The Business Desk

What Is Income Inequality Like Within Certain Industries, Such As Banking?

Question: I am interested in the question of income inequality or distribution in the United States. Are there any statistics that indicate the degree of inequality by industry in the U.S., like in the banking industry, higher education etc.?…

Reporting on the Growing Ranks of the Unemployed

Editor’s note: Yesterday, Paul wrote a reflection for our Rundown news blog about reporting on unemployment this past year. It’s been an odd year for anyone who, like your correspondent, makes a living in and around economics. Odd…

Wasn’t WWII Debt Bigger than Obama’s Stimulus Package?

Question: According to many, especially conservative economists who wish to denigrate FDR’s efforts to end the Great Depression, the spending for WWII was ultimately responsible for our recovery…

If Banks Aren’t Lending, How Did They Make Recent Profits?

Question: I’ve always understood that banks made their money by lending. If they are not lending, what accounts for their recent profits? Paul Solman: They’re lending all right. It’s just that they’re not lending much to individuals or businesses. They…

How Did Banks, in Dire Straits Just Last Year, Pay Back TARP Money?

Question: Hi, Paul. I really enjoy your attempts to make this banking mess clear to us. My big question that I don’t seem to be reading anywhere: If most of the banks were in such dire straits last year about…

Samuelson on Economics and Behavior

Paul Solman: A final excerpt from my interview with Paul Samuelson about a decade ago. For this Christmas Day edition of Business Desk, Samuelson on where behavior and economics intersect.

Samuelson on Whether Economics Is a Science

Paul Solman: More excerpts today from an interview I did with economist Paul Samuelson nearly a decade ago. Today, his thoughts on whether economics is a science and where math fits in the discipline. Click through to read the transcript.

Samuelson on Why You Should Study Economics

Paul Solman: We continue this week with excerpts from an interview I did with Paul Samuelson in his office almost a decade ago, just after the dot.com collapse in the year 2000. I was helping make a series of videos…

What Will It Take to Jumpstart Job Creation?

Question: It seems to be fairly well accepted that the military build-up for WWII was what finally brought us out of the Great Depression. Is there any movement afoot for the government to effectively…

Samuelson on Worth

Paul Solman: All week, we’ve been posting transcripts of past conversations with the late economist Paul Samuelson. Below, Samuelson on calculating worth.