Heller-Hurwicz Office Hours
by Heller Hurwicz
Welcome to Heller-Hurwicz Office Hours, a podcast featuring University of Minnesota economists and their research. In the podcast we’ll explore economic topics that impact our daily lives and discuss economic research aimed at improving our understanding of major societal challenges. We’ll highlight how careful economic research can inform policy decisions.
Episodes
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S4E3: The Monopolies Behind the Housing Crisis: Jim Schmitz on Competition, Innovation, and Affordability
Why is affordable housing so hard to build in America? Much of the public debate focuses on interest rates, construction costs, zoning regulations, and supply chain disruptions. But according to economist Jim Schmitz, another powerful force has been overlooked: monopolies and the barriers they...
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S4E2: Neel Kashkari on inflation, uncertainty, and the economic outlook
Geopolitical conflict, persistent policy uncertainty, and growing scrutiny of the Federal Reserve are reshaping the economic landscape facing the United States. At a time when policymakers, businesses, and households are navigating an increasingly complex environment, questions about inflation,...
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S4E1: After the Sledgehammer: Measuring the Impact of Trump's Trade Agenda
More than a year after President Trump launched one of the most dramatic shifts in U.S. trade policy in decades, what does the evidence actually tell us? In April 2025, the administration imposed sweeping tariffs designed to reduce trade deficits, boost domestic manufacturing, and reshape…
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LECTURE: HHEI Spring 2026 Roundtable: Debt, Demographics, and the Future of U.S. Fiscal Sustainability
As the United States faces rising federal debt, it is also experiencing both a rapidly aging population and a falling birth rate, raising urgent questions about the long-term sustainability of the nation’s fiscal path. The Heller-Hurwicz Economics Institute’s Spring 2026 Roundtable explored how...
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S3E10: Drivers of Falling Fertility: Professor Michèle Tertilt on What Economic Analysis Reveals
Why are people having fewer children and what does this mean for our economic future? U.S. fertility rates have been declining for decades, now sitting well below the replacement level needed to sustain population growth. This long-running trend carries major implications for economic growth,...
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LECTURE: Central Bank independence: Critical for economic growth and stability?
In a time of persistent inflation, fiscal strain, and global uncertainty, the question of central bank independence has taken on renewed urgency. Widely accepted as a cornerstone of economic stability, independence is now being reexamined as some governments push for more direct influence over...
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S3E9: Automation, Adaptation, and Employment: Economist Kyle Herkenhoff on AI’s Labor Market Impact
Artificial intelligence is advancing faster than most policymakers — and many workers — can keep up. In this episode of Heller-Hurwicz Office Hours, economist Kyle Herkenhoff joins us to break down what rapid AI adoption means for productivity, job displacement, wages, and the structure of the…
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S3E8: Prevention, Policy, and Political Deadlock: Economic Lessons from the Individual Market
As the government shutdown stretches on, health policy sits at the center of America’s political gridlock. Recent legislative changes raise urgent questions about access, prevention, and long-term public health for millions who rely on the Affordable Care Act’s individual marketplaces for…
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S3E7: Plucking the Global Goose: Measuring Tariff Exposure in Trump's Trade War
How far can governments go in taxing trade before the global economy hisses?In this Heller-Hurwicz Office Hours episode, we explore how to quantify which products, firms, and supply chains feel the sharpest tariff impact. Professor Tom Holmes joins us to unpack how Trump's tariffs target IP-heavy...
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S3E6: America’s Rising Debt: Demographics, Risk, and the Future of Fiscal Sustainability
What does America’s increasing deficit mean for the economy? We explore the One Big, Beautiful Bill, demographics, and the risks to U.S. fiscal sustainability. America’s rising debt is one of the biggest challenges for U.S. economic policy. At the end of 2024, debt held by the public stood at 97%...
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LECTURE: Fair Shares: Exploring the Role of Wealth Taxes in Modern Economies
Wealth taxes are one of today's most debated economic policy topics and often proposed as a way to bolster increasingly strained government budgets, reduce income inequality, and make the tax system more fair. The Fall 2025 Heller-Hurwicz Economics Institute roundtable featured Professor Florian...
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S3E5: America’s Climate U-Turn: Bob Litterman on Economic Risks in a Critical Time
In this special series of the podcast, we're focusing on the policy priorities of the second Trump administration and how research can inform our understanding of a rapidly changing economic environment. Over the last several months, the Trump administration is leveraging federal power and...
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S3E4: The Trade War between the U.S. and China: What’s at stake in the decoupling
In this special series of the podcast, we're focusing on the policy priorities of the second Trump administration, and how research can inform our understanding of our rapidly changing economic environment. While recent talks between the United States and China have lessened the prospect of a…
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S3E3: Inflation, tariffs, and lessons learned (and relearned) from history
In this special series of the podcast, we're focusing on the policy priorities of the second Trump administration, and how research can inform our understanding of our rapidly changing economic environment. Consumer frustration with high inflation after the pandemic was a big factor in the...
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S3E2: Checks, Balances, and Political Independence: President Trump and the Federal Reserve Bank
In this special series of the podcast, we're focusing on the policy priorities of the second Trump administration, and how research can inform our understanding of our rapidly changing economic environment. The ability for a nation's central bank to operate independently is a core tenet of modern...
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S3E1: The End of the Free Trade Era: Trump’s Sledgehammer approach to constructing a new economic order
In this special series of the podcast, we're focusing on the policy priorities of the second Trump administration, and how research can inform our understanding of our rapidly changing economic environment. The turn away from free trade has been a major shift. In this conversation, economists Tim...
