As someone who works at the intersection of brand, marketing, and creative strategy, Capital Isn’t is an invaluable resource. Luigi Zingales and Bethany McLean break down the forces shaping our economy in a way that goes beyond theory—it’s about how power, policy, and capital impact the real world, from business decisions to cultural trends. In my work, understanding these dynamics helps me think more critically about everything from market positioning to corporate responsibility and the shifting expectations of consumers. The podcast constantly challenges my perspective, making me a sharper strategist and a more informed leader. Whether you’re in finance, marketing, or just trying to make sense of the world we live in, this is a must-listen.

Interesting topics, and informative. I don't agree with the hosts' perspective, but I think it's useful to hear what your political opponents have to say.

I love some of their guests but the hosts are not worthy. In their unself-critical muddy thinking, everything good in capitalism stems from the system, but anything bad is an externality. They never once question whether the system’s own logics. To the contrary they take the system and ideological supports of it as givens.

There’s nothing so absurd as what can be found in the theories of academics, excepting, perhaps, the narratives of journalists.

What a waste of some fine guests and an unnecessary platforming of thoroughly discredited ones

Love the guests they have on, and love their banter

Neoliberal apologists that after 30 years of failed policy still think that theories have much to do with realities of everyday life and flawed incentives that work on paper only. I could give plenty of examples to show how the incentives economists developed and they actually advocate for here on this podcast backfire in real life. Embarrassing!!!

I like to listen to Luigi and Bethany because they are able to discuss capitalism without trashing it, though they discuss why and the so many ways it doesn’t work, they still let us imagine what we can do to improve it within our microscopic cosmos.

I’ve never seen interviewers so willfully ignorant, and that’s coming from someone that lives in the United States. You’re as likely to learn anything useful from this as you are from watching an alpha bro’s TikTok podcast. It was like watching Yanis speak to a daycare.

I’ve listened to a dozen episodes or and just finished the latest on private equity and index funds. I found myself repeatedly frustrated by the lack of both knowledge of and perspective on private markets. I am a full time private markets investor- but not one of the “big guys”. There is so much nuance that was missing here and the arguments from the guest, Luigi and Bethany were simplistic and belied a lack of understanding of how private market investing works in practice. The show could use a third host who has practical experience in the business world - experience that would complement the journalistic and academic experience of the other two hosts. Some of the issues raised on the episode are real- but the simplistic call for more disclosure (and thus more regulation) would not solve the problem and arguably hurt our economy. There are better, market-driven solutions available. One more thing: it is not the “Stee-gler” Center. I studied under Prof Stigler in the 80s. He pronounced his name “Stih-gler”

Your show is outstanding. The topics, guests, content, and ideas never fail to educate. I always feel smarter at the end of your show. Please keep them coming! (Mark J., Washington DC)

We discovered this podcast accidentally and have enjoyed it thoroughly. The hosts offer insightful critiques and analyses.

I liked this podcast until the Covid episode, when I learned that this podcast is ableist. In an over 40 minute long conversation with the author of a whole book about the pandemic, they discuss how trivial Covid is for people who are “healthy and white” and how silly it was for us to go into lockdowns. Not ONCE did they EVEN MENTION Long Covid, which is what most Covid cautious people (whom they call “germophobes”) are actually worried about. They focus almost entirely on death metrics, literally laughing away the risks to children and anyone who don’t have “preexisting conditions” that has a fear of Covid. They don’t contend with how to protect those that do have those conditions and want to be a part of society, nor do they acknowledge at all that there are other consequences to Covid beyond death that are absolutely worth avoiding. The creators of this show have absolutely showed their hand as ableists, and I will no longer be listening.

They think they have logic, but they live in a bubble of both-sidisms. They really have an outdated view of the current left, middle, right positions. They also seem to ignore things like the extremism of the right today and the history of their anti-union stands as it relates to the changing nature of the US’ workforce, claiming for example things like the right is for workers rights. I urge them to get past their biases created from negative experiences in Italy or other places. They get angry at the left for being “too Machiavellian” and think the right has the economic models on “their side.” Really absurd some of their positions.

