The Rhodes Center Podcast with Mark Blyth

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.

For decades, left-leaning political parties were defined by their advocacy for the working class. But in the 1990s that started to change, as left voters were asked to adapt to a more technocratic, market-driven world and parties themselves changed, becoming more technocratic. Parties changed internally with finance-friendly economists and political strategists taking over from trade union economists and party activists. We’re living with the consequences of that transformation today, from the rise of inequality to the surge of anti-immigrant nationalist political parties. To better understand this strange new political world, Mark talks with Stephanie L. Mudge, Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Davis and author of 'Leftism Reinvented: Western Parties' from Socialism to Neoliberalism (Recorded on 3/5/2020). You can watch Stephanie Mudge's March 5th talk at Watson here: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cP86Fk5AMQI&feature=youtu.be] You can learn more about and purchase 'Leftism Reinvented' here: [https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674971813]

Between 2016 and 2018, relations between the United States and China went from focusing on engagement to competition to something bordering on threat management. If you think that's because of President Trump...you're wrong. On this episode Mark talks China, foreign policy, and the role of experts with David McCourt, Associate Professor of Sociology at University of California, Davis. McCourt has studied the formation, evolution, and influence of the relatively small group of China 'experts' who guide China policy in the US and Europe. He and Mark talk about how this group operates, why their views change when they do, and what their inner workings can teach us about the future of US-China relations. You can watch David McCourt's recent talk at the Watson Institute here: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdAK0rJUuvQ&feature=youtu.be]

First, there was Bretton Woods. Then, globalized neoliberalism. On this episode of the Rhodes Center Podcast, Mark and his guests ask: what’s next? Is the ‘American order’ over? And if not, how will we know when it is? Mark talks with Ilene Grabel, Professor at the Josef Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver, and Jonathan Kirshner, political scientist at Boston College. Optimist, pessimist, or realist, this conversation will give you something to chew on.

On this episode Mark talks with Mario Rizzo, co-author of “Escaping Paternalism: Rationality, Behavioral Economics, and Public Policy.” In the book, Rizzo makes the case that economists, policy makers, and psychologists have developed an overly restrictive view of ‘rational behavior,’ and that this causes problems for institutions and governments seeking to promote certain types of behavior over others. Rizzo challenges the idea that experts and policymakers can always design beneficial interventions, and instead argues for a more inclusive theory of rationality in policy making.

On this episode guest host and Watson Professor Nick Ziegler talks with Katharina Pistor, Professor at Columbia University Law School and author of “The Code of Capital: How the Law Creates Wealth and Inequality”. They discuss how the law defines our economy, and generates vast amounts of capital for those who know how to wield it. Yet despite its centrality to our system, it remains a mystery to many outside the legal profession. Ziegler and Pistor unpack this dilemma, and look at how the law can push back against the very problems ‘legal coding’ creates. You can see Professor Pistor's lecture at the Watson Institute here: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m81pkJs5fcY] You can learn more about and purchase Professor Pistor's book here: [https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691178974/the-code-of-capital]

On this episode Mark talks with Benjamin Braun, Cornelia Woll, and Jennifer Heerwig about corporate governance in the digital age. As their discussion illustrates, behind the neutral phrase ‘corporate governance’ lie so many pressing economic, financial, and political issues: the growth of money in politics, the effects of some bankers being ‘too big to jail,’ and what it means for the world that BlackRock owns, well, everything.

There are uncertainties in our economy that go beyond measurable risk. Simply put: there are some things we can not know. So how do economic actors form expectations and decide how to act despite this existential uncertainty? On this episode Mark explores this question with Jens Beckert and Richard Bronk, editors of the new book ‘Uncertain Future: Imaginaries, Narratives, and Calculation in the Economy.' They look at the challenges that arise from this uncertainty, and explore how, in many ways, the future really belongs to those with the market, political, or rhetorical power to make their models or stories count. You can see the talk Jens and Richard gave at the Rhodes Center here: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FseT_EU-EbI&feature=youtu.be] You can purchase 'Uncertain Futures' here: [https://global.oup.com/academic/product/uncertain-futures-9780198820802?cc=us&lang=en&] You can read a transcript of this episode here: [https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ehWghIxpKEEZ8LKGd6d_4HUcNLVxP2DC/view?usp=sharing]

We live in a time of crises — economic turmoil, workplace disempowerment, unresponsive government, environmental degradation, social disintegration, and international rivalry. Paul Adler's book, 'The 99 Percent Economy: How Democratic Socialism Can Overcome the Crises of Capitalism,’ argues that these crises are destined to deepen unless we radically transform our economy. On this episode, Mark and Paul talk about how a democratic-socialist alternative to our current economy could help us weather these crises, and the challenges to building such a system. You can purchase Paul Adler’s book here: [https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-99-percent-economy-9780190931889?cc=us&lang=en&] You can read a transcript of this episode here: [https://drive.google.com/file/d/1fEsrMmPYDWhrOKo0xi2GKinZ-ZgNjN0h/view?usp=sharing]