• 52 minutes 6 seconds
    Simple Immigration Economics: Bigger is Better

    (Originally aired 6/24/2025) One in five workers in the United States was born in another country. Without them, the country’s prime-age workforce would be shrinking, and thus so would our economy. So the calumny (Terms & Conditions) directed at immigrants is at odds with the basic fact that the U.S. needs them. What about depressing wages? Research finds such a mixed bag of results that the overall effect is about zero. Indeed, if the goal is to save “American jobs” or help American workers, there are a lot more effective ways to spend $185 billion than on a massive crackdown on immigration rules.

    Chapters:

    00:02:34  Announcements
    00:05:55  Retcon

    00:10:43  Terms & Conditions 

    00:12:21  Big Pilcrow

    00:43:07  Executive Orders

    00:49:12  Spiritual Sponsors

    7 July 2026, 8:30 am
  • 52 minutes 37 seconds
    America at 250: Case for the Defense

    It’s the United States’ semiquincentennial … and one of us is not feeling it. The other is literally carrying a flag in her bag — and that’s just her road flag. Kathryn Anne Edwards makes her case for optimism right now: The U.S. is undergoing one of the most dramatic demographic and cultural shifts of any industrialized nation. Americans agree that Congress is broken. And the people's agenda on wages, childcare, money in politics, and Social Security polls above 80%. Maybe this isn’t a backslide. It's just what clearing the air looks like.

    Chapters:

    00:01:21 Announcements

    00:04:10 Retcon: More on the national anthem

    00:06:36 Terms & Conditions: Origin of "the melting pot"

    00:08:01 Big Pilcrow: Make Robin Optimistic about America

    00:48:17 Executive Orders: End gerrymandering; mandatory hearings on supermajority issues

    00:50:03 Spiritual Sponsors: Knicks celebrations; bourbon in Louisville


    30 June 2026, 8:30 am
  • 52 minutes 18 seconds
    Optimist Q&A: The AI Bubble, the Rapture, and Free Lunch

    We can’t give financial advice. Or feedback on your 20-page tax proposal. But economist Kathryn Edwards did take a run at nearly 20 listener questions in under 60 minutes. Among them: Why care about birth rates if robots are taking all the jobs? What happens if the AI bubble bursts? Will the dollar collapse? Can the bond market sway the White House? Plus: Why the minimum wage matters even if it doesn’t alleviate most poverty and how to argue for universal free school lunch. 


    Chapters:

    1:43 — AI & birth rates
    2:57 — AI & birth rates (cont.)
    5:43 — AI bubble burst
    8:11 — The experience of inflation
    11:20 — Minimum wage & poverty
    13:55 — Job loss after 50
    17:30 — Productivity squeeze
    21:00 — CEO pay ratio cap
    21:49 — Could the dollar collapse?
    26:59 — Bonds & the Fed
    28:35 — Debt ceiling fix
    31:12 — Trump Accounts vs 401k
    34:42 — Tax dollar waste myth
    36:46 — Universal school meals
    40:11 — Part-time for new parents
    42:28 — Fighting monopolies
    44:14 — Policy ideas for Texas
    47:34 — Mamdani goes federal?

    50:43 — Top 1% wealth myth


    23 June 2026, 8:30 am
  • 49 minutes 38 seconds
    Inflation Risk is the Wrong Recession Lesson

    This might be the most dangerous economic assertion circulating today: the high inflation from 2021-2023 was caused by government stimulus. The talking point on the right goes: the third COVID-era stimulus checks landed in March 2021, prices took off, case closed. Of course reality is more nuanced. And most serious estimates pin only a point or two of the inflation peak on the bill; the rest was supply chain chaos, a global chip shortage, and the Ukraine war. The pandemic caused the worst job loss on record — and the response produced the fastest labor-market recovery we've ever had, because policymakers went big. The danger is that they remember the inflation and forget the recovery.

    Chapters:

    00:01:14 Announcements

    00:03:24  Retcon: Q1 GDP Revised 

    00:04:50 Terms & Conditions: Output Gap, NAIRU, "The Long Depression"

    00:11:49  Big Pilcrow: Is Recession Recovery Getting Blamed for Inflation?

