Best of: Paolo Tedesco on How Marx Understood the Middle Ages (and what he may have gotten wrong)

Paolo Tedesco teaches history at the University of Tübingen. His main research interests include the social and economic history of late antiquity and the early Middle Ages, comparative agrarian history, the fate of the peasantry across different types of societies, and historical materialism.

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A note from Lev:

I am a high school teacher of history and economics at a public high school in NYC, and began the podcast to help demystify economics for teachers.  The podcast is now within the top 2% of podcasts worldwide in terms of listeners (per Listen Notes) and individual episodes are frequently listed by The Syllabus (the-syllabus.com) as among the 10 best political economy podcasts of a particular week.  The podcast is reaching thousands of listeners each month.  

The podcast seeks to provide a substantive alternative to mainstream economics media; to communicate information and ideas that contribute to equitable and peaceful solutions to political and economic issues; and to improve the teaching of high school and university political economy.  

Best,

Lev

Mitty Owens on Cuba, Culture and Character Contra Capitalismo

Millard "Mitty" Owens is the Co-Director of The People's Solar Energy Fund. Mitty's thirty year public service career includes community development finance, philanthropy, arts and social change, and organizational and leadership development. Career highlights include the Ford Foundation (program officer in economic development and program related investments), the New York City Office of Financial Empowerment (Senior Deputy), NYU’s Research Center for Leadership in Action (associate director and public policy adjunct), and Self-Help, the pioneering community development financial institution. The past three years have involved a special focus on impact investing aimed at exploring the opportunities and challenges in pairing social justice and finance. Mitty has lived in Zimbabwe and traveled extensively in the Global South. He has served on various economic and social justice boards (including the NC Minority Credit Union Support Center, Global Exchange, Grassroots Leadership, and the Lower East Side Peoples Federal Credit Union) and various arts boards stemming from his interest in art and social change, for which he earned a WK Kellogg National Leadership Fellowship. Mitty is a graduate of Yale University and holds an M.S. in Community Economic Development. He is a proud son of Brooklyn, and a proud and active single dad.

A note from Lev:

I am a high school teacher of history and economics at a public high school in NYC, and began the podcast to help demystify economics for teachers.  The podcast is now within the top 2.5% of podcasts worldwide in terms of listeners (per Listen Notes) and individual episodes are frequently listed by The Syllabus (the-syllabus.com) as among the 10 best political economy podcasts of a particular week.  The podcast is reaching thousands of listeners each month.  

The podcast seeks to provide a substantive alternative to mainstream economics media; to communicate information and ideas that contribute to equitable and peaceful solutions to political and economic issues; and to improve the teaching of high school and university political economy.  

Best,

Lev

Abraham L. Newman on the Plumbing and Infrastructure of US Empire

Abraham L. Newman is professor of Government and the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. He is the Director of the Mortara Center for International Studies. His research focuses on the politics generated by globalization and is the co-author Of Privacy and Power: The Transatlantic Struggle over Freedom and Security (Princeton University Press 2019), which was the winner of the 2019 Chicago-Kent College of Law / Roy C. Palmer Civil Liberties Prize, the 2020 International Studies Association ICOMM Best Book Award, and one of Foreign Affairs’ Best Books of 2019, co-author of Voluntary Disruptions: International Soft Law, Finance and Power (Oxford University Press 2018), author of Protectors of Privacy: Regulating Personal Data in the Global Economy (Cornell University Press 2008) and the co-editor of How Revolutionary was the Digital Revolution (Stanford University Press 2006). His work has appeared in a range of journals including Comparative Political Studies, International Organization, International Security, Science, and World Politics.

A note from Lev:

I am a high school teacher of history and economics at a public high school in NYC, and began the podcast to help demystify economics for teachers.  The podcast is now within the top 2.5% of podcasts worldwide in terms of listeners (per Listen Notes) and individual episodes are frequently listed by The Syllabus (the-syllabus.com) as among the 10 best political economy podcasts of a particular week.  The podcast is reaching thousands of listeners each month.  

The podcast seeks to provide a substantive alternative to mainstream economics media; to communicate information and ideas that contribute to equitable and peaceful solutions to political and economic issues; and to improve the teaching of high school and university political economy.  

Best,

Lev

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Caroline Cornier on Economic Sovereignty in Africa

Caroline Cornier has studied Political Science at Sciences Po Paris and the University of California, Santa Cruz. She was a lecturer at the Department of Development and Postcolonial Studies at the University of Kassel between December 2021 and September 2022 and is currently a doctoral researcher at the Global Devwlopment Institute of the University of Manchester. Her research is located at the intersection of Postcolonial Political Economy and Postcolonial Theory focusing on economic, political and financial North-South relations. Her doctoral thesis concerns the West African Cocoa Sector.

Photo by Zoe on Unsplash

A note from Lev:

I am a high school teacher of history and economics at a public high school in NYC, and began the podcast to help demystify economics for teachers.  The podcast is now within the top 2.5% of podcasts worldwide in terms of listeners (per Listen Notes) and individual episodes are frequently listed by The Syllabus (the-syllabus.com) as among the 10 best political economy podcasts of a particular week.  The podcast is reaching thousands of listeners each month.  

The podcast seeks to provide a substantive alternative to mainstream economics media; to communicate information and ideas that contribute to equitable and peaceful solutions to political and economic issues; and to improve the teaching of high school and university political economy.  

Best,

Lev

Best of: Global Social Unrest But No Revolution: Why?

