Jeffrey Epstein’s email and text correspondences—a huge batch of which the U.S. government released recently—illustrate just how deeply connected the convicted sex offender was to the international elite, in sectors spanning finance, politics, philanthropy, and academia. Where did Epstein’s wealth come from? What sort of elite was Epstein a part of? Are elites inherently deformed in a moral or psychological sense? Those are just a few of the questions that came up in my recent conversation with FP economics columnist Adam Tooze on the podcast we co-host, Ones and Tooze. What follows is an excerpt, edited for length and clarity....