Conversations with Tyler

Claudia Goldin on the Economics of Inequality

Oct 6, 2021

Claudia Goldin, a Harvard economics professor and expert on income inequality and gender economics, shares her groundbreaking insights. She discusses the rise of female billionaires in China and contrasts it with the U.S. gender earnings gap, emphasizing the layers of complexity in achieving equity. Goldin explores marriage trends among those without college degrees, the unique wage dynamics for Black women, and the challenges within for-profit education. Her skepticism about happiness research and the evolving role of women in economic history are also compelling highlights.

49:06

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Episode guests

Claudia Goldin

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Episode notes

Intro

2min

Examining the Gender Earnings Gap

4min

Navigating Complexities of Skills and Gender Dynamics

18min

Exploring Happiness: The Complexities of Motherhood and Measurement

2min

The Name Game: Identity and Tradition

6min

Challenges in For-Profit Education

9min

Evolving Skills and Historical Economic Decisions

5min

Exploring Historical Impacts on Gender Equity

2min

Harvard professor Claudia Goldin has made a name for herself tackling difficult questions. What was the full economic cost of the American Civil War? Does education increase or lessen income inequality? What causes the gender pay gap—and how do you even measure it? Her approach, which often involves the unearthing of new historical data, has yielded lasting insights in several distinct areas of economics.

Claudia joined Tyler to discuss the rise of female billionaires in China, why the US gender earnings gap expanded in recent years, what’s behind falling marriage rates for those without a college degree, why the wage gap flips for Black women versus Black men, theoretical approaches for modeling intersectionality, gender ratios in economics, why she’s skeptical about happiness research, how the New York Times wedding announcement page has evolved, the problems with for-profit education, the value of an Ivy League degree, whether a Coasian solution existed to prevent the Civil War, which Americans were most likely to be anti-immigrant in the 1920s, her forthcoming work on Lanham schools, and more.

Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links.

Recorded September 1st, 2021 Other ways to connect

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