The value of labor: the science of commodification in Hungary, 1920-1956 - 56217

At the heart of today's fierce political anger over income inequality is a feature of capitalism that Karl Marx famously obsessed over: the commodification of labour.

Most of us think wage-labour economics is at odds with socialist thinking, but as Martha Lampland explains in this fascinating look at 20th-century Hungary, there have been moments when such economics actually flourished under socialist regimes.

Exploring the region's transition from a capitalist to a socialist system - and the economic science and practices that endured it - she sheds new light on the two most polarised ideologies of modern history.