Book Club with Jeffrey Sachs
Join world-renowned economist and Columbia University Professor Jeffrey Sachs for lively conversations with the authors of scintillating, inspiring and remarkably important books about history, social justice, and the challenges of building a decent world. Learn more and get involved at bookclubwithjeffreysachs.org. The Book Club with Jeffrey Sachs is brought to you by the SDG Academy, an initiative of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network. Produced by Karena Joslin. Audio editing by Matt Rocker, theme song composed by Matt Rocker, performed by Dave Eggar. A kontentreal production.
Book Club with Jeffrey Sachs
Season 5 Episode 7: Sven Beckert; Capitalism: A Global History
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Join Professor Jeffrey Sachs and historian Professor Sven Beckert for a compelling discussion of his book Capitalism: A Global History, a sweeping account of the economic system that has transformed how we live, work, and organize our societies.
Together, they explore the origins and evolution of capitalism over the past millennium, challenging the idea that it was simply a Western invention. Beckert traces capitalism’s development across Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Americas, examining the roles of trade, state power, imperial expansion, slavery, technological change, and labor in shaping the global economy.
The conversation considers how capitalism became the defining economic system of the modern world—and the human costs and inequalities that accompanied its rise. Beckert also examines how capitalism has been shaped by people and communities often left out of traditional histories, from merchants and workers to enslaved people and those who resisted the system.
This episode offers a sweeping new perspective on the history of capitalism, revealing it not as an inevitable or timeless system, but as a relatively recent human creation whose global legacy continues to shape our world today.
The Book Club with Jeffrey Sachs is brought to you by the SDG Academy, the flagship education initiative of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network. Learn more and get involved at bookclubwithjeffreysachs.org.
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