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Paul Solman

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Paul Solman

About Paul @paulsolman

Paul Solman has been a correspondent for the PBS News Hour since 1985, mainly covering business and economics.

While attending Brandeis University, Solman joined the Brandeis newspaper, The Justice, and eventually became its editor. He got his first journalism job in 1970 at the alternative weekly Boston After Dark.

Solman became founding editor of the rival alternative weekly The Real Paper in 1972 and went on to become a feature writer and investigative reporter.

Solman received an MBA from Harvard Business School in 1978.

After a few years of local PBS reporting, he inaugurated the PBS business documentary series, ENTERPRISE with fellow Nieman Fellow Zvi Dor-Ner.

In the 1980s, Solman produced documentaries, returned to local reporting, and joined the Harvard Business School faculty, teaching media, finance and business history in the school's Advanced Management Program. He also co-authored “Life and Death on the Corporate Battlefield” in 1983, which appeared in Japanese, German and Taiwanese editions. He joined the MacNeil/Lehrer Report in 1985.

In the '90s, with sociologist Morrie Schwartz, a teacher of his at Brandeis, Solman helped create -- and wrote the introduction to the book "Morrie: In His Own Words," which preceded "Tuesdays with Morrie.” In 2015, Solman co-authored “Get What's Yours: the Secrets to Maxing Out Your Social Security.”

Solman has lectured on college campuses since the '80s and has written for numerous publications, including the Journal of Economic Education. As a one-time cab driver, kindergarten teacher, crafts store co-owner and management consultant, he was also the author and presenter of "Discovering Economics with Paul Solman," a series of videos to accompany introductory economics textbooks.

In 2007, he joined the faculty at Yale, where he contributed to the university's Grand Strategy course for a decade. In 2011, he was the Richman Distinguished Visiting Professor at his alma mater, Brandeis, where he taught a seminar, "Economic Grand Strategies: From Chimps to Champs? Or Chumps?" He has taught regularly at West Point, the Naval War College and was an adjunct faculty member at Gateway Community College in New Haven, CT, where he created the evening program, “Yale@Gateway.” In 2016, he was a Visiting Fellow at Mansfield College, Oxford University.

Since 2019, Solman has chaired the board of the anti-polarization American Exchange Project, a nonpolitical nonprofit domestic "foreign exchange" program that introduces high school seniors from everywhere in America to each other, sends and embeds them, for free, in communities unlike their own.

Solman took up tennis at 50. His father was the American expressionist artist Joseph Solman. He is married with two children and seven grandchildren.

Full Bio

Paul’s Recent Stories

Making Sen$e Feb 20

Why is there more violence for violence’s sake today?

Despite the rise of ISIS, terrorism doesn't look like it used to, says University of Texas at Dallas economist Todd Sandler. In his opinion, violence for violence's sake is now much more prevalent. But why?…

Making Sen$e Feb 16

How to get what’s yours from Social Security

One day while playing tennis, Social Security expert Larry Kotlikoff informed Paul Solman about a strategy for maximizing the benefits that he and his wife were eligible to collect. They decided everyone else should know that secret, too, and are…

Making Sen$e Feb 13

How to get what you want from online dating

Looking for love for Valentine's Day? In this Q&A, Paul Solman speaks with OkCupid co-founder Christian Rudder, author of "Dataclysm," about what works and what doesn't on online dating sites. Helpful hint for men: Learn your grammar.

Making Sen$e Dec 18

Where to give your money this holiday season, according to behavioral economics

If you're fortunate enough to be able to donate money this holiday season, which organizations will be receiving your checks? Paul Solman speaks with Yale behavioral economist Dean Karlan about the causes that are using funds most efficiently.

Economy Sep 15

How Xerox became a leader in diversity — and why that’s good for business

In the early 1990s, Xerox wasn’t just a company. “To Xerox” was a verb, reflecting the company’s singular focus on producing copying machines. But faced with competition from digital imaging, Xerox has had to change their focus; they’re now in…

Making Sen$e Jul 30

Big Mac index: Is the U.S. dollar overvalued?

Everyone knows prices in the U.S. vary regionally, just like certain products are cheaper in China, say, or far cheaper in the Ukraine. But that hardly demonstrates that the renminbi or hyrvnia currencies are overvalued, Paul Solman says, noting that…

Making Sen$e Jun 06

200K more Americans and 200K more jobs, but 300K more ‘want a job’

With 217,000 jobs added to the economy, payrolls now exceed their pre-recession level. But even if the economy is pumping out enough jobs for a workforce that also grew by roughly 200,000, there are now nearly 300,000 more Americans than…

Making Sen$e Jun 04

Can Americans compete with quality-driven Germans?

Werner Eikenbusch, BMW’s head of workforce development for the Americas, left high school in the 10th grade for an apprenticeship program that combined on-the-job training with vocational school. He eventually returned to school to become an engineer, and at BMW’s…

Making Sen$e May 22

The surprising bull: Thomas Piketty on Wall Street

You've heard French economist Thomas Piketty talk about inequality and a global wealth tax to tap into the high rate of return on capital. The stock market is the source of much of that high-end wealth, and Piketty doesn't see…

Making Sen$e May 02

Where are the April showers in the jobs report?

April's jobs report looks sunny: the lowest unemployment rate since fall 2008 and more jobs added to the economy than expected. But don't hang up the umbrellas just yet: nearly a million more people in April than in March told…

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