{"podcast":{"title":"The Strategy Skills Podcast: Strategy | Leadership | Critical Thinking | Problem-Solving","slug":"the-strategy-skills-podcast-strategy-leadership-critical-thinking-problem-solving-431195","podcast_index_feed_id":431195,"rss_url":"https://strategyskills.libsyn.com/rss","website_url":"https://www.firmsconsulting.com","image_url":"https://static.libsyn.com/p/assets/d/b/b/8/dbb87cad4c06da1d/SS_art_4.png","author":"Kris Safarova for Firmsconsulting.com","episode_count":500,"summary":"CEOs and business leaders, management consulting senior partners, ground-breaking professors, thought-provoking writers and journalists, record-setting athletes and coaches, and award-winning actors and celebrities discuss the key issues facing the business world and broader society. Get free access to our newsletter, Monday Morning at 8 am, along with sample episodes from our training programs on www.strategytraining.com. Go to https://www.firmsconsulting.com/promo.","last_synced_at":"2026-07-15T22:22:19.528722+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-strategy-skills-podcast-strategy-leadership-critical-thinking-problem-solving-431195"},"episode":{"title":"652: Can Democracy Survive Free Market Capitalism? (with Professor of Economics Emeritus at Stanford University, Mordecai Kurz)","slug":"652-can-democracy-survive-free-market-capitalism-with-professor-of-economics-emeritus-at-stanford-university-mordecai-kurz","published_at":"2026-05-13T11:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-strategy-skills-podcast-strategy-leadership-critical-thinking-problem-solving-431195/652-can-democracy-survive-free-market-capitalism-with-professor-of-economics-emeritus-at-stanford-university-mordecai-kurz","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-strategy-skills-podcast-strategy-leadership-critical-thinking-problem-solving-431195","url":"https://strategyskills.libsyn.com/652-can-democracy-survive-free-market-capitalism-with-professor-of-economics-emeritus-at-stanford-university-mordecai-kurz","audio_url":"https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/strategyskills/652_FSS_Mordecai_Kurz_e_lio_mio_192kb_compressed.mp3?dest-id=291244","summary":"Professor Mordecai Kurz argues that rising inequality is not simply the result of markets, but the combined effect of \"technology, culture and policy\" operating together over decades. Drawing on his forthcoming book, Private Power and Democracy's Decline, Kurz explains why he believes free market capitalism, left entirely unregulated, eventually concentrates both economic and political power. His central concern is not wealth alone, but the long-term erosion of democratic agency when monopoly power becomes permanent through patents, acquisitions, and technological dominance. A major focus of the conversation is artificial intelligence and the future of work. Kurz distinguishes between technologies that increase human productivity and technologies designed primarily to replace labor altogether. \"The key,\" he argues, \"was creating a situation of increasing the productivity of people rather than replacing them.\" The discussion also explores job displacement, democratic control over technology, monopoly formation, and the responsibility societies have to preserve human dignity amid rapid technological change. \"We can have democracy and we can have free market capitalism,\" Kurz says, \"but… we cannot have them both.\" For leaders navigating the implications of AI, automation, and economic concentration, the episode offers a rigorous framework for thinking beyond short-term efficiency gains and toward the long-term relationship between innovation, power, and democracy. Mordecai Kurz is a Professor of Economics Emeritus at Stanford University. He is the author of Private Power and Democracy's Decline: How to Make Capitalism Support Democracy. Get Mordecai's book, Private Power and Democracy's Decline , here: https://tinyurl.com/4ftzph7a Claim your free gift: Free gift #1 McKins…","meta_description":"Professor Mordecai Kurz argues that rising inequality is not simply the result of markets, but the combined effect of \"technology, culture and policy\" ope…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":3126,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-strategy-skills-podcast-strategy-leadership-critical-thinking-problem-solving-431195/episodes/652-can-democracy-survive-free-market-capitalism-with-professor-of-economics-emeritus-at-stanford-university-mordecai-kurz/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-strategy-skills-podcast-strategy-leadership-critical-thinking-problem-solving-431195/652-can-democracy-survive-free-market-capitalism-with-professor-of-economics-emeritus-at-stanford-university-mordecai-kurz.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}