Support our non-partisan non-profit newsroom 💜 Donate now

Are we still living in Milton Friedman’s economy?

Nov 15, 2023
A conversation about the life and legacy of economist Milton Friedman with historian Jennifer Burns.
Milton Friedman, one of the most famous economists of the 20th century, died in 2006. But his ideas remain a presence in economics today.
STAFF/AFP via Getty Images

To make its economic pitch to voters, the Biden administration puts a spin on a familiar term

Jun 28, 2023
"Bidenomics" is a brand identity the campaign hopes Americans will associate with good things.
President Joe Biden speaking in Chicago, where he branded his economic agenda "Bidenomics."
Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images

5 years later, economics faces another #MeToo moment

Dec 15, 2022
Despite being part of a field that studies inequality, women in economics are taking to Twitter to share stories of continued mistreatment.
Janet Yellen, the current U.S. secretary of the treasury, was president of the American Economic Association in 2020 and advocated for gender parity in the profession.
Alex Wong/Getty Images

Nobel Prize in economics goes to trio focused on understanding, averting financial crises

The winners: former Fed Chair Ben Bernanke, Douglas Diamond of the University of Chicago and Philip Dybvig of Washington University.
Hans Ellegren, center, of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, and Tore Ellingsen, left and John Hassler of the Nobel Prize economics committee, announce the winner in Stockholm on Monday.
Anders Wiklund/TT NEWS AGENCY/AFP via Getty Images

Economics’ diversity problem includes socioeconomic diversity

Apr 28, 2022
A new working paper analyzing socioeconomic diversity in the economics profession finds it sorely lacking.
Jens Schlueter/Getty Images

Why inflation hits harder, depending on who you are

Apr 25, 2022
People who spend a bigger chunk of their budget on gas and groceries are disproportionately impacted by rising prices.
We all have our own personal inflation rate, depending on what we buy. Above, a shopper at a grocery store in Los Angeles.
David McNew/Getty Images

Can a platinum coin solve the debt-ceiling standoff?

Oct 7, 2021
A legal loophole could let The Treasury Department mint the money it needs to run the government
The logo of the US  Treasury Department is seen on the outside of the Treasury building in Washington on August 19, 2011.

For public good, not for profit.

Pandemic has economic forecasters going back to the drawing board

Jun 16, 2021
For Ellen Zentner, chief U.S. economist at Morgan Stanley, the pandemic meant scrapping all the models and going back to the fundamentals.
People walk past the New York Stock Exchange on Wall Street.
Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images

Do looks matter for success in economics? Actually, they're pretty important.

Feb 18, 2021
The short answer is yes, but you should read the long answer too.
A recent working paper on the effect of attractiveness on the job outcomes of economists is the latest example of the economics profession reflecting on itself.
Photo by Norman Smith/Fox Photos/Getty Images

The pipeline problem for Black women in economics

Jul 1, 2020
Kai Ryssdal talks with Anna Gifty Opoku-Agyeman, CEO of the Sadie Collective.
Graduates of Spelman College in Georgia, a historically Black women's college, attend commencement ceremonies in 2002.
Erik S. Lesser/Getty Images