    00:42:14  Executive Orders: Parallel parking licenses, FIFA ticketing ban

    00:45:52  Spiritual Sponsors: Small hardware stores, handwritten letter to OE

    16 June 2026, 8:30 am
  • 48 minutes 9 seconds
    Make the Economy Work for Freelancers, Too (#askingforafriend)

    Thirty million Americans, more or less, work for themselves. They freelance, do gig work, have solo LLCs, or — as a certain economist says — participate in “ non-employee employment.” The economics of their situation is harder than it needs to be. Making self-employment more viable is good for everyone in the labor market, because when workers have options, they also have more power. Plus: Kathryn Anne Edwards testified before the House Ways and Means Committee, and a congressman implied she wasn't a real American. She has thoughts.

    Chapters:

    0:00 — Start/Announcements

    1:21 — Retcon: Bad banks, good overtime, and testifying before Congress (again)

    18:17 — Big Pilcrow: Freelancers & non-employer businesses

    44:42 — Executive orders: national anthem singing rules, Congressional attendance policy

    47:20 — Spiritual sponsors: Supportive listeners and horchada + cold brew coffee

    49:01 — Credits

    9 June 2026, 8:30 am
  • 58 minutes 49 seconds
    About That College Grad Who Can’t Find a Job…

    (Originally aired 7/1/2025) Newly minted college graduates are having a harder time landing that first job than in recent years. Is it AI? Is college useless? Is it a crisis? (No. No. And not yet…) College graduates under 27 still have significantly lower unemployment rates (5.8%) than high school graduates of the same age (6.9%). What economist Kathryn Edwards finds worrying is that these new workers, who are typically a lagging economic indicator, may in this case be a bellwether of a weakening economy. 

    Support the Optimist Economy podcast by becoming a paid subscriber on Substack, or donating at https://buymeacoffee.com/optimisteconomy

    Complete show notes with links to articles and data at optimisteconomy.com.

    You can also find Optimist Economy on:

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    2 June 2026, 8:30 am
  • 42 minutes 35 seconds
    Should We Cherish the Ultra-Wealthy? (a.k.a. ‘The Cornfield’)

    A certain kind of wealthy American has been griping out loud lately — about taxes, about progressive cities, about how unappreciated they are for the jobs they create, the stuff they buy, and the tips they hand out. A narrative is coalescing around them too: that the top 10% of earners now do so much of the spending, the U.S. economy relies on them. But an economy that depends so much on the people at the top isn't the healthy one the country deserves — it’s just wearing a nice suit.

    Chapters:

    00:00:56 Announcements: Q&A episode questions wanted
    00:01:18 Retcon: The 86 debate; FDR's full "calamity howling executives" quote 00:05:32 Terms & Conditions: Wealth Effect and Zugzwang
    00:09:26 Big Pilcrow: Should we cherish the ultra-wealthy?
    00:36:41 Executive Orders: Retire "mummies"; union credits on red carpets 00:39:34 Spiritual Sponsors: Mellow Cello podcast; enormous floral arrangements

    Further Reading

    Moody's claim that the top 10% of earners now drive nearly half of consumer spending in the WSJ:
    https://www.wsj.com/economy/consumers/us-economy-strength-rich-spending-2c34a571

    The Minneapolis Fed on what the underlying data actually shows. https://www.minneapolisfed.org/article/2026/have-us-consumers-gone-k-shaped-a-review-of-the-data

    Wealthy part-time New Yorkers reacting to a proposed pied-à-terre tax in the Financial Times. https://www.ft.com/content/3283eaab-e9cf-41e6-a028-5a02fb6f4615

    The Wall Street Journal on second-home taxes spreading from New York City to other states, including the San Diego homeowner who'd like to be cherished. https://www.wsj.com/real-estate/taxes-on-second-homes-are-springing-up-across-america-93a64448

    Full reading list at https://optimisteconomy.substack.com

    Got economic questions, concerns, or executive orders?  Send them to [email protected]

    26 May 2026, 8:30 am
  • 48 minutes 53 seconds
    No Overtime for the Supervisor of Sandwiches

    It wasn’t just hourly factory jobs that were supposed to come with a 40-hour workweek. Even salaried jobs were supposed to get overtime pay, though very few do do anymore. Overtime protections are the only legal mechanism enforcing work-hour limits, and for 50 years, the salary threshold that determines who qualifies to receive overtime has been left to erode. Employers found another workaround too: just call the sandwich maker a "sandwich manager." Now, the new no-tax-on-overtime deduction isn't protecting workers — it's rewarding the kind of overwork it was overtime was originally designed to punish. Fixing the law governing overtime would be a huge and instant boost not just to the U.S. economy, but to our work-life balance.