The SVB episode was timely, landing within days of the entire collapse. The guests along with Luigi and Bethany provided the expected insightful explanations of what happened and how it could be fixed. Keep it up!

This is a fabulous podcast and I always get excited when a new episode comes out. As to the McKinsey episode, I agree with Luigi that the author shied away from many of his questions and frankly the interview part was disappointing (not because of the lack of trying on the interviewers’ part). It felt like the author was just trying to sell his book and refused to go into deeper analysis. There’s always a way for authors to promote their books on podcasts by going into just enough details and giving insights so that listeners are intrigued to purchase the book, but this author did it terribly. The common theme is that McKinsey is the big bad, they tell everyone to cut costs where it shouldn’t, and they take a big chunk out of it. There’s nothing deeper to be told by this author. I enjoyed the latter half of the discussion without the author. Hope y’all can expand on the consulting industry as a whole in a future episode.

For people who seek the truth and are open to changing their minds, not for those who have fixed beliefs and are looking to reaffirm them in an echo chamber. Also, the way Bethany and Luigi change minds is through concrete data and evidence as well as cogent, articulate, and persuasive argument. The intro to the show pretty much summarises it perfectly: Capitalism is deeply flawed and in need of reform, just as it was in the eras of the two Roosevelts, but Socialism is definitely not an alternative, and we so far haven’t come up with another system that is.

Informative and entertaining at the same time. A very enjoyable podcast that enriches my understanding of the many aspects of economics and how it relates to our everyday lives. Thank you Luigi and Bethany!

This has been one of my favorite podcasts since it started. It addresses critical topics in a regressing and extremely intelligent way. Highly recommend.

I rarely write reviews but this podcast is so good I must. I have listened to this podcast for a few years now and have yet to be let down. Bethany and Luigi consistently delve into the deeper causes and repercussions of financial policy. I find their discussions to be refreshing because they are genuine in their desire to profoundly understand the topics they cover. I only wish that this quality of information were more prevalent in the media. Thanks to you both

These two are superb at explaining viewpoints, consequences, and the impact of economics on our lives.

Capitalisn't is a great podcast about global Economics, focusing on current topics, using a critical angle. Both hosts are very knowledgeable and the hosts they choose create an interesting conversation. P.S. For new listeners: when Luigi says "akulee", he means "actually".

The podcast has devolved into a social justice warrior espousing her views and an academic occasionally injecting sense into the conversation. I subscribed years ago to hear Professor Zingales’ mind at work. I couldn’t find a better podcast that conveyed rigorous economics in an approachable manner on interesting but not politically hyper-charged topics. It has been depressing over the past year to listen as the podcast descended into just another YouTube channel/Twitter feed.

These days the old press and social media are dumbing down information and politicizing information. This is one of the avenues to obtain unbiased information.

Very perceptive comments on the unintended consequences of sanctions and why China was farsighted in controlling social media as they are not neutral players

Great podcast where ideas are pushed around in a rigorous and non partisan matter. Luigi and Bethany are terrific hosts and they have no problem challenging each other and their guests in a friendly and professional manner. This is not the right podcast for anyone with a fixed point of view who is unwilling to “think again”.

Rigorous, wide-ranging topics and hosts who are willing to change their own thinking based on new ideas that conflict with their prior opinions.

Deft handling: When the guest introduced partisanship via a cheap joke, neither host offered even a faint chuckle. That dynamic allowed the forge ahead into fresh pay-gap terrain (PE/hedge funds) that the guest indicated she needed to research further. Had the podcast veered into political narratives-even briefly- there likely would not have been time to introduce that topic. Ideas can stand on their own and need not be subservient to other masters. The hosts of this podcast seem to understand that. Refreshing.

Second by second gas lighting polylogism. Unaware of human action. This is neoclassical top down crapshoot.

Overall, I appreciate this podcast and find discussions I don’t hear in other places. It’s sometimes a bit too wonky, but that’s ok. I couldn’t find a place to comment, rather than review, so this is really a comment on the episode about ESG and Exxon. The podcast topic was great, but the perspective was limited. They couldn’t think of a societal issue other than climate change that had an economic connection - really? How about gender and ethnic diversity, both on the Boards and in leadership positions? How about transparency and financial integrity? The discussion devolved into which companies or industries are disliked, but really there’s more to it. By excluding a broad segment of society, companies lose out on innovation and resilience. Diversity has an economic payoff. Similarly, having strong compliance practices and a culture of openness and integrity allows companies to avoid corruption and illegalities, which of course negatively impact both reputation and performance.

