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The Economic History Podcast with Fexingo: Past Recessions, Booms, and Lessons from History

The Economic History Podcast with Fexingo: Past Recessions, Booms, and Lessons from History

By: Fexingo
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Lucas and Luna examine the economic booms and busts that shaped modern history, from the 1873 Long Depression to the 2008 financial crisis. Each episode is a focused conversation around a single historical period, drawing on original data, central bank archives, and contemporary newspaper accounts. Lucas offers the narrative arc—what caused the expansion, when the turning point came, why policy responses succeeded or failed—while Luna challenges assumptions, compares institutional frameworks across eras, and asks what lessons still apply today. Recent episodes include a granular look at the 1920–21 depression (often overlooked in favor of 1929), the role of railroad speculation in the Panic of 1893, and how post-WWII Bretton Woods policies differ from today's monetary regime. The listener is someone who reads economic history for its own sake—not for simple predictions, but to understand the recurring patterns of credit cycles, regulatory change, and political reactions to hardship. Lucas and Luna never simplify: they discuss real GDP figures, interest rate decisions, and the specific legislative acts that altered market dynamics. This is not a 'lessons from history' show that cherry-picks anecdotes; it is a rigorous, data-rich, and candid conversation about why some recoveries lasted and others did not. What does the 1837 panic tell us about modern debt crises that most economists miss? #EconomicHistory #PastRecessions #BoomsAndBusts #GreatDepression #PanicOf1893 #LongDepression #BrettonWoods #CreditCycles #MonetaryPolicy #CentralBanking #1921Depression #1837Panic #BusinessCycles #FexingoBusiness #BusinessPodcast #Economics #HistoricalAnalysis #PolicyLessons Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo© 2026 Fexingo. All rights reserved. Economics
Episodes
  • The 1944 Bretton Woods System That Failed Too Fast

    The 1944 Bretton Woods System That Failed Too Fast
    Jul 1 2026
    Episode 84 of The Economic History Podcast with Fexingo: Past Recessions, Booms, and Lessons from History dives into the 1944 Bretton Woods conference and the dollar-gold system it created. Lucas and Luna explore why an arrangement designed to stabilise global currencies for a generation collapsed in just 27 years. They focus on the 'Triffin dilemma' — the fatal flaw Belgian economist Robert Triffin identified in 1960 — and trace how America's balance of payments deficits, the Vietnam War, and French gold hoarding forced President Nixon to close the gold window in August 1971. Specific figures: the $35 per ounce gold peg, the $7 billion U.S. gold stock in 1948 versus liabilities of $50 billion by 1960, and the $2.5 billion gold drain in 1965 alone. Listeners will understand why the Bretton Woods design was inherently unstable and how its collapse reshaped modern currency markets. #BrettonWoods #EconomicHistory #DollarGoldSystem #TriffinDilemma #RobertTriffin #NixonShock #GoldWindow #IMF #WorldBank #FixedExchangeRates #BalanceOfPayments #VietnamWar #FrenchGold #JohnMaynardKeynes #WhitePlan #Economics #FexingoBusiness #BusinessPodcast Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo
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    9 mins
  • The 1913 Ford Five-Dollar Day That Doubled Wages

    The 1913 Ford Five-Dollar Day That Doubled Wages
    Jun 30 2026
    In January 1914, Henry Ford announced he would pay his factory workers $5 per day — more than double the prevailing wage. Critics called it reckless; within two years, Ford's profits surged and turnover collapsed. This episode unpacks the economics behind one of the most famous labor experiments in history: how a wage hike reshaped productivity, consumption, and the very idea of what a company owes its workers. Lucas and Luna examine the data, the backlash, and the lasting lesson for modern minimum wage debates. #HenryFord #FordMotorCompany #FiveDollarDay #LaborEconomics #MinimumWage #Productivity #EfficiencyWages #IndustrialRevolution #Detroit #1914 #HighlandParkPlant #MassProduction #ProfitSharing #Turnover #Economics #EconomicHistory #FexingoBusiness #BusinessPodcast Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo
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    9 mins
  • The 1957 Sputnik Shock That Created American Science Policy

    The 1957 Sputnik Shock That Created American Science Policy
    Jun 30 2026
    When the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1 in October 1957, the US economy was already in recession. The satellite's beep from orbit did more than embarrass American engineers—it triggered a massive government spending shift that reshaped R&D funding, university research, and the human capital pipeline for decades. Lucas and Luna examine how the National Defense Education Act of 1958 poured a billion dollars into education and science infrastructure, creating the template for modern federal research policy. They trace the path from Sputnik's launch to the formation of NASA, DARPA, and the dramatic increase in NSF appropriations—and ask whether today's competitive threats produce the same kind of sustained investment response. #Sputnik #1957Recession #NationalDefenseEducationAct #DARPA #NASA #SciencePolicy #RAndDSpending #ColdWarEconomics #HumanCapital #FederalResearch #NationalScienceFoundation #Eisenhower #Economics #FexingoBusiness #BusinessPodcast #EconomicHistory #EducationFunding #InnovationEconomics Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo
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    10 mins
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