EconoFact Chats

The high and rising inflation of the 1970s caused widespread economic insecurity, raised fundamental questions about the government's ability to manage the economy, and caused macro-economists to doubt many of their theories. Now, as inflation rises after a decades-long lull, economists and policy-makers are faced with a key question: is the current rise in prices transitory; driven by supply chain issues and COVID stimulus spending, or are we likely to see a more sustained increase in prices? This week on EconoFact Chats, Jay Shambaugh of George Washington University joins Michael Klein to discuss the prospects for ongoing inflation, and the ways in which inflation affects your economic well-being.

The move to remote learning in high schools and kindergartens has proved among the more pervasive disruptions of COVID-19. Hardest hit have been those without access to technology, or adequate places to do schoolwork at home -- a group in which low-income students and students of color are overrepresented. While the government has made resources available to school districts to address learning disruptions, questions of how to best deploy these monies remain. Nora Gordon, among the country's leading experts on education policy and finance, joins EconoFact Chats to discuss policy responses to learning loss in the wake of COVID-19.

James Stock, professor at Harvard University, and a former member of the Council of Economic Advisers joins EconoFact Chats this week to discuss the role of economic policy in slowing climate change.

Julia Coronado, president and founder of MacroPolicy Perspectives, joins EconoFact Chats this week to describe how she and her team organize their thinking and analysis of the U.S. economy at a time when the pandemic has disrupted the conventional models and rules of thumb that forecasters traditionally use.

Former Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers under President Obama, Jason Furman joins EconoFact Chats this week to discuss the economy’s emergence from the COVID-19 recession.

David Deming (Harvard) discusses why manufacturing jobs are no longer a straightforward path to the middle class, and why greater investments in public colleges can help more people get well-paying jobs in a changing economy.

With over 1 in 7 children living in poverty in 2019, the United States is an outlier among rich nations. It doesn't have to be this way, according to University of California, Berkeley professor Hilary Hoynes.

Adam Posen, president of the Peterson Institute for International Economics lays out evidence for the U.S.'s retreat from globalization, and its potential consequences.

COVID-driven lockdowns contributed to a sharp drop in the rates of many types of crime, although, the rates of some crimes such as homicides increased in 2020. What explains these divergent trends?

A discussion with Matt Kahn, director of Johns Hopkins' 21st Century Cities Initiative on what causes some cities to grow, while others shrink.