Sven Beckert on a Global History of Capitalism

Popular histories tend to locate capitalism's origins in Europe, only later moving outward to other parts of the globe. Not so says historian Sven Beckert. Capitalism, he argues, was born global, forged through the connections made by merchants and others from Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas. In this month's episode, Beckert brings listeners on an epic ride, tracing global capitalism's rise during the past millennium and around the world, from merchant businesses in Aden, onto the terrifyingly violent sugar plantations in Barbados, and, finally, to the rising industrial power of contemporary China. Colonialism, coercion, and, notably, state power all featured prominently in capitalism's rise, helping this radical new way of organizing economic life overcome elite and non-elite resistance to become one of the most powerful forces in human history. This episode is brought to you by Columbia University Press' Series on the History of US Capitalism and listeners like you.

You can listen to Sven Beckert on a Global History of Capitalism online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Sven Beckert on a Global History of Capitalism is an episode from Who Makes Cents?: A History of Capitalism Podcast by Jessica Levy.

This episode is 39:55 long.

This episode was published on Jan 4, 2026.

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