For centuries, America has put its collective faith in democracy and capitalism, social and economic systems that have been tried and tested during numerous cultural, economic, political, and civil shifts. Our guest, Jonathan Levy, has identified four distinct ages that have shaped America’s economy and led us to where we are today.

In a previous episode, Levy talked about how America rose from its agrarian beginnings to become a world economic power. In this episode, he shares how America wobbled but didn’t fall during the Great Depression, only to be hobbled once again – nearly 80 years later – during the 2008 market meltdown. 

What’s the next age? Levy theorizes where we might be headed, and the principles we might want to consider in shaping a prosperous and equitable future for all.

GUEST: Jonathan Levy is the author of Ages of American Capitalism: A History of the United States.
In it, he tracks the history of American economics from colonial times to the Great Recession. Throughout, he uses a historian’s eye to look at how modern economic life and American capitalism were shaped through wealth acquisition, as well as social and fiscal policies. Jonathan is a history professor at the University of Chicago, where his research and teaching spans the 19th and 20th centuries – specifically the relationships among business history, political economy, legal history, and the history of ideas and culture. He’s also a member of the  John U. Nef Committee on Social Thought at the university and the faculty director of the Law, Letters, and Society program. In 2012, he published his first book, Freaks of Fortune: The Emerging World of Capitalism and Risk in America. He lives in Chicago.

LINKS:

Ages of American Capitalism: A History of the United States
The Feegee Mermaid
The Great Depression
The New Deal
The gold standard
The Wagner Act

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