We discuss why we need two internationales and a World Party with Sahan Savas Karatasli. Sahan Savas Karatasli is a global and macro-historical sociologist at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro. He has been extensively studying and writing on the evolution of historical capitalism, global inequality, social movements, nationalism and labor in the capitalist world economy.

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A note from Lev:

I am a high school teacher of history and economics at a public high school in NYC, and began the podcast to help demystify economics for teachers.  The podcast is now within the top 2.5% of podcasts worldwide in terms of listeners (per Listen Notes) and individual episodes are frequently listed by The Syllabus (the-syllabus.com) as among the 10 best political economy podcasts of a particular week.  The podcast is reaching thousands of listeners each month.  

The podcast seeks to provide a substantive alternative to mainstream economics media; to communicate information and ideas that contribute to equitable and peaceful solutions to political and economic issues; and to improve the teaching of high school and university political economy.  

Best,

Lev

Do you get the newsletter?

Best of: James Robinson on the Origins of the Industrial Revolution

James Robinson is an economist and political scientist. He is currently the Reverend Dr. Richard L. Pearson Professor of Global Conflict Studies and University Professor at the Harris School of Public Policy, University of Chicago. Robinson has conducted influential research in the field of political and economic development and the factors that are the root causes of conflict. His work explores the underlying relationship between poverty and the institutions of a society and how institutions emerge out of political conflicts.

Robinson has a particular interest in Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa. He is widely recognized as the co-author of Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty, with Daron Acemoglu, the Elizabeth and James Killian Professor of Economics at MIT. Translated into 32 languages since its publication in 2012, the book offers a unique historic exploration of why some countries have flourished economically while others have fallen into poverty. He has also written and coauthored numerous books and articles, including the acclaimed Economic Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy (also with Acemoglu).

Portrait of Henry VIII by Joos van Cleve

Portrait of Henry VIII by Joos van Cleve

Best of: Rajesh Ramachandran on the Use of the Vernacular and the Protestant Reformation

Rajesh Ramachandran is a postdoctoral researcher at the faculty of economics at Heidelberg University. He completed his doctoral studies in economics at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona in 2013. He has have previously held positions at Goethe University, as well as having been a visiting scholar at Stanford University. His primary research interests are in the field of political linguistics, economics of education and social identity.

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A note from Lev:

I am a high school teacher of history and economics at a public high school in NYC, and began the podcast to help demystify economics for teachers.  The podcast is now within the top 2.5% of podcasts worldwide in terms of listeners (per Listen Notes) and individual episodes are frequently listed by The Syllabus (the-syllabus.com) as among the 10 best political economy podcasts of a particular week.  The podcast is reaching thousands of listeners each month.  

The podcast seeks to provide a substantive alternative to mainstream economics media; to communicate information and ideas that contribute to equitable and peaceful solutions to political and economic issues; and to improve the teaching of high school and university political economy.  

Best,

Lev

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Best of: Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) Explained. (I finally understand.)

We speak with Gerald Epstein about MMT. Gerald Epstein is Professor of Economics and a founding Co-Director of the Political Economy Research Institute (PERI) at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Epstein has written articles on numerous topics including financial crisis and regulation, alternative approaches to central banking for employment generation and poverty reduction, economists’ ethics and capital account management and capital flows and the political economy of financial markets and institutions.

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A note from Lev:

I am a high school teacher of history and economics at a public high school in NYC, and began the podcast to help demystify economics for teachers.  The podcast is now within the top 2% of podcasts worldwide in terms of listeners (per Listen Notes) and individual episodes are frequently listed by The Syllabus (the-syllabus.com) as among the 10 best political economy podcasts of a particular week.  The podcast is reaching thousands of listeners each month.  

The podcast seeks to provide a substantive alternative to mainstream economics media; to communicate information and ideas that contribute to equitable and peaceful solutions to political and economic issues; and to improve the teaching of high school and university political economy.  

Best,

Lev

Margot Luftig Interviews Lev Moscow about Media, Technology and Teaching

This is a very special episode. Margot was Lev’s student and is now attending Northwestern University. She is the host of the excellent podcast Not An Expert: A Teen's Take On Life, Identity, and Politics. Margot has generously allowed us to post her most recent episode here. It is a lot of fun!

A note from Lev:

I am a high school teacher of history and economics at a public high school in NYC, and began the podcast to help demystify economics for teachers.  The podcast is now within the top 2% of podcasts worldwide in terms of listeners (per Listen Notes) and individual episodes are frequently listed by The Syllabus (the-syllabus.com) as among the 10 best political economy podcasts of a particular week.  The podcast is reaching thousands of listeners each month.  

The podcast seeks to provide a substantive alternative to mainstream economics media; to communicate information and ideas that contribute to equitable and peaceful solutions to political and economic issues; and to improve the teaching of high school and university political economy.  

Best,

Lev

Subscribe to our newsletter today

Best of: Peter Hudis on How Rosa Luxemburg Can Help Us Understand Racial Capitalism

Peter Hudis is Professor of Philosophy and Humanities at Oakton Community College and author of Marx's Concept of the Alternative to Capitalism (Brill, 2012) and Frantz Fanon: Philosopher of the Barricades (Pluto, 2015). He edited The Rosa Luxemburg Reader (Monthly Review Press, 2004) and The Letters of Rosa Luxemburg (Verso, 2013).

Police with dogs guard the grounds at the new Ellis Park Stadium, Johannesburg. 1/Jan/1982. UN Photo/DB.

Police with dogs guard the grounds at the new Ellis Park Stadium, Johannesburg. 1/Jan/1982. UN Photo/DB.