Podcast Episodes
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What’s the Skinny on Laws that Make Salaries Public?
Season 1 Episode 34
Listener Max did his grad thesis on pay transparency laws in Colorado and found that they narrowed the gender wage gap by 8 cents on the dollar. But …
3 months, 2 weeks ago
Thanksgiving Prep: An Optimist’s Guide to Dinner Table Debate
Season 1 Episode 33
Your drunk uncle calls Social Security a Ponzi scheme. Your crypto-bro cousin thinks tariffs make China pay. Your grandfather blames working women fo…
4 months ago
Retcon on Season One (+ Executive Orderpalooza)
Season 1 Episode 32
Optimist Economy got its start almost exactly one year ago with a phone call that began, "Hear me out…" Thirty-two episodes later we ask, “What have …
5 months ago
How Health Insurance Got Shackled to Jobs
Season 1 Episode 31
Why is anyone’s health insurance tied to their job? It's because of a superintendent in Dallas, World War II wage freezes, a 1953 tax code quirk, and…
5 months, 1 week ago
Optimist Q&A: Evidence for UBI, What to Do About Billionaires, and Where Will the U.S. Economy Be After Trump?
Season 1 Episode 30
In the final Q&A of the season, economist Kathryn Edwards answers listener questions on recent universal basic income experiments, legislative budget…
5 months, 2 weeks ago
Can We Fix America's Broken Unemployment Insurance System?
Season 1 Episode 29
Just how broken is Unemployment Insurance? Consider this: During every recession since the 1950s, the federal government has had to step in and prop …
5 months, 3 weeks ago
The Ghost Recession: A Brief Economic History of Now
Season 1 Episode 28
The economic pain that Americans experienced in 2022-23 was dubbed the “vibesession,” suggesting that negative public sentiment was out of sync with …
6 months ago
The Cash-for-Kids Study: Misread and Misrepresented
Season 1 Episode 27
You might have heard recently that a years-long poverty study “found” that giving $333 monthly to kids with poor parents didn’t make a difference. Bu…
6 months, 1 week ago
The Case for Going Big on Paid Leave
Season 1 Episode 26
Paid family and medical leave is a confusing mess: only 27% of private-sector workers get paid leave from their employer. Some others are covered by …
6 months, 2 weeks ago
Aren’t Free School Meals a Conservative's Dream Policy?
Season 1 Episode 25
Free breakfast and lunch for every public school student — an idea associated more with countries like Sweden and Finland — should instead be viewed …
6 months, 3 weeks ago