    Chapters:
    00:01:43 Announcements
    00:02:32 Retcon: Economic data reliability
    00:05:54 Terms & Conditions: Tenterhooks; Perquisite 
    00:08:23 Big Pilcrow: Overtime 
    00:45:27 Executive Orders: Badge of shame for working past 40 hours; more colorful cars
    00:46:52 Spiritual Sponsors: Awesome first bosses; Faraday e-bike

    Got economic questions, concerns, or executive orders?  Send them to [email protected]

    19 May 2026, 8:30 am
  • 44 minutes 19 seconds
    Can the U.S. Go ‘Cashless?’

    Cash is dirty, inconvenient, and so last century. Some 70% of Americans under age 50 think its days are numbered. But we still need those greenbacks, if as an alternative to banks. More than 4% of households are “unbanked,” and three times as many are “underbanked,” meaning bank services mostly don’t work for them, so rely on services like check cashers or payday lenders. And that's before you get to the racial disparities in who banks approve for credit. Reviving banking services at the post office might be one way to help the unbanked and keep from handing yet more power to the finance sector. 


    Chapters:

    00:00:48 Announcements

    00:02:30  Retcon: Semiquincentennia 

    00:03:35 Terms & Conditions: ChexSystems, Unbanked

    00:05:46  Big Pilcrow: What’s keeping the U.S. from going cashless?

    00:38:28  Executive Orders: Regulate youth sports schedules; Airline baggage fees by weight.

    00:40:56  Spiritual Sponsors: Artemis splashdown; Friends with season tickets.

    Have a questions for our next Q&A? Send it to [email protected]

    12 May 2026, 8:30 am
  • 58 minutes 12 seconds
    The 2026 Economy: Make it Make Sense

    Consumer sentiment is in the basement. Jobs aren't being added. Prices keep climbing. GDP barely grew at the end of 2025, and a ‘meh’ 2% last quarter. Shouldn’t this be a recession? Not so far. Economist Kathryn Anne Edwards walks through the clear cause of each bad number: Tariffs explain the prices and foul mood. Mass deportations explain the jobs. The government shutdown explained last quarter. Still, knowing the passing reasons for economic pain doesn't make it hurt less. And none of it changes the long-term economic reforms we still need.

    Chapters: 

    00:01:06 Announcements

    00:01:57 Retcon: Wealth at retirement

    00:03:52 Terms & Conditions: Recession, Slack, Tight, Loose, Goodflation/Badflation

    00:09:10 Centerpiece: What is going on with the U.S. Economy right now? The vibe is don’t panic. But don’t not panic. 

    00:53:38 Executive Orders: Free work parking. Legislators do their own taxes.

    00:55:00 Spiritual Sponsors: Genre-specific bookstores and great newstands


    Send us your economic questions and concerns at [email protected]

    5 May 2026, 8:30 am
  • 49 minutes 53 seconds
    Progress is a Long Game

    (Originally aired 5/06/25) What sparks progress? The right political conditions? Social pressure? Economic upheaval? In response to two listeners’ questions, we say… both none of those and all of the above. As an example, we talk through just one bit of the New Deal in the 1930s, which was the law to limit child labor. That movement started decades earlier, and continued decades afterward. For those keeping score at home, this a sneaky third installment of Kathryn’s 68-part series on the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938. 

    Chapters: 

    00:01:08 Announcements

    00:01:43 Retcon

    00:03:58 Terms & Conditions

    00:07:03 Centerpiece

    00:42:56 Executive Orders

    00:46:25 Spiritual Sponsors


    28 April 2026, 8:30 am
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