This Is Helen Keller’s 1932 'Modern Woman'

In 1932, Hellen Keller offered some advice for the “perplexed businessman.”

50 Years After the Kerner Commission

African Americans are better off in many ways, but are still disadvantaged by racial inequality.

Labor and the Long Seventies

In the 1970s, women and people of color streamed into unions, strikes swept the nation, and employers launched a fierce counterattack.

Amazon’s Labor-Tracking Wristband Has a History

Jeff Bezos is stealing from a 19th-century playbook.
Former Lehman Brothers Chief Executive Richard Fuld.

The Financial World and the Magical Elixir of Confidence

The financial world is a theatrical production, abundantly lubricated by that magical elixir of illusionists: confidence.

For People of Color, Banks Are Shutting the Door to Homeownership

Reveal’s analysis of mortgage data found evidence of modern-day redlining in 61 metro areas across the country.

The Dangerous Economics of Racial Resentment During World War II

White farmers, threatened by Japanese-Americans' success, played a critical role in the creation of internment camps.

Organized Labor’s Lost Generations

American unions have struggled to make substantial gains since the ’70s, but not for the reasons historians think.
Plate stacked with sugar cookies.

The First Girl Scout Cookie Was Surprisingly Boring

No coconut, chocolate, or mint in sight.
A souvenir superbowl 53 football outside of a stadium
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The NFL: America’s Socialist Utopia

The Super Bowl might be a capitalist bonanza — but its creation was the ultimate socialist act.
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Paying for Climate Change

Despite his extreme rhetoric, Trump is merely the latest in a long line of U.S. leaders unwilling to pony up for global environmental accords.

What These Early-20th-Century Scholars Got Right About 21st-Century Politics

Unlike many economists today, they questioned fundamental social structure.
Schoolchildren writing on a chalkboard.
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The New Tax Law Poses a Hidden Threat to American Democracy

Undermining public education will exacerbate polarization and mistrust.

The Kids Aren’t Alright

A crucial new work of generational analysis explores how society turned millennials into human capital.

Arthur Mervin, Bankrupt

An 18th-century novel explores how American society handles capitalism's collateral damage — and who deserves a second chance.

Who Segregated America?

For all of its strengths, Richard Rothstein’s new book does not account for the central role capitalism played in segregating America's cities.
Students sit at a graduation ceremony.
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How Tax Policy Made College Unaffordable

The government’s failure to fully invest in higher education created our current crisis.

When Deregulation is Deadly

Eight decades after the infamous Triangle Shirtwaist fire, corporate profits are still being valued more than workers' lives.
Man giving a speech for the Taxpayers League of Minnesota.

Half a Century of Anti-tax Orthodoxy Is Wrong

Taxation is at the heart of any serious economic growth policy.

The Rise, Fall, and Rebirth of the U.S. Antitrust Movement

A short history puts contemporary anti-monopoly movements in context.
Funeral flower arrangement with a ribbon reading "R.I.P. Internet."
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Why Ajit Pai is Wrong About Net Neutrality

FCC regulations have long promoted innovation that benefits consumers, not stifled it.

When America Was a Developing Country

The nostalgia of some conservatives hearkens back to a different—and irretrievable—economic time.

The Uses and Abuses of 'Neoliberalism'

Does the term clarify or confuse our understanding of capitalism today?

Before Net Neutrality, There Was Radio Regulation

How today's media landscape was shaped by a 1920s decision to privilege corporate broadcasters over noncommercial ones.
Customers at an African American bank in Harlem.
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We Need More Government, Not Less, in The War on Poverty

The myth of the “dependent” poor.

The Republican Tax Bill Is a Poison Pill That Kills the New Deal

Today’s Republicans would have fit right into Herbert Hoover’s administration.

How Obama Destroyed Black Wealth

The nation's first African-American president was a disaster for black wealth.

How the FCC's Net Neutrality Plan Breaks With 50 Years of History

The scholar who coined the phrase "net neutrality" explains why the agency's latest move represents such a radical break.

The Shark and the Hound

America’s long history of predatory lending.
Semi on a mountain highway.

The Populist Power of the American Trucker

How did truckers nudge the American economy toward deregulation?