For one thing, they don’t let the market go out of control. They think that the market is a useful and flexible instrument, as long as it’s supervised in such a way as to keep benefitting the common good… They think poverty is sooo nineteenth-century — like, why would a modern, industrial economy put up with poverty? There’s just no reason for it! So what they did was roll up their sleeves and pretty much abolish poverty. Not through just one measure, but through a multiplicity of measures.

That’s sociologist, activist, and author George Lakey speaking to WNYC’s Leonard Lopate yesterday afternoon, about his new book Viking Economics. You can check out the entire interview below, read an early excerpt from the book here, catch some other writing from George Lakey here, and head on over to buy your copy here.