"Anti-Fascist Economics": Isabella Weber on How Inequality Fuels Extremism & Erodes Democracy

With the U.S. midterm elections just a week away, the affordability crisis — intensified by President Trump’s tariffs and war on Iran — has emerged as a major campaign issue. Across the country, families are struggling to make ends meet, while oil and gas companies have reported record profits during recent periods of price shocks.

Economist Isabella Weber’s new book, Anti-Fascist Economics: In Defense of Affordability, Dignity, and Democracy, warns economic insecurity can fuel the rise of authoritarian movements, and argues protecting democracy requires making life affordable for everybody.

Anti-fascist economics is “not about getting rid of the market,” says Weber. “It’s about having public players that behave differently, and by behaving differently, changing the dynamic of the market as a whole and literally creating an alternative so that people are not dependent on often very concentrated and private providers as the only choice,” she explains, providing current examples of governments enacting such policies from New York City to Mexico City to Rome.