Upstream

Upstream is a radio documentary series that blurs the lines between economics, philosophy, and anthropology. Exploring a diversity of themes (from Craft Beer to Universal Basic Income), we blend together expert interviews, heartfelt narratives, rich sound-design, and great music, to create thought-provoking and inspiring episodes.

Upstream is not your typical economics podcast. We're way more interested in telling people's stories than we are in discussing the DOW Jones Industrial Average, for example. In fact, you might forget that you're listening to an economics podcast when you listen to Upstream. In many ways, economics has been dominated by, well, to put it bluntly: boring ideas. But economics is so much more than supply and demand graphs, Laffer curves, and all that Econ 101 mumbo jumbo.

Of course, there's a place for that stuff. But it's not in our podcast. We speak with experts and scholars, but we also speak to regular folks who are impacted by economic decisions made in elite universities or by economic advisory councils. We interview folks on the streets (literally). We speak with those whose voices are not included in traditional narratives. We feature ideas that are outside of the mainstream, and we always challenge the status quo — because the status quo is not working. And, of course, we always include rich sound design and great music to keep things fun, interesting, and entertaining.

This series is our documentary series (we also have a Conversation series, which feature long-form interviews, which can be found here: https://www.upstreampodcast.org/conversations). Hide full description

Upstream is a radio documentary series that blurs the lines between economics, philosophy, and anthropology. Exploring a diversity of themes (from Craft Beer to Universal Basic Income), we blend together expert interviews, heartfelt narratives, rich sound-design, and great music, to create thought-provoking and inspiring episodes. Upstream is not your typical economics podcast. We're way more interested in telling people's stories than we are in discussing the DOW Jones Industrial Average, for example. In fact, you might forget that you're listening to an economics podcast when you listen to Upstream. In many ways, economics has been dominated by, well, to put it bluntly: boring ideas. But economics is so much more than supply and demand graphs, Laffer curves, and all that Econ 101... Show full description