How Capitalism Breeds Vector-Borne Disease / Brent Z. Kaup & Kelly F. Austin

This Is Hell!

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4.9 • 937 Ratings

🗓️ 28 October 2025

⏱️ 86 minutes

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Summary

Brent Z. Kaup and Kelly F. Austin join This Is Hell! to talk about their new book "The Pathogens of Finance: How Capitalism Breeds Vector-Borne Disease" published by University of California Press. The Pathogens of Finance explores how the power and profits of Wall Street underpin the contemporary increases in and inadequate responses to vector-borne disease. (https://www.ucpress.edu/books/the-pathogens-of-finance/paper?fbclid=IwY2xjawNtwAhleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFGRVpZQzFoa1FZYXR4eUYzAR6-3zKbFGV7SDYV2U-xSBScfcX0UhnL3VQQ61-FYHAYxUqOttxWbvb3rKsV5Q_aem_jVwNXP3bFHvXiL3oGJDLyQ#about-book) Brent Z. Kaup studies how the transformation of nature affects social inequalities and societal well-being. In addition, he seeks to understand how the materiality of nature shapes markets, policies, and social movements. Through his research, he has examined an array of topics including genetically modified crops in the Midwest, extractive industries in Bolivia, and the bugs in his own backyard. His areas of specialization include Environment, Energy, Political Economy, Socioeconomic Change and Development, and Globalization. Brent Z. Kaup is Professor of Sociology at William & Mary and author of Market Justice: Political Economic Struggle in Bolivia Kelly F. Austin grew up outside of Santa Cruz, California. She attended college at Oregon State University, and went to earn her PhD in Sociology at North Carolina State University. Kelly arrived at Lehigh University in 2012, and in addition to being a member of the Sociology and Anthropology department, has also served as Director of the Health, Medicine and Society program, Director of the Global Studies Program, and is currently Associate Dean of Undergraduate Programs for the College of Arts and Sciences. Kelly lives in Fountain Hill and spends summers in Bududa, Uganda working with Lehigh undergraduates and local community groups. We will have new installments of Rotten History and Hangover Cure. We will also be sharing your answers to this week's Question from Hell! from Patreon. Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon: www.patreon.com/thisishell

Transcript

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0:00.0	Oh, hey, yeah,
0:02.0	Yawai Yawai Yawi
0:03.0	Ha'i Ha'i Ha'i Ha'i'i
0:08.0	A'i'i'i'i'i'i'i'i'i'i'i'i'i'i'i'i'i'i'i'i'i'i' This is hell.
0:21.6	This is hell.
0:44.5	Live from the United States, where capitalism is the virus.
0:47.9	This is hell.
0:54.5	That's a tagline we've been using since shortly after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, a little over five and a half years ago. Back then, we were regularly talking with Rob Wallace, who was featured in an August
1:00.9	2021 article at the nation titled the Unemployed Epidemiologists who predicted the pandemic.
1:07.8	Rob, of course, was not alone in his prediction. He was also not unemployed.
1:12.6	Many researchers Rob had been working with for years had warned that SARS-like diseases had the potential for becoming pandemics.
1:21.6	After years of deforestation leading to contact with animals that carry diseases which humans did not have immunity to.
1:31.4	Of course, there is still debate as to the origins of COVID, with many wanting to believe, without evidence,
1:37.6	that it was made in a Chinese lab with the nefarious intent of being a biological weapon,
1:42.8	that there's nothing to do with deforestation, and therefore we do not have to alter our growing consumption that seems to be devouring the nature we need for our very survival.
1:53.0	But as our guests point out, quote, COVID is just one of the many infectious diseases that have emerged or spread to plague society
2:03.7	over the past 40 years. Among the deadliest HIV has taken over 40 million lives since the 80s.
2:11.4	You also list, they also list SARS, swine flu, Ebola virus, all of which, as they mentioned, have resulted in fewer deaths,
2:19.2	but have still taken the lives of tens of thousands of people.
2:22.9	And while less fatal diseases such as Lyme have disrupted the lives of hundreds of thousands of people,
2:28.3	a disease that definitely disrupted my life back in March, April, May, and a little bit still to this day.
2:36.1	Our guest today, add older infectious diseases have reemerged and spread to new locations,
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