Edward Glaeser on Joblessness and the War on Work

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4.7 • 4.3K Ratings

🗓️ 26 March 2018

⏱️ 66 minutes

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Summary

Why are fewer men working over the last few decades? Is a universal basic income a good policy for coping with the loss of employment? Economist Edward Glaeser of Harvard University talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about what Glaeser calls the war on work--the policy changes that have reduced employment among prime-aged men. Glaeser does not see the universal basic income as a viable solution to the decrease in work especially if technology ends up reducing employment opportunities more dramatically in the future. The conversation also includes a discussion of the role of cities and the reduction in geographic mobility in the United States.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Econ Talk, part of the Library of Economics and Liberty.
0:08.0	I'm your host, Russ Roberts of Stanford University's Hoover Institution.
0:12.6	Our website is econtalk.org where you can subscribe, comment on this podcast, and find
0:17.6	links and other information related to today's conversation.
0:20.5	We'll also find our archives where you can listen to every episode we've ever done going
0:24.8	back to 2006.
0:27.0	Our email address is mailadycontalk.org.
0:29.0	We'd love to hear from you.
0:31.0	Today is March 5, 2018.
0:35.0	And my guest is economist Edward Glazer.
0:37.7	He is the Fred and Eleanor Glimp professor of economics at Harvard University.
0:42.4	Ed has done extensive research on cities and many other topics.
0:46.0	This is his third appearance on econtalk, the most recent being in April of 2013 to discuss
0:52.1	the economics of cities.
0:53.6	Our topic for today is an essay he wrote last year on the war on work, analysis of public
0:59.2	policy interventions in the labor market, and the state of employment of primage folk
1:05.6	25 to 54 generally.
1:08.0	Ed, welcome back to econtalk.
1:09.7	Thank you so much for having me back, Russ.
1:12.3	You start off with the following.
1:15.2	I'm going to quote it and then read a second quote.
1:19.2	In 1967, 95% of primage men between the ages of 25 and 54 worked.
	...

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