Nov 13, 2019
This episode features Michael Strain, the Economic Policy Director at the American Enterprise Institute, who gave a talk at IRP earlier this year titled “The American Dream isn’t Dead.” It’s a provocative title and Strain says that this line of work is growing out of concerns he has about the narrative around...
Oct 15, 2019
In this episode, we hear from IRP postdoctoral scholar Leslie Hodges about the Unemployment Insurance program and how the program might mitigate economic distress, including poverty and material hardships, when someone loses a job.
Sep 30, 2019
There has been renewed interest in issues facing the U.S. rural economy in recent years. In this episode, Penn State sociologist and demographer Brian Thiede breaks down some of the key changes that have taken place in the rural labor market and discusses potential policy responses to barriers to work faced by...
Aug 5, 2019
In this episode, we hear from economists Aaron Sojourner and Matt Wiswall about the value of investments in quality child care and how we can think about tradeoffs when it comes to child care subsidies and related policies.
Jul 18, 2019
The idea of a universal basic income has been gaining traction in recent years, but we don’t have much evidence about what a large-scale universal basic income policy would do. In this episode, University of Chicago economist Damon Jones talks about the idea of a universal basic income and discusses a study he...