Economics

Show/hide descriptions

• Up one level
• Financial literacy and investing
• Minimum wage
• Wealth
• 'One Nation Under Gold' Explores America's Obsession With One Precious Metal (37 min)
  Fresh Air, NPR, June 26, 2017. How One Precious Metal Has Dominated the American Imagination for Four Centuries. Host Dave Davies interviews James Ledbetter, author of One Nation Under Gold, who says many of the nation's worst economic catastrophes happened while on the gold standard. His new book traces the fascination with gold as a symbol of permanence and quality.
• (Macro) Economic Principles - How the economic machine works
  This simple but not simplistic video [and book] by Ray Dalio, Founder of Bridgewater Associates, shows the basic driving forces behind the economy, and explains why economic cycles occur by breaking down concepts such as credit, interest rates, leveraging and deleveraging.
• Center for Guaranteed Income Research is Launched
  December 1, 2020
  University of Tennessee Knoxville College of Social Work Assistant Professor Dr. Stacia West, along with Dr. Amy Castro Baker, Assistant Professor at University of Pennsylvania School of Social Policy & Practice (SP2), were recently named as co-leaders of the Center for Guaranteed Income Research. The Center was established by Mayors for a Guaranteed Income (MGI), together with the University of Pennsylvania School of Social Policy & Practice (SP2). Dr. West and Dr. Castro Baker served as the co-Principal Investigators of the first mayor-led guaranteed income pilot in Stockton, CA and leading academics in the space will guide pilot cities through a learning agenda and oversee the research design and implementation.
• Complexity theory and financial regulation
  Policy Forum: Complex Systems Complexity theory and financial regulation Stefano Battiston, J. Doyne Farmer, Andreas Flache, et al. Science 19 Feb 2016;351(6275):818-819 "Traditional economic theory could not explain, much less predict, the near collapse of the financial system and its long-lasting effects on the global economy. Since the 2008 crisis, there has been increasing interest in using ideas from complexity theory to make sense of economic and financial markets. Concepts such as tipping points, networks, contagion, feedback, and resilience have entered the financial and regulatory lexicon, but actual use of complexity models and results remains at an early stage. Recent insights and techniques offer potential for better monitoring and management of highly interconnected economic and financial systems and, thus, may help anticipate and manage future crises."
• Consumer Reports - Is There a Cure for High Drug Prices?
  By Consumer Reports, June 21, 2016 The cost of prescription drugs for tens of millions of Americans rose $2 billion last year, and all signs point to a continued rise. At stake is nothing less than the ability of Americans to afford the medicines they need. Can we stop the madness?
• Diane Rehm Show - How Economic Stagnation Is Reshaping Our Country And Its Future
  October 12, 2016 Research suggests that in the last few decades at least a third and as many as a half of all American families have, in economic terms, either stayed the same or lost ground. For these families the American dream remains just that, and now more than ever in recent memory, it’s an unrealistic aspiration. Join us to discuss how a stagnating quality of life for many Americans is taking its toll on our country and what we can do about it. Host: Diane Rehm Guests David Leonhardt op-ed columnist, The New York Times; former editor, The Upshot, a New York Times website covering politics and policy Douglas Holtz-Eakin president of the American Action Forum; chief economist and director (2003-2006), Congressional Budget Office Dante Chinni director, American Communities Project, Michigan State University; he also writes for NBC News and The Wall Street Journal
• Economist Gene Sperling On Improving 'Economic Dignity' For Workers (5:26)
  Here & Now's Jeremy Hobson talks to Gene Sperling, who served as chief White House economic adviser to former presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, about his ideas and his new book, "Economic Dignity." May 7, 2020
• Economists cheered by relief package but see long, tough slog ahead
  Christina Pazzanese, Harvard Magazine, March 25, 2020
  Harvard Kennedy School Professor Karen Dynan, Ph.D. ’92, served as chief economist and assistant secretary for economic policy at the U.S. Department of the Treasury from 2014 to 2017. Kenneth S. Rogoff, Thomas D. Cabot Professor of Public Policy and professor of economics in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, is a former chief economist at the International Monetary Fund. Dynan and Rogoff say Fed and Congress are moving in the right direction
• Fresh Air - How Free Web Content Traps People In An Abyss Of Ads And Clickbait
  Fresh Air, Oct 17, 2016 If you feel like Internet ads are more pervasive and invasive than ever before, you're not alone. Author Tim Wu tells Fresh Air's Terry Gross that the Web has gotten worse over the years, not better — and unrelenting ads are to blame. "I think you spend 50 percent of your mental energy trying to defeat ad systems," Wu says. "It's amazing that we've got this great scientific invention, the Web and the Internet, and then it has come to the point where using it reminds me of swatting mosquitoes."
