CONFLICTED
CONFLICTED
Message Heard
The Rise of the Offshore World
1 hour Posted Aug 20, 2026 at 4:00 am.
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1:00:47
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Show notes
In this Conflicted Conversation, Ian Kumekawa (a fellow of Harvard University and a lecturer at MIT) talks about his book Empty Vessel: The Story of the Global Economy in One Ship.
Ian explains:
The offshore global economy: where loopholes, ships and responsibility slip beyond ordinary jurisdiction
From Little Toot to rusting barges: how industrial capitalism lost its confident postwar world
Sweden’s socialist shipyards, private tax dodges, and the strange birth of the Vessel
Containerisation’s hidden cost: how global trade hollowed out Manhattan’s working waterfront
The Falklands War, Thatcherism, and the private infrastructure behind imperial sovereignty
New York’s floating prison: mass incarceration meets offshore legal ingenuity
Wall Street goes offshore onshore: banks, deregulation and International Banking Facilities
Neoliberalism, legality and injustice: when the modern economy makes the immoral lawful
Visit Ian’s website: www.iankumekawa.com
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Conflicted is a Message Heard production.
Executive Producers: Jake Warren & Max Warren.
Produced by Thomas Small and edited by Lizzy Andrews.
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