Economics Matters with Laurence Kotlikoff

About Economics Matters with Laurence Kotlikoff

Economics Matters is a podcast hosted by Professor Laurence Kotlikoff, one of the most influential economists in the world, a Global Economics Advisor, NY Times Best Selling Author, President of Economic Security Planning, Inc., and Director of the Fiscal Analysis Center. In each episode, Professor Kotlikoff talks to experts about the power of economics in our modern day society. From personal finance and fiscal policy, to social security and income inequality, Economics Matters delves into much of the economic challenges of modern society.

Publisher

Economics Matters

Category

education

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

9 Sept 2023

Latest episode

30 Sept 2026

Latest episodes

151 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   30 Sept 2026

   She Knew the Social Security Formula at 16. Now She's Warning Washington It Won't Save Itself

   What does it mean when one of the country's leading labor economists, a former Obama White House advisor who served as chief economist at the Department of Labor, tells you that Washington's bet on AI saving Social Security is built on a foundation of wishful thinking, and that the real numbers have been pointing toward crisis since 2017? Betsey Stevenson studied physics at Wellesley, switched to economics because the marginal costs were lower, earned her PhD from Harvard, passed up a Michigan faculty offer to work in the private sector, wrote a brand-new job market paper from private sector data to re-enter academia, and eventually landed at the Gerald Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan — where she now teaches, researches, and co-authors a leading economics textbook with her partner Justin Wolfers. In this episode, Professor Kotlikoff sits down with Stevenson for a conversation covering the divorce law economics that launched her career, what Title IX actually proved about sports and upward mobility, how two economists navigate a two-career relationship, and a frank assessment of where the US economy is heading under the weight of deficits, AI hype, and a capital income tax structure that may be quietly turning America into a servant economy. What You'll Learn: [00:10:39] Why Betsey passed up academia after Harvard and what working at Forrester Research taught her about big data before big data had a name [00:11:00] The dissertation that launched her career: how unilateral divorce laws changed women's bargaining power inside marriage without changing the divorce rate at all [00:17:00] The surprising finding: no-fault divorce dramatically reduced spousal violence but also reduced spouses putting each other through school [00:22:16] The Title IX paper: how giving girls access to sports improved graduation rates, college attendance, and adult earnings using a natural experiment almost nobody had thought to use [00:36:00] How Betsey knew the Social Security formula at 16 and why she called it a pure tax on her teenage paycheck [00:40:31] Why the fiscal gap has been unsustainable since Trump's 2017 tax cuts, and how COVID made it dramatically worse [00:42:33] Why cutting short-term interest rates when inflation is above target pushes long-term rates up: the mechanism Washington keeps ignoring [00:46:13] Why AI productivity gains may flow entirely to capital rather than wages, and what that means for Social Security funding [00:47:29] The servant economy scenario: with foreigners owning most US investment, AI returns could look a lot like Jamaica's resort economy [01:04:33] Betsey's tax proposal: tax all income including unrealized capital gains, and why the Daniel Radcliffe vs. Johnny Depp analogy explains exactly why she opposes a wealth tax Featured Guest: Betsey Stevenson is a Professor of Economics and Public Policy at the University of Michigan's Gerald R. Ford School. She earned her PhD from Harvard and served as Chief Economist of the US Department of Labor and as a Member of the President's Council of Economic Advisors under President Obama. She is a Research Associate at NBER and co-author, with Justin Wolfers, of Principles of Economics. Resources: Principles of Economics (3rd Ed.) by Stevenson and Wolfers: amazon.com (https://www.amazon.com/Principles-Economics-2nd-Standalone-Book/dp/1319330150) "Bargaining in the Shadow of the Law" — the divorce and domestic violence paper, QJE 2006: nber.org (https://www.nber.org/papers/w10175) "Beyond the Classroom" — the Title IX and sports earnings paper, ReStat 2010: nber.org (https://www.nber.org/papers/w15728) Betsey Stevenson's faculty page: fordschool.umich.edu/faculty/betsey-stevenson (https://fordschool.umich.edu/faculty/betsey-stevenson) Economics Matters Substack: larrykotlikoff.substack.com (https://larrykotlikoff.substack.com) Economics Matters: The Podcast is hosted by Larry Kotlikoff, Professor of Economics at Boston University. Disclaimer: Any opinions expressed on Economics Matters are those of the authors and guests. These are not the opinions of Boston University or Economic Security Planning, Inc.

