The Rhodes Center Podcast with Mark Blyth

On this episode Mark talks with political economist Brett Christophers. Brett’s a Professor at Uppsala University, and author of ‘Rentier Capitalism: Who Owns the Economy, and Who Pays for It?’. In the book, Brett explains how neoliberalism and financialization have led to an explosion of rent-seeking businesses in a variety of sectors, from natural resource extraction and finance, to tech and hospitality. And while it allows some companies to thrive, Brett argues that mostly it stifles innovation, hurts competition, and defangs what’s left of organized labor. In Brett’s view, this new model of capitalism is one of the key economics challenges we face. After reading his book, you might agree. You can learn more about and purchase Brett Christopher's book here: [https://www.versobooks.com/books/3683-rentier-capitalism] You can read a transcript of this episode here: [https://drive.google.com/file/d/16-3YA3_gQpvbt29ESkZJGe5nuDtOHzEL/view?usp=sharing]

In this episode Mark talks with Boston University Professor Vivien Schmidt. Schmidt is an expert in the political economy of the European Union, and one of the keenest analysts of its institutions. Her new book, ‘Europe’s Crisis of Legitimacy: Governing by Rules and Ruling by Numbers in the Eurozone (2019),’ asks questions that each year grow more pressing. Why does the EU seem to have a constant legitimacy problem within its own membership, and what does this persistent legitimacy gap mean for Europe and the world? You can learn more about and purchase Schmidt's book here: [https://global.oup.com/academic/product/europes-crisis-of-legitimacy-9780198797067?cc=us&lang=en&] You can find a transcript of this episode here: [https://drive.google.com/file/d/19GIO_qZSfKlq_ityoMfO5_Bt_H8Cfw7r/view?usp=sharing]

On this episode Mark talks with Stephanie Kelton, Professor of Economics and Public Policy at Stony Brook University and author of 'The Deficit Myth: Modern Monetary Theory and the Birth of the People's Economy'. Kelton is one of the leading experts on modern monetary theory (MMT), a view of macroeconomics that upends many long-held assumptions about federal government spending. Mark and Stephanie start by unpacking a key tenet of MMT: when it comes to spending, debt, and savings, governments are NOTHING like households. But as you'll hear, that's only the tip of the MMT iceberg. You can learn more about and purchase Stephanie Kelton's book here: [https://www.publicaffairsbooks.com/titles/stephanie-kelton/the-deficit-myth/9781541736184/] You can read or download a transcript of this episode here: [https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-Th_TsKlZLpDPl7pznRz-_G5HPVuVe-b/view?usp=sharing]

On this episode Mark talks with Martin Sandbu, a journalist at the Financial Times and author of 'The Economics of Belonging.' In addition to having a great title, the book provides a penetrating explanation for why so many people have come to feel so left behind in wealthy Western countries. Mark and Martin discuss the role economics plays in this discontent, and look at how radical economic policy could help not just boost national GDP's and employment rates in the West, but renew a widespread sense of citizenship and belonging. You can read or download a transcript of this episode here: [https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zj_lSC-q7JOXG2lqkeNQWqL_Comg83Az/view?usp=sharing] You can learn more about and purchase Martin's book here: [https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691204529/the-economics-of-belonging]

On this episode Mark talks with Jonathan Hopkin, author of 'Anti-System Politics: The Crisis of Market Liberalism in Rich Democracies.' Unlike most analyses of populism and the breakdown of party systems, Hopkin argues that the way countries' have governed their markets in the last 30 years has shaped not just the rise of populism, but a form of politics opposed to market liberalism that spans the ideological spectrum.  You can read or download a transcript of this episode here: [https://drive.google.com/file/d/12E8x0QEsi0PR7RbUPs9ysl7DXrthCEht/view?usp=sharing] You can learn more about and purchase John Hopkin's book here: [https://www.amazon.com/Anti-System-Politics-Crisis-Liberalism-Democracies/dp/0190699760]

On this episode Mark talks with Alex Cooley and Dan Nexon, authors of 'Exit from Hegemony: The Unraveling of the American Global Order.' Scholars and pundits have been predicting the US's decline as the singular world power since at least the 1970s. Now, with President Trump's isolationist, nativist politics, many are saying this decline has finally arrived. Cooley and Nexon agree that the US's exit from hegemony has begun -- but as they explain, it started long before Trump's inauguration. You can learn more about and purchase they book here: [https://global.oup.com/academic/product/exit-from-hegemony-9780190916473?cc=us&lang=en&]

Megan Greene is an economist who actually sticks her head out the window, and takes real world observations as seriously as the models. For that reason (and many others), she’s currently a Fellow at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, and a Fellow at the Rhodes Center. On this episode Mark talks with Megan about what a post-Covid economy might look like, whether we’re already in a global Depression, and how the American unemployment model is a little more European than many people think.

At a time when globalization is being contested by nationalists and battered by coronavirus, Mark talks to Samuel (Sandy) Zipp, Associate Professor of American Studies and Urban Studies at Brown, about the first American globalist: ex-Republican Presidential Candidate Wendell Willkie. Sandy is the author of 'The Idealist: Wendell Willkie's Wartime Quest to Build One World,' and as he describes in it, after losing to FDR, Willkie circumnavigated the globe in 1942, steeled the Allied countries' resolve to fight Nazism, and in the process picked up a new politics of globalism. Back home Willkie wrote 'One World,' a wildly successful book that briefly pushed Americans to embrace the causes of decolonization. Mark and Sandy discuss Willkie’s odyssey, and its relevance for the world we find ourselves in today. You can learn more about Zipp’s book here: [https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674737518]

Something strange happened in late April: the price of oil went negative. This below-zero price tag didn’t last long, but it remains unusually cheap. And thanks to the coronavirus, it will likely stay that way for a while. In this episode Mark talks with Watson Associate Professor Jeff Colgan, an expert on the oil industry and the geopolitics that define it. They get into oil's current price fluctuations, how it’s related to the coronavirus pandemic, and how changes to this singular commodity will affect industries and countries in a post-pandemic world. You can watch the extended video of this conversation here: [https://watson.brown.edu/events/2020/live-corona-oil-shock]

In this episode, Mark talks with Jazmin Sierra, Assistant Professor of Political Science at Notre Dame, who is a specialist in the political economies of Latin America. This interview was on the books before the coronavirus pandemic; Mark and Jazmin were planning to talk growth models in Latin America - that is, what bits of GDP the different economies tickle to generate growth. Now of course, there’s a more pressing topic at hand. But surprise, surprise: the two topics are deeply connected. They discuss how different countries in Latin America are responding to this crisis, and what it’s revealing about the strengths and vulnerabilities of their different growth models in this moment. Plus, the eerie feeling of deja vu one gets when watching Brazilian politics from the US.