So if you think a constitution is actually the framework within which we constrain power, power of the state in particular, but I would also say we have to extend this to private power.

Then we also have to think about how does actually the private law fit in if we want to give, you know, a priority or at least that's sort of a very important role in the world for collective self-governance, not only for individual rights over others.

I'm Bethany McLean.

Did you ever have a moment of doubt about capitalism and whether greed's a good idea?

And I'm Luigi Zengales.

We have socialism for the very rich, rugged individualism for the poor.

And this is Capital Isn't, a podcast about what is working in capitalism.

First of all, tell me, is there some society you know that doesn't run on greed?

And most importantly, what isn't?

We ought to do better by the people that get left behind.

I don't think we should have killed the capital system in the process.

So when we talk about the market, we usually picture people buying and selling.

But there's a hidden layer of software of sorts running in the background, a legal code that

determines who gets rich, who stays poor, and who gets to skip the rules entirely.

We spent years on this show talking about

our industries capture the government. But what if the problem is deeper? What if the very laws

of properties and contract, the private law we use every day, have been hacked by, let's say,

the 1%. This is the provocative thesis of Columbia law professor Katerina Pistor.

In her work, she argues that the code of capitalism hasn't just been written for the wealthy.

It's been weaponized to protect them from the rest of us.

She said that when you sign a contract or buy a stock, you aren't just making a deal.

You're entering a system where the rules are designed to favor the person with the most expensive

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