• GDP Is the Wrong Tool for Measuring What Matters
  Joseph E. Stiglitz, Scientific American, August 1, 2020.
  It’s time to replace gross domestic product with real metrics of well-being and sustainability
  * Gross domestic product (GDP) is almost universally used to gauge how well a society is doing. In fact, it is a measure of market activity—no more.
  * The Great Recession of 2008–2009 highlighted the need for better ways to measure the well-being of an economy and society, as well as its sustainability—whether or not good times can last.
  * Over the past decade leading scholars have devised a broad set of measures to help steer societies toward the futures their citizens desire. Several countries are embedding these “dashboard” indicators into their decision-making processes.
• Hedge Fund Billionaire Ray Dalio Steps Up Foundation Giving
  Ray Dalio - Full Interview At Delivering Alpha (Sept 2016) - 21 Sep 16. Interview with Ray Dalio and Timothy Geithner
• How Economists Forgot Housework (18 min)
  BBC Business Daily, 3 May 2018 Feminist economists argue that GDP statistics need to start taking account of care-giving and housework if we want to start valuing these things as a society. For example author Katrine Marcal points out that Adam Smith claimed that the economy was based on self interest, overlooking the fact that his mother cooked his meals for free. Manuela Saragosa speaks to Hannah Peaker of the UK's Women's Equality political party, and professor Joyce Jacobsen of the Wesleyan University in the US.
• Income and wealth inequality
• Lessons from Cash Transfer and Basic Income Pilot Programs
  University of Wisconsin - Madison, Institute for Research on Poverty (IRP) , October 14 2020, W70-2020
  Lisa Gennetian, Sanford School of Public Policy, Duke University
  Aisha Nyandoro, CEO, Springboard to Opportunities
  Amy Castro Baker, University of Pennsylvania School of Social Policy & Practice
  Stacia Martin-West, University of Tennessee College of Social Work
  The COVID-19 pandemic has brought renewed attention to income support programs, including cash transfers and basic income pilot programs. In this webinar recording from October 14, 2020, Lisa Gennetian discusses evidence based on the impact of cash transfers, with particular focus on cash transfers to families with children. Then, Aisha Nyandoro, Amy Castro Baker, and Stacia Martin-West talk about lessons learned from basic income pilot programs currently in the field including Magnolia Mother’s Trust and the Stockton Economic Empowerment Demonstration.
• Oil prices and government - history
• Pippa Malmgren Interview: ‘biflation’ is coming, and it’s going to hurt
  Pippa Malmgren, economist and former US presidential adviser, talks to Merryn of MoneyWeek about how the fight between powerful deflationary and inflationary forces will produce real pain for the public. Recorded February 2015
• Robert Shiller on How Human Psychology Drives the Economy | The New School +
  "Professor Robert Shiller, will present the annual Irene and Bernard L. Schwartz lecture titled Animal Spirits: How Human Psychology Drives the Economy, and Why it Matters for Global Capitalism, focusing on the current economic crisis and its causes and consequences. The lecture will be based on Professor Shillers upcoming book of the same title, which is co-authored with George Akerlof, Koshland Professor of Economics at University of California, Berkeley and Nobel Laureate. A panel discussion and question and answer session, will follow the lecture with Professor Brad DeLong, professor of Economics, University of California Berkeley, Teresa Ghilarducci, Irene and Bernard L. Schwartz Professor of Economic Policy Analysis, The New School for Social Research; Director, SCEPA and Jeff Madrick, seniors fellow, SCEPA, The New School for Social Research." Presented 02/18/2009
• Signals: the breakdown of the social contract and the rise of geopolitics
  Speaker: Dr Pippa Malmgren Recorded on 13 January 2015 in New Theatre, East Building at the London School of Economics. Economic signals are everywhere, from magazine covers to grocery stores to military events. They reveal the story of the world economy. By being alert to signals anyone can start to navigate through the turbulence to the treasures of the world economy, instead of being overwhelmed and surprised by it. Pippa Malmgren (@DrPippaM) is Founder of DRPM Group and a former US Presidential Adviser. She is an alumna of LSE. This event marks the publication of her new book, Signals: the breakdown of the social contract and the rise of geopolitics.
• Trump Opens Door to Cuts to Medicare and Other Entitlement Programs
  Alan Rappeport and Maggie Haberman, NY Times, Jan. 22, 2020
  The president signaled a willingness to scale back Medicare, a shift from his 2016 platform of protecting entitlement programs.