Zingales

Economist at the Chicago Booth School of Business - Co-host of the podcast Capitalisn't. Per i followers italiani: @zingales_it

[Project Syndicate @ProSyn]

The biggest story of the 2026 midterms was American voters’ revolt against political corruption, argues @ChicagoBooth’s @zingales. https://t.co/YEO4jkkDgw

[Zingales @zingales]

In Italy is even worse. There is very little welfare state, the vast majority are transfers from the young to the old. This is the reason why at the #festinteconomia I proposed an estate tax on the boomers https://t.co/K2u7lpwSfc

[Luis Garicano 🇪🇺🇺🇦 @lugaricano]

Retirees own 60% of the wealth in Feance. Given high life expectancy, when they pass it on, wealth is not inherited by the young, but by the about to be old (those in their 50s). Read the entire thing, an excellent analysis of the pickle our societies find themselves in.

[Zingales @zingales]

If you want to pierce through the noise and listen to an analysis of the different economic proposals of the midterm candidates, listen to the latest episode of Capitalisn’t

[Stigler Center @StiglerCenter]

Every 2026 midterm candidate has a housing plan, yet none will touch the real cartel blocking new construction: local homeowners and zoning codes.

But @zingales believes he has a plan for how Washington could break the zoning blockade tomorrow using the federal property tax deduction.

Listen to the latest Capitalisn’t podcast on the 2026 midterms below 👇

[Zingales @zingales]

Larry @Lessig is providing a ray of hope. You should listen to this episode just for that.

[Chicago Booth Review @chicagoboothrev]

Harvard's Lawrence Lessig says people are blaming the wrong court case for the glut of money in US politics.

He joins #Capitalisnt hosts @bethanymac12 and @zingales to talk about the case that could end Super PACs.

https://t.co/E9LafLvnXI

[Jacob Edenhofer 🇪🇺 🇺🇦 @edenhofer_jacob]

https://t.co/8SvlT8ouQX

[Evonomics: The Next Evolution of Economics @EvonomicsMag]

Economist @zingales : "Capitalism’s biggest political enemies are not the firebrand trade unionists spewing vitriol against the system but the executives in pin-striped suits extolling the virtues of competitive markets with every breath while attempting to extinguish them with every action."

[Matt Stoller @matthewstoller]

If there were an AI angle this would be front page everywhere with panic. But it’s just your standard biowarfare risks of unleashing devastating disease.

Boring.

[Zingales @zingales]

Philosopher Elizabeth Anderson calls the American workplace a dictatorship on our latest Capitalisn’t podcast. Absent competition, it is.

We spent three centuries designing constitutions to limit the sovereign's power against its citizens. Against private power, absent competition, we have none. I am not the person to write the Bill of Rights for workers and customers, but someone should.

Full podcast here: https://t.co/iQc9MSePh1

[Stigler Center @StiglerCenter]

@UMich Philosopher Elizabeth Anderson argues the American workplace isn't just hierarchical, it's unaccountable, and that quitting is not the remedy people think it is.

Check out the full Capitalisn’t podcast with @zingales and @bethanymac12 below 👇

[Rex Salisbury @rexsalisbury]

hot take from Zingales -- billionaires create value.

everyday mainstreet millionaires?
- beer distributors
- car dealers
- hospital execs

rent seekers.

the disconnect is that the local rent seekers don't get the political air coverage that the billionaires do.

so we tolerate rent seeking at the local level and attack perceived rent seeking for large enterprises.

I am highly sympathetic to this view!

rent seeking happens and is most deleterious at the local level. hospitals, beer distributors, car dealers...all great examples. but no one cares!

are there billionaires that engage in rent seeking? sure...and we go after them hard in political discourse.

The problem w/ main street millionaires is we tolerate or even celebrate their rent seeking.

[Zingales @zingales]

I agree, but in a well functioning system extraordinary wealth should be the reward of extraordinary accomplishments. @omizidar and Zwick fail to show this link.

[Garrett Watson @GS_Watson]

The rent seeking discussion is important, but note that successful entrepreneurs can provide plenty of value without inventing something new or being disruptive.

Ventures in distribution, the trades, or sales provide value without being the most interesting lines of work.

[Zingales @zingales]

The American Dream Is Still Alive, for Cronies

Is the American dream still alive? In a recent @WSJ article, @omzidar and Eric Zwick claim it is. Yet, their book provides a more nuanced picture.

The millionaires they celebrate are not inventors, creative entrepreneurs, disruptive innovators: they are mostly rent seekers. From car dealers to beer distributors, from real estate brokers to real estate developers, their “everywhere millionaires” resemble more a list of antitrust violations than a monument to American ingenuity.

Does the American dream amount to achieving an antitrust exemption? To find out, listen to the latest episode of Capitalisn’t where Bethany and I discuss these issues with Eric: https://t.co/p83WVjlvNu

[Zingales @zingales]

The war economy and Operation Warp Speed. Why is the state able to act efficiently during these times but not others?

What these moments share is the threat of annihilation. When people believe they may not survive, the political economy disappears, and government becomes remarkably competent.

The question we debated with @MazzucatoM is how to get those outcomes without those incentives. Listen to our full conversation on Capitalisn't here: https://t.co/r1i8sSBNIF

[Chicago Booth Review @chicagoboothrev]

MIT’s @DAcemogluMIT joins #Capitalisnt hosts @bethanymac12 and @zingales to discuss why the system that delivered unprecedented freedom and prosperity abandoned the working class in favor of the college-education elite.

@StiglerCenter

https://t.co/REEXlVXQgp

[Zingales @zingales]

Thanks!

[Compared to What? 🤝🇺🇦🇩🇪🇺🇲 @GMPublius]

@zingales

Thanks for the capitalisn't podcast.

Been listening for several years. Definitely a good listen

And find it refreshing how you push back on your guests at times

[Zingales @zingales]

@nnzt4dxvrv Happy to take a picture with you

[Zingales @zingales]

You bought an index fund, not a philosopher-king.
Who should decide how it votes on climate, lobbying, and social issues?
With Oliver Hart and Hélène @landemore, we propose investor assemblies: give a voice to the people whose money it is.
https://t.co/eAsptUcP0L

[Zingales @zingales]

@landemore @eckertnate3 Helene : my Twitter handler is @zingales . The one you chose is a fake and I am trying to have it cancelled. That profile abuse my image to give false advice . I never give financial advice

[Zingales @zingales]

@JoshuaBarzon It is cool but it ignores completely one of the most important and long-lasting states in world history : the Republic of Venice

[Pablo de Ramón-Laca @PabloLaca]

Extremely appealing book and interesting interview with the great @lugaricano. Thanks to the Capitalisn't team for posting.