Economy Jun 26 Can you win this game? Behavioral economics says no Economics correspondent Paul Solman sat down with Richard Thaler, who's been called the inventor of behavioral economics, to discuss human behavior in the field of economics. Most humans, he points out, aren't the rational mathematicians economists assume they are, and…
Making Sen$e Jun 18 A lawyer and her client weigh in on the overtime scam Overtime is a major labor issue in the United States today. While the Fair Labor Standards Act ensures that salaried workers making less than $23,600 a year must be paid time and a half for every hour they work over…
Making Sen$e Jun 11 Soon, there may be no such thing as a free reservation Walk-ins may be a thing of the past. Tock, a service that allows you to buy or put down a deposit for a reservation, could be coming to a restaurant near you.
Making Sen$e Jun 09 Will the new killer ‘butler app’ kill our ability to fend for ourselves? By completing your to-do list, Hello Alfred claims to give you back time for leisure. But do outsourcing apps simply open up more time for us to be imprisoned in other ways?…
Making Sen$e Jun 05 Jobs up, joblessness up: How can that be? One explanation The U.S. added 280,000 jobs in May, while the unemployment rate rose a tenth of a percent to settle at 5.5 percent. How do we reconcile May's numbers?…
Making Sen$e Jun 04 Dirty laundry? Batman’s butler, Alfred, to the rescue Paul Solman chats with Hello Alfred CEO Marcela Sapone about how more Alfreds will liberate people in busy careers.
Economy May 29 Why the Freddie Gray riots began at a shopping mall Editor’s Note: When economic correspondent Paul Solman went to Baltimore earlier this month to report on how the riots there affected the local economy, he spoke with Johns Hopkins historian N.D.B. Connolly. Connolly brought Paul to the mall where the…
Economy May 15 Racism, riots and economics: If history is the guide, why Baltimore won’t recover soon What do the race riots of the 1960s suggest for the economic recovery of places like Baltimore and Ferguson, Missouri, today? Boston University economics professor Robert Margo has studied the long-term effects, and says that even where the physical damage…
Economy Apr 23 With dementia, reality sometimes hurts more than it helps Both of Paul Solman’s parents lived into their 90s, and they both experienced bouts of confusion and dementia. He talked to dementia coach Kerry Mills for helpful advice for caretakers.
Making Sen$e Mar 14 The economics week in review with Nobel laureate Robert Solow Paul Solman interviews Nobel laureate Robert Solow abut the week's economics news and looks ahead to the Federal Reserve's policy meeting next week.