Podcasts on the future of capitalism

The debate about what capitalism is for has produced a lot of audio. Most of it is interviews with chief executives agreeing with each other. This guide lists the series that go further: ones that bring in critics, economists and people on the receiving end of corporate decisions. We update it as shows start and stop.

How we choose

A show makes the list if it meets three tests: at least one episode in which a guest disagrees with the host; sources that can be checked; and a point of view that survives the episode. Sponsored series are listed only when the sponsorship is disclosed on air.

The list

• Economic history and the long view. Series that explain how shareholder primacy became the default, usually starting with the 1970s. Good for understanding why the 2020 RESET campaign chose the anniversary of Friedman's essay as its launch date.
• Impact investing and responsible finance. Industry-body and independent series on measurement, returns and greenwashing. The best episodes are the ones about failures.
• Worker voice and ownership. Series on cooperatives, employee ownership and labour organising, which cover the "invest for justice" imperative from the ground up.
• Critics. Free-market and left critiques of stakeholder capitalism, included because the framework is only as good as the objections it can answer.

The campaign that once used this domain produced its own podcast in 2020 and 2021. Those episodes are not ours and are not hosted here; search the original title in any podcast app.

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Email us through the about page with the series name and the single episode you would make someone listen to first.