# Populism and the Billionaire Backlash | Pepper Culpepper Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/oxford-policy-pod-1217253/populism-and-the-billionaire-backlash-pepper-culpepper Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/oxford-policy-pod-1217253/populism-and-the-billionaire-backlash-pepper-culpepper.md Podcast: [Oxford Policy Pod](https://stenobird.com/podcast/oxford-policy-pod-1217253) Published: 2026-05-17T08:00:00+00:00 Episode link: https://oxfordpolicypod.captivate.fm/episode/populism-and-the-billionaire-backlash-pepper-culpepper Audio file: https://episodes.captivate.fm/episode/0098b034-f1c1-4ca9-a4a1-fb1e282cec11.mp3 Processing state: not_requested JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/oxford-policy-pod-1217253/episodes/populism-and-the-billionaire-backlash-pepper-culpepper Duration seconds: 2776 ## Resource In this episode of the Oxford Policy Pod, Master of Public Policy students Felix Wu and Meredith Lehman sit down with Pepper Culpepper — Vice Dean of the Blavatnik School of Government — to discuss his new book, Billionaire Backlash: The Age of Corporate Scandal and How it Could Save Democracy . In Billionaire Backlash , Culpepper and his co-author Taeku Lee argue that scandals centered on corporate malfeasance are a unique political force which leaders can leverage to compel lasting policy change. This discussion charts a path for how their theory applies to the present moment, at a time when populism is on the rise in democracies across the world. Recorded at the Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford. ## Actions - request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/oxford-policy-pod-1217253/episodes/populism-and-the-billionaire-backlash-pepper-culpepper/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode. - read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/oxford-policy-pod-1217253/populism-and-the-billionaire-backlash-pepper-culpepper.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource. A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed. ## Transcript Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.