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Isabella Weber, a 38-year-old associate professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and Harvard’s Fairbank Center, is challenging the economic establishment.
The Dentist Analogy
Weber compares economists to dentists. Dentists don’t preach ideology. Patients demand practical solutions when they’re in pain.
She credits John Maynard Keynes with first making this comparison at the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin. Weber is now using it to highlight a crisis in modern economics.
What’s Broken in the System?
The status quo for most people is unbearable. Extreme inequality and corporate power have reached levels that are incompatible with democracy.
Climate change adds to the crisis. It generates massive profits for big businesses as the ecological foundations of life disintegrate.
At the same time, far-right movements are gaining ground. Weber sees this as a direct result of economic hardship and political neglect.
Anti-Fascist Economics: A Simple Proposal
Weber’s new book, Anti-Fascist Economics, proposes a solution: make life’s essentials affordable.
That includes housing, transport, food, water, energy, and healthcare—the things people depend on daily.
She argues that fascism rises from frustration. When people can’t afford basic needs, they turn to authoritarian solutions.
Why This Matters
Progressive leaders are already acting on her ideas. New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani cited her work in shaping affordability policies—like free buses, universal childcare, rent caps, and public groceries.
Weber has advised politicians including Elizabeth Warren, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Bernie Sanders, and UK minister Ed Miliband.
Water. Energy. Transport. Care. Broken up and sold off.’
How to Make Essentials Affordable
Weber insists that solutions must be detailed—not one-size-fits-all.
- Food supply chains: Four multinationals control 70% to 90% of global grain trading. Profits thrive on volatility. Weber suggests public buffer stock systems—owned by governments—that buy and sell grain to stabilize prices.
- Regional cooperation: She advised South Africa to pool regional buying power. A joint buffer stock could secure better prices and act as a shock absorber during price spikes.
- Policy in action: Mexico’s canasta básica policy caps prices on a basket of essentials. In return, the government offers tax relief and public recognition. The Morena party’s vote share rose from 55% to 61% in the 2024 election.
Climate and the Far Right
Weber sees environmental destruction as a tool of far-right politics. Populists often claim climate change is not real—but they benefit from its fallout.
Fossil fuel dependency fuels economic insecurity. This insecurity feeds authoritarianism.
She proposes a basic allowance of fossil fuels for individual use—ensuring affordability—though warns it must be paired with major public investment in green infrastructure.
What This Means
When people see the rich get richer while essentials grow more expensive, anger spreads. Weber says inequality is a driver of far-right politics.
She stresses that economic patterns exist—but how we shape them is a political choice.
Germany’s Far Right Surge
Just days before this interview, the AFD won a milestone victory in Saxony-Anhalt—a region that is among Germany’s poorest.
Weber calls this a textbook case of far-right success. The region has beautiful castles and villages, which are used to promote a mythic, pre-modern Germany.
AFD’s campaign slogan was ‘alles ist möglich’—everything is possible. It promises a better world, while traditional parties offer only stability.
Policy Stagnation
Weber sits on a commission reviewing fiscal rules in Germany. The group was meant to conclude last autumn. She says progress has stalled.
Meanwhile, the government is pushing through social security reforms against voter will. Weber sees this as a major blockage to democratic recovery.
Personal Roots and Anti-Fascist Commitment
Weber was raised in Nuremberg, once a center of Nazi propaganda. Her grandfather, a priest in the Ruhr Valley, refused to display a swastika in his church.
As a child, she realized that something terrible had happened—only a city-wide bombing could resolve it.
During the 1990s, neo-Nazis marched through Nuremberg. Weber and her grandmother would go into the streets to oppose them.
‘I grew up with the threat of fascism,’ she says. ‘And I learned that preventing its return is my first civic duty.’
Precedent Exists
Weber points to post-war economies that used public ownership as a core part of their systems. Neoliberalism made such models seem rare—but they were common for decades.
Switzerland avoids privatization in key sectors like water, energy, and transport. In 2022, while OECD inflation averaged 9.5%, Switzerland saw only 2.8%.
What She Would Say to Burnham
If asked, Weber would advise: renationalize water, invest in the NHS, introduce rent controls, and reframe council housing as models for affordable, climate-friendly living.
She would also push for a public food basket and very low-cost, or free, public transport in crowded cities.
From Outrage to Acceptance
In December 2021, Weber first suggested price controls for essentials in a Guardian article. The idea sparked a fierce backlash.
She was called a ‘physicist discounting gravity.’ The Nobel laureate Paul Krugman called her argument ‘truly stupid’—though he later apologized.
‘It was a horrible time in my life,’ she says. ‘But what I was saying is now being proved right.’
Conclusion
Weber’s message is clear: economics should serve people, not ideology.
She sees common sense—not dogma—as the foundation for restoring democracy.
Her work reflects a growing demand for practical, grounded policies that address real lives.
Anti-Fascist Economics: In Defence of Affordability, Dignity and Democracy by Isabella Weber is published by Allen Lane.
Ask Economist Isabella Weber About Inflation and Affordability
For more on affordability and cost of living, explore our Cost of Livings section.
