Pitchfork Economics with Nick Hanauer

The midterms have given Democrats new congressional majorities. Now comes the challenge: Can they articulate and fight for an economic agenda that delivers for working and middle-class Americans?

Middle-out economics offers a roadmap. Instead of relying on wealth to trickle down from the top, it starts with a simple idea: a thriving middle class is what drives economic growth.

This week, we’re revisiting a special 2024 episode featuring leading economists and policymakers advancing middle-out economics. From raising wages and strengthening unions to investing in American industries and taking on corporate monopolies, they explore policies that offer Democrats something they urgently need: a coherent economic agenda that tackles the affordability crisis, improves people’s lives, and demonstrates that they’re on the side of working and middle-class Americans.

This episode originally aired on March 12, 2024.

Felicia Wong is a principal at the Roosevelt Institute, where she previously served as president and CEO from 2012 to 2025. Her research focuses on economic inequality, post-neoliberal economic policy, and building a more inclusive economy.

Bharat Ramamurti is executive director and partner of Ground Truth at Keystone and a former deputy director of the White House National Economic Council under President Biden. He previously advised Senator Elizabeth Warren on banking and economic policy.

Tara McGuinness is the founder and executive director of the New Practice Lab at New America, where she works to improve economic security for families through more effective government programs. She previously served as a senior adviser in the Obama White House.

Sandeep Vaheesan is the legal director at the Open Markets Institute, where he leads research and advocacy on antitrust law and corporate power. He is the author of Democracy in Power: A History of Electrification in the United States.

Todd N. Tucker is the director of industrial policy and trade at the Roosevelt Institute. His research focuses on industrial policy, international trade, and the role of government in shaping economic development.

Ronnie Chatterji is the chief economist at OpenAI and a distinguished professor of business and public policy at Duke University. He previously served as the White House coordinator for implementing the CHIPS and Science Act.

Neale Mahoney is the Trione Director of the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research and the TG Wijaya Professor of Economics at Stanford University. He previously served as a special policy adviser on the White House National Economic Council.

Heidi Shierholz is the president of the Economic Policy Institute and a former chief economist at the U.S. Department of Labor. Her work focuses on wages, labor markets, and policies that strengthen workers' economic power.

Further reading:

Democracy Journal Symposium: The Middle-Out Moment Is Here

A New Economics Takes Hold by Nick Hanauer & David Goldstein

Industrial Policy’s Triumphant Return by Felicia Wong

Moving Past Global Neoliberalism by Todd N. Tucker

Keep Empowering Workers by Heidi Shierholz

Finally, a Public Investment Boom by Neale Mahoney & Ronnie Chatterji

The Fruits of the American Rescue Plan by Bharat Ramamurti

Seeds of an Antitrust Revival by Sandeep Vaheesan

The IRA’s Promises—and Pitfalls by Jennifer Harris

An Economy with Ethics by Tara McGuinness

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The morning after a historic midterm, Richard and Zach ask what Democrats actually learned. Their answer is bigger than a blue tsunami: working- and middle-class voters moved sharply, cost-of-living proved powerful, and candidates who connected economic policy to everyday life broke through. But, as Republicans just learned the hard way, winning those voters once is not the same as owning them. The harder governing question is whether Democrats can turn affordability into durable gains in voter trust through paychecks, worker power, and broadly shared prosperity.

What was mentioned in this episode:

Civic Ventures

Middle Out Center

The Washington Post, 2026 Election Trends

CBS News, 2026 Exit Polls

What’s the Matter with Kansas? by Thomas Frank

Pitchfork Economics with Nick Hanauer

The Pitch: Zach Silk’s newsletter/Substack, promoted at the close.

Pitchfork Politics Substack

New York Times election maps

Main Street Alliance

If you steal from your employer, you could end up in jail. But what happens when your employer steals from you?

Every year, employers steal billions of dollars from American workers through unpaid wages, overtime violations, and other illegal practices. Yet the consequences for employers are often little more than the cost of doing business.

On Election Day, we're revisiting our 2024 conversation with labor law enforcement expert Terri Gerstein about one of the most widespread and overlooked crimes in the American economy. Why is wage theft so common? Why are employers so rarely held criminally accountable? And what would it take to change that?

Because building an economy that works for working people isn't just about passing better laws. It's about having a government willing to enforce them.

This episode originally aired April 9, 2024

Terri Gerstein is the director of the NYU Wagner Labor Initiative and a leading expert on wage theft and workers’ rights enforcement. She previously served as Labor Bureau Chief in the New York Attorney General’s Office and Deputy Commissioner of the New York State Department of Labor.

Social Media:

@terrigerstein.bsky.social

@TerriGerstein

Further reading:

The Regulatory Review - A Resilient Web of State and Local Enforcers

More than $1.5 billion in stolen wages recovered for workers between 2021 and 2023

How district attorneys and state attorneys general are fighting workplace abuses

How to File a Wage Complaint

Website: http://pitchforkeconomics.com

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Twitter: @PitchforkEcon, @NickHanauer

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Nick’s Substack: NickHanauer.Substack.com

We're bringing you something new from the Pitchfork universe!

Today, we're sharing the debut episode of Pitchfork Politics, a new podcast hosted by Civic Ventures President Zach Silk and Middle Out Center Executive Director Richard Trent, exploring how to run and win on the economy.

In this first episode, Zach and Richard ask a question that could reshape how we think about American elections: Who are the new swing voters?

Today's most politically volatile voters are increasingly working-class Americans who want to know whether their paychecks can keep up with the cost of living.

From Alaska and Texas to Kansas and Maine, Zach and Richard explore what decades of political realignment can tell us about the coming election, why economic dissatisfaction keeps reshaping the electorate, and what it takes to turn electoral victories into lasting political power.

Enjoy this special preview, and be sure to follow Pitchfork Politics wherever you get your podcasts for more conversations about the economic ideas, messages, and campaigns shaping American politics.

You got a raise. So why does it feel like you’re still struggling?

New research finds that rising debt payments have swallowed more than half of real income gains for a typical one-earner household since late 2022. Angela Hanks of The Century Foundation joins Goldy and Paul to explain how debt is deepening America's affordability crisis, trapping workers in bad jobs, and weakening their bargaining power. And why fixing the problem requires more than just getting people out of debt.

Angela Hanks is Chief of Policy Programs at The Century Foundation and a coauthor of the report: Half of Every Dollar: How Household Debt Eats Into Workers’ Income Gains.

Social Media:

@angelanhanks.bsky.social

@AngelaHanks

@TCFdotorg

@tcfdotorg.bsky.social

Further reading:

Half of Every Dollar: How Household Debt Eats Into Workers’ Income Gains

Men at Arms by Terry Pratchett

Sam Vimes ‘Boots’ Theory of Socio-Economic Unfairness

Website: http://pitchforkeconomics.com

Facebook: Pitchfork Economics Podcast

Bluesky: @pitchforkeconomics.bsky.social

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Threads: pitchforkeconomics

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LinkedIn: Pitchfork Economics

Twitter: @PitchforkEcon, @NickHanauer

Substack: The Pitch

Nick’s Substack: NickHanauer.Substack.com