How middlemen took over the economy

Why does it feel so hard to start a family today? How much of that is truly a personal choice? In this episode of The Gray Area, guest host Christine Emba sits down with journalist Anna Louise Sussman to discuss her new book, Inconceivable: The Impossibility of Family in an Age o ...  Show more

Is "adulthood" a moving target? For millennials, hitting the milestones of the past — homeownership, secure careers, and financial independence — feels tougher than ever. We aren't just having our individual midlife crises; we are simultaneously navigating economic, cultural, and ...  Show more

Kathryn Judge, a finance professor at Columbia Law School, is troubled by the rise of intermediary platforms between products and services and the customers who eventually purchase them. Thanks to technology and globalization, she shows how the importance of “middlemen” in the va ...  Show more

Nothing makes a corporation seem less evil than a shout-out to small business. Big companies love to talk about how much they support the little guys. But are they actually helping or harming and what can be done about their fraught relationship? Vox’s Emily Stewart explains how ...  Show more

Alec MacGillis' book Fulfillment tells the story of America's three-decade long economic transformation through the lens of Amazon's rise to corporate dominance. NPR's Danielle Kurtzleben interviews the author for the latest installment of the Politics Podcast book club.Connect:S ...  Show more

In the wake of Trump's sweeping economic legislation, Jon is joined by Clara Mattei, Professor of Economics at The University of Tulsa and author of "The Capital Order," and James Robinson, Professor at the Harris School for Public Policy at the University of Chicago. Together, t ...  Show more