Economy Mar 29 Is increasing income inequality a fact or a myth? A new academic paper making the rounds of the economics profession contradicts conventional wisdom: that incomes of the top 10 percent, 1 percent and especially the tippy-top .1 percent, have been pulling away from the rest of Americans.
Making Sen$e Mar 22 Seeing China’s economic evolution in one family’s story When journalist Scott Tong began reporting on China's explosive economy, he was advised to look past the new skyscrapers of Shanghai and take the long view. In “A Village With My Name,” he explores his own family's history, finding stories…
Making Sen$e Mar 15 Why sneakerheads are obsessed with the quest for a rarer pair At "Sneakerhead" conventions around the country, anyone can buy, sell or trade a pair, and much-hyped limited releases demand premium prices. Economics correspondent Paul Solman reports on what drives this specialty sneaker culture.
Economy Mar 13 Austin Goolsbee says the Trump tariffs are like his Aunt Trina’s lasagna Host Peter Sagal asked for Goolsbee's take on the Trump tariffs, and the economist, quite amusing himself, offered this anecdote about his aunt Trina and uncle Bob, who lived in Lubbock, Texas.
Making Sen$e Feb 15 Can this booming New Mexico art collective spark economic growth? The Santa Fe arts collective Meow Wolf is a major job creator in New Mexico, a state that's struggled to recover from the Great Recession.
Making Sen$e Feb 15 Column: How to lose weight with economics, and why it’s so damn hard People are made up of various subconscious inner selves, and these inner selves compete with each other for control of the organism.
Making Sen$e Feb 08 What we can learn from past stock market crashes The stock market took another nerve-wracking ride on Thursday, with the Dow Jones Industrials dropping more than 1,000 points. One explanation of this week's jitters is the idea that market prices are out of whack. So how low could we…
Making Sen$e Feb 05 Analysis: 5 reasons the market is crashing, and 2 caveats How low could the markets go? After the Crash of '29, the S&P index bottomed out in March of 1933 at around six. In other words, the S&P dropped by more than 80 percent. (The Dow actually fell by almost…
Making Sen$e Feb 02 Could Bill Belichick’s grasp of economics be the key to the Patriots’ success? The summer after the New England Patriots won their first Super Bowl, I visited their training camp for a PBS NewsHour story on their — and the NFL’s — success, from the point of view of economics.
Making Sen$e Feb 01 Can finance cure cancer? How do you drive investors to spend money on cutting-edge cancer treatments? One idea, according to economist Andrew Lo, is to sell securities in a megafund of research projects. Economics correspondent Paul Solman explores how financial engineering could be the…