2. 

   17 Sept 2026

   The Harvard Genius Mapping the Death of the American Dream — Zip Code by Zip Code

   What if the single strongest predictor of whether a poor kid rises into the middle class has nothing to do with intelligence, work ethic, or even education, and everything to do with who happens to be in their classroom in third grade? Raj Chetty grew up in New Delhi, came to the US in fourth grade, emailed 15 Harvard professors his first week on campus, was working as a research assistant for Marty Feldstein within weeks, graduated college a year early, and became one of the youngest tenured professors in Harvard's history. He has since used anonymized tax records covering virtually every American to build the most detailed picture ever assembled of who gets ahead in this country, why, and what we could actually do about it. In this episode, Professor Kotlikoff sits down with his MacArthur Genius Fellow and John Bates Clark Medal-winning colleague for a conversation covering the grocery store experiment that upended tax theory, the kindergarten classroom that changes your earnings for life, the Facebook data revealing why Iowa produces more upward mobility than Atlanta, and a brand-new private capital market proposal that could finally align financial incentives with the American dream. What You'll Learn: [00:17:23] The grocery store experiment: do people respond differently to a price hike versus a tax hike of the same dollar amount, and what the answer reveals about policy design [00:18:28] Why your true marginal tax rate is nearly impossible to calculate, and why that matters enormously for how much people work and save [00:36:20] The key insight behind the kindergarten teacher paper: linking the 1980s Tennessee STAR experiment to adult tax records 25 years later [00:39:25] How kindergarten classroom assignment by coin flip changed the course of children's lives [00:40:09] One excellent teacher versus one average teacher: a 2 to 3% annual earnings gain per grade, compounding to a 20 to 25% lifetime wage difference [00:41:25] Why teacher quality beats class size as a policy lever, and why Finland and Switzerland get this right while the US does not [00:44:44] The Opportunity Atlas: type in your zip code and see what the American dream looks like in your own neighborhood [00:48:00] Why Dubuque, Iowa, produces more upward mobility than almost anywhere on earth while Charlotte and Atlanta rank below many developing countries for poor kids rising up [00:50:00] The single strongest predictor of economic mobility: not schools, not income, but cross-class friendship [00:53:00] The causal proof: kids randomly assigned to classrooms with more high-income peers go on to earn more and rise higher [00:56:00] The inventor gap [01:00:11] The digital twins method [01:03:31] The private capital market for opportunity: how a $10,000 investment in job training could generate double-digit investor returns while reducing inequality Featured Guest: Raj Chetty is the William A. Ackman Professor of Economics at Harvard University and Director of Opportunity Insights. He received his BA and PhD from Harvard and became one of the youngest tenured professors in the university's history. He is the recipient of a MacArthur Genius Fellowship, the John Bates Clark Medal, and the Harvard George Ledley Prize. Resources: Opportunity Insights: opportunityinsights.org (https://opportunityinsights.org/) The Opportunity Atlas: opportunityatlas.org (https://www.opportunityatlas.org/) The Social Capital Atlas: socialcapital.org (https://www.socialcapital.org/) "Social Capital I" (Nature, 2022): nature.com (https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-04996-4) "Social Capital II" (Nature, 2022): nature.com (https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-04997-3) "Where Is the Land of Opportunity?" (QJE, 2014): opportunityinsights.org (https://opportunityinsights.org/paper/land-of-opportunity/) Raj Chetty's publications: rajchetty.com/publications (https://rajchetty.com/publications/) Economics Matters Substack: larrykotlikoff.substack.com (https://larrykotlikoff.substack.com/) Economics Matters: The Podcast is hosted by Larry Kotlikoff, Professor of Economics at Boston University. Disclaimer: Any opinions expressed on Economics Matters are those of the authors and guests. These are not the opinions of Boston University or Economic Security Planning, Inc.

