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We Don't Have a Housing Shortage. We Have a Paycheck Shortage.
Season 2 Episode 3
Recent polls show 54% now consider housing unaffordable and the cost of homeownership dominates Americans’ economic anxieties. The popular “abundance…
4 months, 2 weeks ago
Affordability vs. the Poverty Line
Season 2 Episode 2
An essay went viral by claiming that $140,000 is what a family of four needs to just get by — a number higher than what 70% of American households ea…
4 months, 3 weeks ago
$79 Trillion Worth of Income Inequality
Season 2 Episode 1
Our own optimist economist Kathryn Anne Edwards worked on a research project several years ago to measure income inequality. Its massive headline num…
5 months ago
We're Back with a Backlog of Optimism
Season 2
Hey optimists! Season two of Optimist Economy is finally here. New episodes coming on Tuesdays starting January 27. More at www.optimisteconomy.com
5 months, 1 week ago
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 …
6 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…
7 months, 1 week 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 …
8 months, 1 week 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…
8 months, 2 weeks 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…
8 months, 3 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 …
9 months ago