Back to Basics Series: Is Econ 101 a Lie? (with Eric Beinhocker and James Kwak)

Pitchfork Economics with Nick Hanauer

Civic Ventures

Business, Government, News, Politics

4.8 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 15 July 2025

⏱️ 40 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Trickle-downers love to pretend that "Econ 101" is a convincing argument against policies like the minimum wage that invest in working Americans. But the truth is that mainstream economists are terrible at predicting how the economy will behave in the future…Is Econ 101 broken? In this key foundational episode for the podcast, we dismantle the myths of orthodox economics and expose Econ 101 for what it really is: not a science, but a simplistic story used to justify inequality and defend the status quo. Our guests Eric Beinhocker (The Origin of Wealth) and James Kwak (Economism) explain how outdated assumptions about markets, people, and growth have warped economic thinking—and why it’s time to write a new, better story about how the economy actually works. Part of our Back-to-Basics summer series. Essential listening for anyone ready to move beyond trickle-down talking points and think middle-out. This episode originally aired December 17, 2018. Eric Beinhocker is the Executive Director of the Institute for New Economic Thinking at the University of Oxford. He’s the author of The Origin of Wealth, which applies complexity science to economics and challenges traditional market thinking. James Kwak is a writer, law professor, and former entrepreneur. He co-authored 13 Bankers and wrote Economism: Bad Economics and the Rise of Inequality, a sharp critique of how Econ 101 ideology shapes public policy and deepens inequality. Social Media: @ericbeinhocker.bsky.social‬ Further reading: The Curse of Econ 101 The Origin of Wealth: The Radical Remaking of Economics and What It Means for Business and Society Economism: Bad Economics and the Rise of Inequality Website: http://pitchforkeconomics.com Instagram: @pitchforkeconomics Threads: pitchforkeconomics Bluesky: @pitchforkeconomics.bsky.social Twitter: @PitchforkEcon, @NickHanauer, @civicaction YouTube: @pitchforkeconomics LinkedIn: Pitchfork Economics Substack: ⁠The Pitch⁠

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, pitchfork listeners, Goldie here. We've been doing this podcast for a long time now, so we thought we'd take a little break this summer.
0:08.4	But we don't want you to miss us too much, so we thought we'd revisit some of the most essential episodes from early in our history with a back-to-basic summer series.
0:18.7	And if you're a connoisseur of rhetorical questions, you're going to
0:22.3	love this old episode. Is Econ 101 a lie with Eric Beinhocker and James Kwok?
0:30.9	In a sense, economics has become the religion of our time. It's not a law of nature. It's an
0:35.6	intimidation tactic masquerading as an economic theory.
0:39.0	It's a way to negotiate wages at scale. In the neoliberal political movement, we argue that
0:45.5	this imaginary world got confused with the real world. We made rich people richer and occasionally
0:50.1	threw a bone to the poor. At the end of the day, if all we stand for is leveling the playing field of the free market, that's not enough.
1:01.0	From the offices of civic ventures in downtown Seattle, this is pitchfork economics with Nick Hanauer. It's like Econ 101, without all the BS.
1:24.1	I'm Nick Hanauer, founder of Civic Ventures.
1:27.3	I'm David Goldstein, senior fellow at Civic Ventures.
1:31.7	I'm Stephanie Irvin.
1:33.0	I run a lot of our advocacy and campaign work here at Civic Ventures.
1:36.2	So, Nick, last week you introduced us to pitchfork economics.
1:40.9	You told us that the pitchforks are coming for us.
1:43.4	Right.
1:44.0	This episode, we will talk about why.
1:48.0	And start by asking the question, is Econ 101 a lie?
1:54.0	You ever taken like an Econ 101 course?
1:59.0	No, I've never taken an economy class.
2:01.7	Yes, microeconomics and macroeconomics 101.
	...

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