3. 

   11 Sept 2026

   Dead Men Are Running America's Budget, and Their Policies Are Bankrupting Your Kids

   What does it mean when the co-founder of America's premier nonpartisan fiscal policy institution tells you that both parties have systematically abandoned the working class, the young, and the American Dream. Not by accident, but by design? Eugene Steuerle co-founded the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, earned a Bronze Star in Vietnam, taught himself economics via correspondence course while serving in the Army, and has spent five decades at the center of every major U.S. fiscal debate. He has testified to Congress roughly two dozen times, received the Paul Samuelson Award for Dead Men Ruling, and has now followed it up with Abandoned, a damning account of how both political parties locked in spending for the elderly and wealthy while leaving everyone else behind. In this episode, Professor Kotlikoff sits down with his longtime friend and intellectual ally for an unsparing conversation about the structural forces driving America's fiscal crisis, who is getting hurt, and what it would actually take to fix it. What You'll Learn: [00:01:01] Why the Social Security shortfall is far worse than the headlines: a 31% immediate cut for all 71 million beneficiaries, or a payroll tax hike from 12.4% to 18.1% [00:14:54] The core thesis of Dead Men Ruling: how permanently baked-in entitlement spending has eliminated Congress's ability to do anything new [00:16:24] Why Social Security, Medicare, and interest on the debt already grow faster than total revenue over the next decade [00:17:07] The difference between financing consumption and financing upward mobility, and why that distinction explains the working class rebellion [00:32:00] Gene's CBO data: the elderly have gone from most likely to be poor in 1979 to least likely today, while non-elderly families moved in the opposite direction [00:35:03] What Gene would do as fiscal dictator: force real entitlement growth to require annual congressional authorization [00:39:56] The two trends dominating 50 years of policy: runaway retirement and healthcare spending, plus cuts to capital income taxes, driving wealth inequality and government dependence simultaneously [00:41:59] Why the national saving rate has collapsed from 15% in the 1950s to 1.48% today, and what that means for who will own America's future [00:44:00] The Jamaica scenario: capital-rich but foreign-owned, with most Americans as servant workers rather than asset owners [00:51:26] Who is the least subsidized group in the entire US healthcare system: moderate-income workers whose employers offer insurance [00:54:37] Why Congress is wrong to think AI will save the budget, and what we should be building instead Resources: Abandoned by Eugene Steuerle: amazon.com (https://www.amazon.com/Abandoned-Republicans-Democrats-Deserted-American/dp/B0FKHBFT7J) Dead Men Ruling by Eugene Steuerle: amazon.com (https://www.amazon.com/Dead-Men-Ruling-Restore-Freedom/dp/0870785389) The Government We Deserve  (Substack): governmentwedeserve.substack.com (https://governmentwedeserve.substack.com/) Eugene Steuerle's website: steuerle.org (https://steuerle.org/) Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center: taxpolicycenter.org (https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/) Economics Matters Substack: larrykotlikoff.substack.com (https://larrykotlikoff.substack.com/) Featured Guest: Eugene Steuerle is an Institute Fellow and Richard B. Fisher Chair at the Urban Institute and co-founder of the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center. He holds a PhD from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and has served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Tax Analysis. Author of 20 books and over 1,600 articles and congressional testimonies, his most recent book is Abandoned. He publishes the Substack The Government We Deserve. Economics Matters: The Podcast is hosted by Larry Kotlikoff, Professor of Economics at Boston University. Disclaimer: Any opinions expressed on Economics Matters are those of the authors and guests. These are not the opinions of Boston University or Economic Security Planning, Inc.

Who has been a guest on Economics Matters with Laurence Kotlikoff

Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.

• Emilio Ocampo
• Beth Kobliner
• Daniel Dadush
• Daniel Pomerleano
• Phil Moeller

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

4.1 / 5

15 ratings

Spotify

4.0 / 5

5 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 65 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

97

Social presence

0

YouTube

0

Engagement

81

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Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.

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