When talent is no longer wasted
10/07/21 • 44 min
In 1960, only six percent of all the doctors and lawyers in the country were either women (of all races and ethnicities) or men of color. All the rest -- the overwhelming majority -- were white men. Fast forward half a century. By the year 2010, women and nonwhite men were 38 percent of doctors and lawyers. A similar integration occurred in other high-paying professions that required college and post-graduate degrees.
According to a paper by economist Chang-Tai Hsieh and his co-authors, this deepening integration accounted for an astonishing 40 percent of the per-capita economic growth in the country during this period. Like much of Chang-Tai’s other work, this paper is about what happens when people are finally able to apply their talents in ways that best take advantage of those talents -- and what a tragedy it is, for all of us, when they can’t.
And that’s why this story is not entirely a happy one. Mainly because there is so much progress that is still left to be made. But also because the progress that was being made appears to be slowing down. And for some people, it might even be reversing.
Links from the episode:
- “The Allocation of Talent and U.S. Economic Growth” (https://tinyurl.com/988c6a8)
- “Housing Constraints and Spatial Misallocation” (https://tinyurl.com/wcyh3mtd)
- Chang-Tai Hsieh’s research page (https://tinyurl.com/n86tufvs)
- Cardiff and Aimee are on Twitter at @CardiffGarcia and @AimeePKeane
- Send us an email! You can write to us at [email protected]
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
In 1960, only six percent of all the doctors and lawyers in the country were either women (of all races and ethnicities) or men of color. All the rest -- the overwhelming majority -- were white men. Fast forward half a century. By the year 2010, women and nonwhite men were 38 percent of doctors and lawyers. A similar integration occurred in other high-paying professions that required college and post-graduate degrees.
According to a paper by economist Chang-Tai Hsieh and his co-authors, this deepening integration accounted for an astonishing 40 percent of the per-capita economic growth in the country during this period. Like much of Chang-Tai’s other work, this paper is about what happens when people are finally able to apply their talents in ways that best take advantage of those talents -- and what a tragedy it is, for all of us, when they can’t.
And that’s why this story is not entirely a happy one. Mainly because there is so much progress that is still left to be made. But also because the progress that was being made appears to be slowing down. And for some people, it might even be reversing.
Links from the episode:
- “The Allocation of Talent and U.S. Economic Growth” (https://tinyurl.com/988c6a8)
- “Housing Constraints and Spatial Misallocation” (https://tinyurl.com/wcyh3mtd)
- Chang-Tai Hsieh’s research page (https://tinyurl.com/n86tufvs)
- Cardiff and Aimee are on Twitter at @CardiffGarcia and @AimeePKeane
- Send us an email! You can write to us at [email protected]
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Previous Episode
Machiavelli’s guide for women at work
Stacey Vanek Smith is the author of the new book, Machiavelli for Women: Defend Your Worth, Grow Your Ambition, and Win the Workplace. She is also Cardiff’s former co-host on The Indicator from Planet Money! The two hosts reunite for this special episode, in which Stacey tells Cardiff about the hardheaded wisdom and encouragement she finds in Machiavelli, the economic data and case studies showing the particular set of obstacles that women confront at the office, and why professional advancement requires an understanding of the world as it is, not as we wish it were.
Links from the episode:
- Stacey is on Twitter at @svaneksmith
- Machiavelli for Women (https://tinyurl.com/5cun5du7)
- The Indicator from Planet Money (https://tinyurl.com/4a8pa2cj)
- Cardiff and Aimee are on Twitter at @CardiffGarcia and @AimeePKeane
- Send us an email! You can write to us at [email protected]
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Next Episode
The business of Broadway
Cardiff has a theory -- somewhat half-baked, he admits -- that only when Broadway has fully recovered from the pandemic will we know that the overall US economy has also fully recovered. The necessity of proximity to strangers made Broadway as an industry a perfect target for the pandemic, and so it may well be one of the last industries to return to its former health.
And with the return of theater visitors to New York, we may also see the return of jobs for performers and workers on Broadway and at the myriad restaurants, bars, and hotels that cater to these visitors. The labor market remains nowhere close to having recovered these jobs in the leisure and hospitality sectors, and New York City’s own unemployment rate is more than double that of the US overall.
So, to explore this theory and get a Broadway 101 primer, Cardiff called up Lee Seymour, a journalist who covers Broadway and is himself a Broadway producer and Tony Award winner. They discuss the business of Broadway, how the industry fared through the shutdown, and how its nascent recovery is going.
Links from the episode:
- Lee is on Twitter at @LeemourSeymour
- The Inheritance (https://tinyurl.com/wvv8wnhk)
- Lee’s articles at Forbes (https://tinyurl.com/478hwnbm)
- Cardiff and Aimee are on Twitter at @CardiffGarcia and @AimeePKeane
- Send us an email! You can write to us at [email protected]
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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