Ah, college. A time for late-night study sessions, questionable roommates, and, of course, finding yourself. But what happens when the bill for all that soul-searching comes due? With new rules set to limit federal loans for degrees that don’t earn enough, Lou and Phil take a hard look at the economics of higher ed: who’s paying the bill, who’s cashing in, and whether a diploma is worth the price. Class is in session at the bar on this week’s Happy Hour Econ. No tuition required.

Last week, Lou and Phil looked at the claim that American capitalism was built on slavery. This week, they turn to what slavery actually cost, both to the enslaved people who were denied any choice in their own work and to a Southern economy that fell far behind the North. Along the way, they look at why the American founding set much of the country on a path to abolition, and why forced labor still persists wherever the rule of law breaks down. Listen to the full episode of Happy Hour Econ with Lou and Phil.

A recent CNN debate put a pointed question before a national audience. Is capitalism bound up with racism and slavery? Slavery predates writing, and it predates capitalism by thousands of years, yet a growing body of scholarship argues that the modern American economy rests on the forced labor of enslaved people. In this week's Happy Hour Econ, Lou and Phil test those claims against the historical record and revisit what the defenders of slavery themselves had to say about free markets.