Riches and Power

Apr 11 2025 36 ep. 49 mins 102
Riches and Power Podcast artwork

Listen in on interviews with world-renowned experts exploring the forces in history that shaped the world both then, and now. The topics we explore vary from whaling, to the Roman games, but they always touch on the intersection between riches and power, particularly in business and economic history.

  History  Business  Education
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Short: China Shock w. Gordon Hanson of Harvard

Apr 11 2025 17 mins  
The China Shock started in earnest in the early 2000s after it entered the World Trade Organization. In those years, the American heartland's manufacturing was gutted as a result of the shockingly fast entry of cheaper Chinese goods into the world stage. That was China Shock 1.0. Why was that shock so impactful, and what is going on during today's China Shock 3.0 to many other coun

The Great Air Race w. John Lancaster

Apr 09 2025 45 mins  
Imagine a world in which people dying in airplanes wasn’t international headline making news. A world, instead, in which planes crashing was a common, everyday occurrence. A little over 100 years ago, there was an air race that captivated the country as its participants raced from coast to coast, then back again. But this wasn’t a simple race. It was also a concerted effort to

The Podcast Industry w. Gary Arndt

Mar 24 2025 53 mins  
How much do podcast hosts make? What does it take to get your show listened to? Why is podcasting such a great business model? Gary Arndt is a longtime podcast host of Everything Everywhere Daily, one of the most listened to history podcasts on the planet. We had a great discussion about the podcast industry itself. Join us for the ride!

Mixed Martial Arts & the UFC w. Rolling Stone’s Jack Crosbie (pt. 2)

Mar 11 2025 57 mins  
Part 2: Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) rose from obscurity into being the third most popular sport on the planet. How did such a violent, oft-frowned-upon sport become so popular? And how did Dana White come to so dominate the sport via his Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) brand? This is a multi-billion dollar sport that you may not ever have heard much about.Join us as we explore th

Mixed Martial Arts & the UFC w. Rolling Stone’s Jack Crosbie (pt. 1)

Feb 20 2025 43 mins  
Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) rose from obscurity into being the third most popular sport on the planet. How did such a violent, oft-frowned-upon sport become so popular? And how did Dana White come to so dominate the sport via his Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) brand? This is a multi-billion dollar sport that you may not ever have heard much about.Join us as we explore this fasci

Housing Policy & HUD w. Jack Ryan (pt. 2)

Feb 03 2025 27 mins  
In Part 2 of our conversation with CEO of Rex, Jack Ryan, we talk about an OpEd in the Wall Street Journal he recently published: "What Does HUD Have to Show for the Trillions It’s Spent?"We dig deep on the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, its staggering spend over the past six decades, and why it has struggled to achieve any of its aims (including driving down the

Housing Policy & HUD w. Jack Ryan

Jan 20 2025 44 mins  
CEO and Author Jack Ryan recently wrote an op ed in the Wall Street Journal called "What Does HUD Have to Show for the Trillions It’s Spent?" and subtitled: "The U.S. homeownership rate was 64% in 1967, two years after the department opened. Now it’s . . . 64%."He is an entrepreneur, an expert on housing policy, and a crusader against incumbent housing policy. Jo

Consumer Culture w. Jason Voiovich

Dec 16 2024 57 mins  
Imagine walking down an aisle at Target or Walmart looking for a new coffee maker, but there is just one option. Shelf after shelf of a single brand’s coffee maker. You don’t like it? Too bad. Or, imagine a time before big-box retailers, when you might have to order a coffee maker via a catalog and wait weeks for its delivery. We live in an era of overwhelming choice that is en

Shelf-Stable Milk w. Ellen Cushing of The Atlantic

Dec 02 2024 21 mins  
Why is America so odd in that its citizens drink huge quantities of refrigerated milk? Other Western countries primarily drink shelf-stable milk that does not need to be refrigerated until opened. How did this happen? What impact does this have on our grocery stores and environmental footprint?

Asset Managers w. Sahand Moerefy

Nov 13 2024 71 mins  
Imagine a world in which you don’t own index funds, but rather own companies directly. You have to know them intimately, and vote on issues affecting the operations of the company. Today, we live in a world in which most of us invest passively, but it hasn’t always been that way. Join us as we explore the world and history of asset managers.Sahand Moarefy is a corporate attorne