauer [https://twitter.com/nickhanauer?lang=en], @civicaction [https://twitter.com/civicaction] YouTube: @pitchforkeconomics [https://www.youtube.com/@pitchforkeconomics] LinkedIn: Pitchfork Economics [https://www.linkedin.com/company/pitchfork-economics/] Substack: ⁠The Pitch⁠ [https://civicventures.substack.com/]

In the second episode of our Trade series, Nick and Goldy talk with author Nat Dyer about his book Ricardo’s Dream: How Economists Forgot the Real World and Led Us Astray. Dyer reveals how David Ricardo’s famous theory of comparative advantage—long touted as proof that free trade is always a win-win—was built on unrealistic assumptions and a false history. They trace how this elegant but misleading model fueled globalization, masked exploitation, and locked nations into centuries of stagnation. From Trump’s tariff tantrums to Biden’s “small yard, high fence” strategy, their conversation challenges the myths of free trade and asks: when does trade strengthen societies, and when does it doom them to decline? Nat Dyer is a writer and researcher specializing in global political economy and author of the book Ricardo's Dream: How Economists Forgot the Real World and Led Us Astray. He is a Fellow of the Schumacher Institute and the Royal Society of Arts. He has worked for Global Witness and for Promoting Economic Pluralism, and his stories have been reported on by the BBC, the New York Times, and Bloomberg. Social Media: @natjdyer.bsky.social [https://bsky.app/profile/natjdyer.bsky.social] @natjdyer [https://x.com/natjdyer] Further reading:  Ricardo's Dream: How Economists Forgot the Real World and Led Us Astray [https://bookshop.org/a/101360/9781529225501] Escape from Model Land: How Mathematical Models Can Lead Us Astray and What We Can Do about It [https://bookshop.org/a/101360/9781541600980] Website: http://pitchforkeconomics.com [http://pitchforkeconomics.com/] Instagram: @pitchforkeconomics [https://www.instagram.com/pitchforkeconomics/?hl=en] Threads: pitchforkeconomics [https://www.threads.net/@pitchforkeconomics] Bluesky: @pitchforkeconomics.bsky.social [https://bsky.app/profile/pitchforkeconomics.bsky.social] Twitter: @PitchforkEcon [https://twitter.com/PitchforkEcon], @NickHanauer [https://twitter.com/nickhanauer?lang=en], @civicaction [https://twitter.com/civicaction] YouTube: @pitchforkeconomics [https://www.youtube.com/@pitchforkeconomics] LinkedIn: Pitchfork Economics [https://www.linkedin.com/company/pitchfork-economics/] Substack: ⁠The Pitch⁠ [https://civicventures.substack.com/]

In this kickoff to our special series on trade, Nick and Goldy unpack why trade policy isn’t just about tariffs and treaties—it’s about people, power, and priorities. For decades, the prevailing narrative has been that trade benefits everyone by lowering prices. But the real question is: who does it help, and who does it hurt? From the false promises of globalization to the overlooked damage in hollowed-out communities, this episode sets the stage for exploring a fresh way to think about trade—one grounded in power dynamics, democratic values, and middle-out economics. David Autor is a labor economist and professor of economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who studies how technological change and globalization affect workers. He is also co-director of the MIT Shaping the Future of Work Initiative and the National Bureau of Economic Research Labor Studies Program. Marc-William Palen is a historian and senior lecturer at the University of Exeter, specializing in the history of international relations, U.S. foreign policy, and political economy. He is the author of Pax Economica: Left-Wing Visions of a Free Trade World.  Social Media:  @davidautor.bsky.social [https://bsky.app/profile/davidautor.bsky.social] @davidautor [https://x.com/davidautor] @mwpalen.bsky.social [https://bsky.app/profile/mwpalen.bsky.social] @MWPalen [https://twitter.com/MWPalen] Further reading:  Places versus People: The Ins and Outs of Labor Market Adjustment to Globalization [https://economics.mit.edu/sites/default/files/2025-02/Places%20versus%20People%20-%20The%20Ins%20and%20Outs%20of%20Labor%20Market%20Adjustment%20to%20Globalization.pdf] Pax Economica: Left-Wing Visions of a Free Trade World [https://bookshop.org/a/101360/9780691277882] Recovering the Left-Wing Free Trade Tradition [https://lpeproject.org/blog/recovering-the-left-wing-free-trade-tradition/]  Website: http://pitchforkeconomics.com [http://pitchforkeconomics.com/] Instagram: @pitchforkeconomics [https://www.instagram.com/pitchforkeconomics/?hl=en] Threads: pitchforkeconomics [https://www.threads.net/@pitchforkeconomics] Bluesky: @pitchforkeconomics.bsky.social [https://bsky.app/profile/pitchforkeconomics.bsky.social] Twitter: @PitchforkEcon [https://twitter.com/PitchforkEcon], @NickHanauer [https://twitter.com/nickhanauer?lang=en], @civicaction [https://twitter.com/civicaction] YouTube: @pitchforkeconomics [https://www.youtube.com/@pitchforkeconomics] LinkedIn: Pitchfork Economics [https://www.linkedin.com/company/pitchfork-economics/] Substack: ⁠The Pitch⁠ [https://civicventures.substack.com/]