EconoFact Chats

Are policies from over a century ago that addressed concerns about large trusts like Standard Oil and the American Tobacco Company appropriate today? Or does the source of the market power of high-tech companies like Meta and Alphabet require a new paradigm? Naomi Lamoreaux joins EconoFact Chats to discuss the historical shifts in anti-trust policy from the late 19th and early 20th century to today, and the ongoing tension between rewarding innovation and curtailing anticompetitive activities. Naomi is a senior research scholar at the University of Michigan Law School, and the Stanley B. Resor Professor Emeritus of Economics, and Professor Emeritus of History at Yale University.

The United States economy surprised many in 2023 with its low inflation, high employment, and strong economic growth. In spite of this, American consumer sentiment had been relatively negative until recently, but now has begun to improve in line with this good performance. Binyamin Appelbaum of The New York Times, Scott Horsley of NPR, Greg Ip of The Wall Street Journal, and Heather Long of The Washington Post join EconoFact Chats to discuss the sources of the good economic performance, the disconnect with consumer sentiment, some reasons for continued economic optimism, as well as key risks going into 2024.

Distrust is based on experience – and there are many historical experiences that give rise to distrust among African-Americans of economic institutions in the United States, including the laws of the Jim Crow era and discrimination in hiring, lending, and access to education and health care. Trevon Logan discusses historical experiences, and the long shadow cast by them, in this EconoFact Chats episode.  Part of this discussion centers on the Green Book, published annually between 1936 and 1966, that offered guidance to Black travelers about public accommodations like restaurants and motels that they could patronize. Trevon’s research analyzes how the locations of establishments listed in the Green Book correlate with the presence of anti-discriminatory laws, the educational and racial profiles of towns and cities, and the history of overt racist acts like lynchings in those places.    Trevon is a Hazel C. Youngberg Trustees Distinguished Professor of Economics at the Ohio State University. He is also the inaugural director of the National Bureau of Economic Research Working Group on Race and Stratification in the Economy. Note: This podcast was first published on 18th September, 2022.

For many Americans, episodes of stress are often temporary. But for marginalized communities -- especially black people, and those living in poverty, stress is, too often, an ongoing part of life. And this has dire consequences on health and well-being. Our guest on EconoFact Chats this week, Arline Geronimus has done pioneering work in understanding the consequences of chronic stress, especially as it relates to maternal and infant health; contributing, counterintuitively, to poorer birth outcomes for babies born to older black mothers, as compared to those born to younger ones. Arline is a Professor of Health Behavior and Health Education at the University of Michigan. She is also a member of the National Academy of Medicine of the National Academies of Science. Her newest book is “Weathering: The Extraordinary Stress of Ordinary Life in an Unjust Society.” Note: This podcast was first published on 28th May, 2023.

About one-fifth of women who graduated from college between 1900 and 1920 were in the labor force in their mid to late twenties. In contrast, more than four-fifths of women graduating from college between 1980 and 2000 worked outside the home in their mid to late twenties. A flip side of this is the proportion of women married by age 30; 50% for those who graduated college between 1900 and 1920 and about 25% for those graduating between 1980 and 2000.  These statistics reflect choices that women have made and continue to make about balancing a career with raising children, and the choices that men have made and continue to make as well. On this episode of EconoFact Chats, Michael Klein speaks with Claudia Goldin of Harvard University about her recent book, Career and Family: Women's Century-Long Journey toward Equity, highlighting a wealth of statistics and examining cultural shifts shaping these choices. Claudia is the Henry Lee Professor of Economics at Harvard University. She is a former President of the American Economic Association, and co-directs the National Bureau of Economic Research's Gender in the Economy Study Group. Note: This podcast was first published on 29th January, 2023.

The federal government’s debt is just under 100 percent of GDP – and it is projected to grow to 115 percent of GDP in a decade, and 180 percent of GDP in thirty years.  Mark Zandi, Chief Economist at Moody’s Analytics, discusses the reasons debt increased significantly before the pandemic, its dramatic rise since then, and its expected further increase. He also explains how high debt adversely affects people’s living standards as well as the ability of the government to respond to both ongoing needs and future economic crises. He offers some proposals for dealing with the debt, including a carbon tax, raising the payroll tax on high-income individuals, and establishing a bipartisan commission to address the country’s fiscal challenges. Along with his role as Chief Economist at Moody’s Analytics, Mark also serves on the Board of Directors of MGIC, the nations largest private mortgage insurance company and is the lead director of the Reinvestment Fund, one of the nation’s largest community development financial institutions that makes investments in underserved communities.

Zero-sum thinking - the belief that gains for some necessarily come at the expense of others - can shape support for economic redistribution, race- and gender-based affirmative action, and immigration policies. Drawing on new survey data, Stefanie Stantcheva joins EconoFact Chats to discuss her research on what determines whether people view the world as zero sum. Her analysis demonstrates that viewing the world in zero-sum terms is not a left vs. right issue. Rather factors such as people’s ancestry, where they live, with whom they interact, and their generation influence their views on this point – and, through this, their views on a range of economic and social policies. Stefanie is the Nathaniel Ropes Professor of Political Economy at Harvard, and the founder of the Social Economics Lab.

Working from home was relatively rare before COVID. It became a necessity as the pandemic raged. Today, it remains more common and, to some extent, a choice. But is it a choice that both workers and employers agree upon? More than three years after the start of the pandemic, what do we know about the preferences for working from home for employees, and for employers? What do we know about its effects on productivity, and job satisfaction? Drawing on data from the latest Survey of Working Arrangements and Attitudes, Nicholas Bloom joins EconoFact Chats to explore these questions. A co-founder at the Survey of Working Arrangements and Attitudes, Nick is a Professor of Economics at Stanford University, and Co-Director of the Productivity, Innovation and Entrepreneurship program at the National Bureau of Economic Research.

In 2021, Americans donated nearly $500 billion to charity. One-quarter of all Americans also report volunteering their time. What does economic analysis add to our understanding of volunteering time and giving money to charities, activities typically considered moral or religious duties? To what causes do people donate time or money? And what makes people more or less likely to give to a particular organization? Laura Gee joins EconoFact Chats to discuss these issues. Laura is an Associate Professor of Economics at Tufts University.  Her research is in behavioral economics — with a particular focus on how individual decision making is influenced by group dynamics. Note: This podcast was first published on 27th November, 2022.

The very highest-income individuals and families typically pay lower taxes, as a share of income, than middle-class individuals and families. Part of the reason is that much more of their income comes from investment and business incomes that are tax-favored as compared to wage and salary income. The very wealthy also benefit from tax rules and regulations that diminish taxes paid on inheritances. These features of the tax system reinforce income inequality, diminish economic opportunity, and reduce tax revenue. Bill Gale joins EconoFact Chats to address these issues. He offers suggestions on ways to reform the tax system to make it more progressive and to increase much-needed revenues. Bill is the Arjay and Frances Miller Chair in Federal Economic Policy and Senior Fellow in the Economic Studies Program at the Brookings Institution. He served as president of the National Tax Association from 2019 to 2020.