One of the best podcasts on the air. Outstanding content and guests. Thought-provoking. Kate was a hard act to follow, but Bethany is doing fine. Luigi is a great combination of academic and realist.

In my view, there is not a pervasive problem of experts overstating their expertise. But there is a pervasive anti-intellectual bent in society. Populist supporters tend to trust politicians, pundits and Twitter more than they do their country’s doctors. That’s because populist sympathizers like this podcast constantly ridicule the faceless, monolithic “elite.” In my opinion we need to cultivate a better appreciation of expert opinion.

This podcast is ok, but I wish the hosts would invite more guests who disagree with them. Many episodes are critical of big tech, but surely there are defenders who, for example, don’t think the antitrust laws are an appropriate tool for regulating them.

Great great podcast. One of the best Econ podcast out there. I was disappointed that you brought a Guest to talk about GameStop who didn't know about the concept of market making and referred to it as straight up cheating. I had to stop listening after that.

She adds nothing to the show. Just posturing. It’s really a shame that a better cohost was not available.

She added such a spark to economics and made the podcast not so much like a lecture but rather youre having a discussion with your VERY educated friends with some wine. Good luck in school, Kate!

please don’t leave, having an additional legal perspective would be great

Boooooo! Don’t leave, Kate! Loved listening to you both. I hope even after Kate finishes law school she will come back. Best of luck!

If these children represent the university of Chicago they are in trouble.

This was an outstanding discussion on a subject matter that does not get discussed enough. Especially when it comes to a more detailed discussion about the long term implications.

Overall I enjoyed the podcast. That said, I had a hard time with Kate's insistent need to be naive. In episode 64 when discussing the CARES ACT not minding businesses that will abuse the relief is giving it a blind eye. In the restaurant industry Bad Actors exists all the time and steal from employees through payroll too often. Mario Batali is not an outlier in stealing tips from employers in bars and restaurants. I thought the conversation could have gone better if 1) you delve in deeper into the specifics, 2) there was less devils advocate for the sake of devils advocate.

They explain things well but don’t ask too many questions. ‘Corporations and capital have immense power, regulators and labor don’t. And that’s the way it is.’ Why? How did we get here? They don’t actually try and hold to account the current system enough for the name of the podcast to be ‘Capital Isn’t.’

I just started to listen to this week's episode concerning the coronavirus, and I was “appalled” (the word that you, in fact, used) at the way you described the behaviors of New Yorkers. People don’t sift through trash or pick up cigarettes off the floor because they think its okay. They do it because they don’t have many (if any) choices. Perhaps you would do well to understand poverty before criticizing the poor. Your profound ignorance betrays your privilege. Also, if you don’t like New York City, then don’t come to visit. Unsubscribed.

I appreciate the way these two economists questions one another and their field. They also admit when they aren’t sure about something, which is refreshing for academics.

I am a fan of the podcast. They do a great job in translating complex economic ideas to a broader audience and normally discuss timely subjects.

Kate can be super annoying and contradicts herself a lot.

Luigi and Kate tackle interesting topics with discipline and fun debate. Personal and engaging; it’s like listening to two of your smartest and coolest friends, which is the best you can say about a podcast.

I liked the earlier episodes on monopolies. They had a clear point of view, supported by strong evidence with nuance that I learned a lot from. I wish they only chose subjects they felt as strongly about, because some of the episodes are so wishy washy, I have to replay the ending to remember if they ever came to a conclusion about anything.

Title says it all. The two economists come from different coun tries, are of different age, and seem to have some different views on things and yet they debate intelligently and respectfully. Very refreshing and informative.

This podcast is what I’ve been seeking. To hear these two intelligent people discuss issues from an unbiased angle is fulfilling. Please dig more into rural economic decline. I’d like to hear a rational, unbiased, calm discussion about this topic.