Uploaded July 2026 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
The Declaration of Independence, which founded the United States as an independent nation, was written in 1776—the same year that Adam Smith published The Wealth of Nations, the most prominent early treatise on international capitalism. Whether that represents a coincidence remains an ongoing debate. What’s clear, however, is that over the past two and a half centuries, the United States emerged as a slave economy, a free labor economy, a debtor nation, a creditor nation, and ultimately a powerful empire. Adam and Cameron discuss.
Foreign Policy economics columnist Adam Tooze, a history professor and a popular author, is encyclopedic about basically everything: from the COVID shutdown, to climate change, to pasta sauce. On FP’s hit podcast, Tooze and FP deputy editor Cameron Abadi look at two data points each week that explain the world: one drawn from the week’s headlines and the other from just about anywhere else Tooze takes us.
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Listen to more episodes of Ones and Tooze:
foreignpolicy.com/podcasts/ones-and-tooze podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ones-and-tooze/id1584397047 open.spotify.com/show/44pekawcpIJ7KgwcFIgZDr
Follow Ones and Tooze:
X - https://x.com/OnesandToozePod
Follow Adam - https://x.com/adam_tooze
Follow Cam - https://x.com/CameronAbadi
Subscribe to all of Foreign Policy’s podcasts at foreignpolicy.com/podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts
Visit foreignpolicy.com to read the latest global news and analysis from FP.
Follow Foreign Policy:
X - twitter.com/ForeignPolicy
Instagram - instagram.com/foreignpolicymag
Facebook - facebook.com/foreign.policy.magazine
LinkedIn - linkedin.com/company/foreign-policy-magazine
TikTok - tiktok.com/@foreignpolicymagazine
The Declaration of Independence, which founded the United States as an independent nation, was written in 1776—the same year that Adam Smith published The Wealth of Nations, the most prominent early treatise on international capitalism. Whether that represents a coincidence remains an ongoing debate. What’s clear, however, is that over the past two and a half centuries, the United States emerged as a slave economy, a free labor economy, a debtor nation, a creditor nation, and ultimately a powerful empire. Adam and Cameron discuss.
Foreign Policy economics columnist Adam Tooze, a history professor and a popular author, is encyclopedic about basically everything: from the COVID shutdown, to climate change, to pasta sauce. On FP’s hit podcast, Tooze and FP deputy editor Cameron Abadi look at two data points each week that explain the world: one drawn from the week’s headlines and the other from just about anywhere else Tooze takes us.
----------
Listen to more episodes of Ones and Tooze:
foreignpolicy.com/podcasts/ones-and-tooze podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ones-and-tooze/id1584397047 open.spotify.com/show/44pekawcpIJ7KgwcFIgZDr
Follow Ones and Tooze:
X - https://x.com/OnesandToozePod
Follow Adam - https://x.com/adam_tooze
Follow Cam - https://x.com/CameronAbadi
Subscribe to all of Foreign Policy’s podcasts at foreignpolicy.com/podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts
Visit foreignpolicy.com to read the latest global news and analysis from FP.
Follow Foreign Policy:
X - twitter.com/ForeignPolicy
Instagram - instagram.com/foreignpolicymag
Facebook - facebook.com/foreign.policy.magazine
LinkedIn - linkedin.com/company/foreign-policy-magazine
TikTok - tiktok.com/@foreignpolicymagazine
