Misaligned Markets

Professor William Kovarik, a Professor of Communication at Radford University, discusses the history of tetraethyl lead (TEL) in gasoline from 1923 until 2021. The decision to put lead in gasoline is among one of the worst public health disasters in human history, impacting the cognitive function, mental health, and quality of life of millions of people. The UN estimates that phasing out leaded gasoline has saved the world $2.45 trillion annually. Kovarik's research was invaluable to uncovering what the gas and oil industry knew about TEL's harms and why it was selected as an anti-knock agent.Learn more about Misaligned Markets and become a member: https://misaligned.markets/about📜Episode show notes: https://misaligned.markets/podcast/ep-3/📚 Support the pod by purchasing books referenced in the episode (bookshop.org affilate link): https://bookshop.org/lists/the-hidden-history-of-leaded-gasoline💵Tip me: https://misaligned.markets/#/portal/support

In part two of Mike's conversation with UC Berkeley professor Khalid Kadir, the conversation shifts to contemporary issues. Including how technical solutions are used to depoliticize distributional conflicts, how technology hides human labor, and how modern cultures often fail to appreciate risk.Learn more about Misaligned Markets: https://misaligned.markets/about📚 Support the pod by purchasing books referenced in the episode (bookshop.org affilate links): https://bookshop.org/lists/political-economy-101

Professor Khalid Kadir, continuing lecturer at UC Berkeley, discusses his unplanned journey from mechanical and civil engineering into political economy, sparked by the question of why proven wastewater treatment technologies go unused in developing countries. Together with Mike he explores methodological tensions within economics and political economy, the role of privilege and openness in intellectual discovery, and the moral foundations of justice that guide his teaching.Learn more about Misaligned Markets: https://misaligned.markets/about📚 Support the pod by purchasing books referenced in the episode (bookshop.org affilate links): https://bookshop.org/lists/political-economy-101

We're told capitalism promises innovation and competition, but increasingly it generates some of our most wicked challenges. Misaligned Markets is about the ways which markets and capitalism come into tension and how these conflicts (fail to) resolve. Join host, Mike for monthly conversations with researchers, policy analysts, and activists documenting how capitalism misaligns markets.Learn more about the Misaligned Markets project: https://misaligned.markets/aboutJoin the community: https://misaligned.markets/#/portal/signupSupport the project: https://misaligned.markets/#/portal/support