Finance professor Moshe Milevsky studies personal finance and retirement planning, focusing on a simple question that matters to each of us: How can you make sure your money lasts as long as you do? The answer that the world of finance gives us is to share that risk with as many people as possible. Moshe doesn’t agree with the assumptions behind this answer. In this interview, he talks about what we can learn from the world’s first pension plan, which began in Scotland in the 1744 and lasted until 1995. Risk sharing is not about large numbers of people, he says. It’s about solidarity with others in your community.

Hosted and produced by Cameron Graham, Professor of Accounting at York University. Podcast or Perish is produced with the support of the Schulich School of Business. Visit our website at podcastorperish.ca.

Prof. Eileen Fischer, the eminent marketing researcher at the Schulich School of Business, talks about her research into the roles that emotional work plays in creating and sustaining alternative markets. These are those local markets that offer an alternative to mass market consumer capitalism. They bring together local producers and local consumers in an effort to build community and help save the planet. If you've ever wanted to "shop local," you'll be surprised to learn how much emotional effort it takes to keep things running.

Hosted and produced by Cameron Graham, Professor of Accounting at York University. Podcast or Perish is produced with the support of the Schulich School of Business. Visit our website at podcastorperish.ca.

Making a simple consumer choice has become a minefield of moralizing and shame. It’s not enough to buy the right products, you have to use them in the right way. Returning guest Dr. Ela Veresiu, Associate Professor of Marketing at the Schulich School of Business, studies how consumer behaviour is moralized.

With her co-authors, she has identified four scripts that people follow in taking a moral position on the products and services they use: hygienic, improvement, holistic, and indulgent.

In this interview, she explains how policy makers can apply these insights to influence public behaviour, and how companies can position their products to align with morally desirable end-states, leaving consumers to choose their own moral path to that end.

Hosted and produced by Cameron Graham, Professor of Accounting at York University. Podcast or Perish is produced with the support of the Schulich School of Business. Visit our website at podcastorperish.ca.