That's Capital

Guest: Bill Maurer Jonathan Field and Titus Levi talk with UC, Irvine anthropologist Bill Maurer about curating an exhibit about alternative currencies in Southern California, his studies about the way currencies function in different communities, and his latest book, Mutual Life, Limited : Islamic Banking, Alternative Currencies, Lateral Reason Stream (click here to listen on your computer) Podcast (click here to download to an iPod or another MP3 player) My Odeo Channel Read more →

That's Capital is looking for scholars, journalists, students, business professionals or anyone thinking deeply about the way economics impacts our lives. Free market capitalist, tax-hating libertarian, left-wing communitarian, hopeful anarchist or old fashioned liberal, we'd love to have you become part of our producing team, or maybe just host one of our many on-going conversations. Below are some specific areas we want to explore in the next year. If you have thought about any of these areas with any intensity, or have found others who do, please get in touch, wherever you live. Infrastructure: What are the social molecules that... Read more →

That's Capital

FOUR PARTS PART I Marion Asnes and her guests explore the relationship between "real" money and emerging digital currencies. Guests Atefeh Riazi, Senior Partner and Chief Technology Officer of Ogilvy Worldwide Mark C. Taylor, philosopher and scholar of religion and architecture Stream (click here to play on your computer) Podcast (click here to play on an iPod or another MP3 device) PART II Jonathan Field and Titus Levi continue the conversation with Mark C. Taylor, focusing on the evolving forms of money and how they reflect changes in everyday life. Stream (click here to play on your computer)... Read more →

That's Capital

Human Resource professional Sunny Bates talks with Titus Levi and Jonathan Field about work-place attitudes facing Baby Boomers as they move close to retirement. Stream (click here to play on your computer) Podcast (click here to download to your iPod or another MP3 device) Sunny Bates is the author of How to Earn What You're Worth, and CEO of Sunny Bates Associates. Read more →

That's Capital

In the June 15, 2005 issue of The New Republic, Jackson Lears writes a brilliant review of historian Steven Fraser's book, Every Man a Speculator: A History of Wall Street in American Life. Read more →

That's Capital

How I Ended Up Here I first became interested in economics when I started college. Economics provided tools that I could use to better understand questions I had had for many years about all sorts of things: Why didn’t more of my friends like jazz? Could Ronald Reagan cut taxes, balance the budget, and increase military spending? How could sparsely populated farm states wield so much political power? Why does the market produce so much junk? My interest in applying economic tools to such questions drove me to learn more and more… until I finally earned a PhD... Read more →

That's Capital

Guest Paula Fass Jonathan Field talks with historian Paula Fass about "babyhood" in 20th century America. Fass dives into the way changing ideas about babies translated into products, as well as conceptions of citizenship, progress, and what makes a meaningful adult life. Fass is Byrne Professor of History at UC, Berkeley, and the author of several books on childhood, including The Damned and the Beautiful: American Youth in the 1920s; Outside In: Minorities and the Transformation of American Education; Kidnapped: A History of Child Abduction in the United States, and is the co-editor of the Childhood in America.... Read more →

That's Capital

Jonathan Field Executive Director Field runs Fieldwork, a brand research and strategy consultancy in New York City. Previous to marketing, he worked as a reporter, playwright and producer. Titus Levi Managing Director Levi became interested in economics as a way of understanding music distribution and consumption. After finishing his PhD in 1997, he joined the faculty of the University of Southern California's Annenberg School for Communications, teaching classes on business strategy and market analysis in the communications industries and conducting research on radio regulation, technological change, and market development. Since leaving academia, he has worked as a consultant... Read more →

That's Capital

Jonathan Field and Titus Levi continue the conversation with Mark C. Taylor, author of Confidence Games. Stream (click here to play on your computer) Podcast (click here to download to an iPod or an MP3 device) Read more →

from Jonathan Field,Executive Director If you're reading this, you have digital access. And chances are that the area where you live often feels overwhelmed by ads. People and businesses selling something, whether it's on billboards, gas pumps, or even people's bodies. The planet today seems driven by a system generating ever more products and marketing. I'm part of that marketing, helping businesses brand themselves. I have experienced a world without much explicit marketing. First, for a summer as a teen, living with a family of blacksmiths down in a town south of Oaxaca, Mexico. The next time was in the... Read more →