Axios to day is a daily news podcast covering the biggest stories and why they matter. Hosted by nila buddo. She talks with axios journalists throughout the us. And experts around the world to give you what you need to know to start your day, all in just ten minutes. Listen to axios to day wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to the h b r idea cast from harvard business review. I'm curtnikisha. Great deal of what's possible in our modern economy is thanks to middlemen. Theyre why you can easily buy something designed in europe and made in china. You can search homes for sale and apply for a mortgage without ever getting off your couch. The prices and mine boggling access of goods that come vea middlemen are hard for customers to resist. They're invaluable connectors in a global and complex conomy that also gives them outsized power. Today's guest has written a thorough critique of what she calls the middle man economy. Catherine judge is a finance expert and professor at columbia law school. Sheis here to talk us through her argument and to give some advice for how to navigate this economy as consumers and businesses. Her book is direct the rise of the middle man economy and the power of going to the source. And she joins me now. I can't,

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