The Wage Standard: What’s Wrong in the Labor Market and How to Fix It (with Arin Dube)

Pitchfork Economics with Nick HanauerTuesday, April 7, 2026

Show Notes

Corporate profits are booming. So why haven’t most workers gotten a raise?

For decades, we’ve been told a simple story: work harder, become more productive, and your wages will follow. But what if that story was never really true?

This week, Nick and Goldy talk to Arindrajit Dube—one of the most influential economists shaping how we understand wages, and author of a new book, The Wage Standard: What’s Wrong in the Labor Market and How to Fix It —for a conversation that cuts to the heart of how pay actually works in America.

At a moment when the gap between what the economy produces and what workers take home keeps growing, this episode challenges some of the most fundamental assumptions in economics—and asks what it would take to build a labor market that actually delivers for working people.

Because if wages aren’t just set by “the market”… then they can be changed.

Arin Dube is an economist at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and one of the leading researchers on wages and labor markets. He is the author of The Wage Standard: What’s Wrong in the Labor Market and How to Fix It, and has advised policymakers in the U.S. and internationally on minimum wage policy and labor market dynamics.

Social Media:

@arindube.bsky.social

@arindube

More from Pitchfork Economics with Nick Hanauer

Oct 20, 2026

Anti-Fascist Economics (with Isabella Weber)

What happens to democracy when people can no longer afford the basics of everyday life?

Oct 13, 2026

Housing Is a Market Power Problem (with Sandeep Vaheesan & Brian Callaci)

Housing is still ridiculously expensive, and building more housing is absolutely part of the solution. But supply alone won’t fix a system where landlords have the power to jack up rents with the assistance of algorithms, and developers make more money building for the wealthiest in the market, rather than building homes a typical family can afford.

Oct 6, 2026

Who Is Industrial Policy Really For? (with Isabel Estevez)

Industrial policy is back at the center of the economic debate. But tariffs, factories, and reshoring are only part of the story. In this 2023 conversation, development economist Isabel Estevez joins Nick and Goldy to argue that industrial policy is ultimately about choices: what we produce, how we produce it, and who benefits. She explains why a smart industrial strategy has to look beyond manufacturing output to workers, communities, climate, public investment, and the broader public good.

Sep 29, 2026

When Companies Run the Courts: How Corporate Power Becomes Legal Power (with Brendan Ballou)

We like to think that if a company cheats us, steals our wages, or breaks the law, we can take them to court. Unfortunately, there’s a good chance you’ve already signed that right away.

Sep 22, 2026

Gouged: How Big Tech Reinvented the Rip-Off (with Lindsay Owens)

For 150 years, the price tag made a simple and universal promise: the price you saw was the price everyone saw. Now, that promise is disappearing. This week, Lindsay Owens, President and CEO of the Groundwork Collaborative returns to discuss her new book, Gouged: The End of a Fair Price — And What That Means for Your Wallet. She explains how corporations are using algorithms, personal data, and AI to figure out not what something costs, but how much you personally are willing to pay. From Instacart’s grocery experiments to the coming world of AI shopping agents, the conversation asks a basic question: If nobody knows what the real price is, can markets actually work the way we’re told they do?

See all episodes →