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LECTURE: Transmission of Monetary Policy and the U.S. Economic Outlook
The Spring 2025 Heller-Hurwicz Economics Institute roundtable featured Governor Adriana D. Kugler, a member of the board of governors of the Federal Reserve System on "Transmission of Monetary Policy and the U.S. Economic Outlook". The discussion and audience Q&A were moderated by Dr. Juan Pablo...
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LECTURE: Taxes, Tariffs, and Trade: Economic Policy in the Once and Future Administration
Economic Policy was a hot topic in the recent presidential campaign. Please join us for an impromptu and informal discussion on the possible economic policies of the incoming Trump administration, focusing on tariffs, taxes, and trade. Our discussion features Professors Timothy Kehoe and...
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LECTURE: Who Cheats on Taxes? Understanding the U.S. Tax Gap
Americans underpay federal taxes every year. Underpayments are seen across business types, industries, taxpayer ages, and income groups. But some groups are less compliant than others. The presentation will break out these groups and discuss how the IRS estimates the tax gap, possible limitations...
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S2E10: Pricing the Risk of Climate Change: The Role of Incentives in Reducing Carbon Emissions
Economist Bob Litterman is well known for his risk management career on Wall Street. He has been at the forefront of using economics and a risk management framework to develop strategies that would minimize future global climate change by creating appropriate incentives to reduce carbon dioxide...
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S2E9: One size does not fit all: Optimal subsidies for Medicare Advantage
50% of seniors get their healthcare through Medicare Advantage plans, yet the growth of Medicare Advantage has been controversial. Among the topics discussed about Medicare Advantage plans, is whether these plans are overpaid based on the level of benefits they provide to plan members. Economists...
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S2E8: Trust in Government and Central Bankers: The Probability of a Bad Reputation
Trust is an important concept in economics. Economist Chris Phelan develops a theoretical model for better understanding the impact of trustworthy and opportunistic actions by governments in less developed countries. He also discusses the role of trust and understanding the effectiveness or...
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LECTURE: How employers are using market power to underpay workers: The new antitrust merger guidelines' take on labor markets
Join us for a discussion of the economic research behind, and the legal and policy implications of, the newly released Merger Guidelines. In late 2023, the Federal Trade Commission and Department of Justice revised their Merger Guidelines, and lowered the threshold for labor market concentration,...
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S2E7: The tax gap: How do we measure it, and what does it mean?
The US Bureau of Economic Analysis estimates that in 2018, little more than a third of business income wasn't reported in tax filings. That's roughly $700 billion. Policymakers have long railed against the tax gap with little success. Economist Ellen McGrattan lays out a dynamic theory of…
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S2E6: Tax and Transfer Progressivity at the U.S. State Level, an Investigation
The federal income tax code is progressive. Now, we all know that, but what about state and local taxes? How progressive are they? And how much does progressivity vary among the states? Economist Jonathan Heathcote investigates: "We hear this term a lot progressivity in the tax code. But what…
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S2E5: When parents shouldn’t work: cash assistance and work incentives
UMN Economics Professor Jo Mullins says that cash assistance programs play a crucial role for poor households with children. "We know that from a pure accounting sense, if we look at what households in the United States get from Temporary Assistance to Needy Families, i.e. cash welfare, what they...
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S2E4: The game of monopsony: How the new DOJ/FTC merger guidelines strengthen worker power
In late 2023, the Federal Trade Commission and Department of Justice revised their Merger Guidelines, and lowered the threshold for labor market concentration, making clear that the labor market concentration is going to be an important factor in antitrust policy going forward. Hear University of...
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S2E3: The path to a paycheck: When and where the Black-white & male-female pay gaps starts
"We made a lot of progress in, you know, gender wage gaps and earnings gap, and so on, throughout the 70’s, the 80’s and early 90’s," says Federal Reserve Bank Researcher Anusha Nath. "And after all the policy changes that were made … we still see a huge wage gap, whether it's by gender, or…
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S2E2: A story of poor countries and rich countries: Where white collar workers came from
Hear UMN Economics Professor Hannes Malmberg share why education/skills are widely acknowledged as central for economic development, yet their precise role remains uncertain. "What we're trying to look at is the interconnection between how much does the lack of big firms connect to the lack of...
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S2E1: Are we taxing people fairly? Tax progressivity and redistribution since 1980
Join us for the first episode of our new season of Office Hours. Hear HHEI Director Kjetil Storesletten discuss why inequality has increased since the 1970s. "We worry that some people are getting a rotten deal," says UMN Economics Professor Kjetil Storesletten. "And there is perhaps a trade off...
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LECTURE: Climate Policy in Economics with Per Krusell
Scientists agree: global warming is the result of CO2 produced by human activity, and urgent action is needed to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. What isn't clear is how this should be done in a global market economy. Fortunately, economic analysis can be used to figure out what policies have the...
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LECTURE: Does the Fed Need to Cause a Recession to Reduce Inflation?
In hindsight, Larry Summers' 2022 prediction that "we need five years of unemployment above 5 percent to contain inflation" seems wrong. But why? Tom Sargent argued that inflation and wage growth is determined by the expectations of future inflation. What's the role of monetary and fiscal policy...
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Kjetil Storesletten on China's Economic Transformation
The economic transformation of China from a poor and centrally planned country in the 1970s to a middle-income market economy today is an amazing story. Kjetil Storesletten lays out the remarkable scale of change. Among the topics he addresses: What was the secret sauce that the Chinese…
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Fatih Guvenen on a Wealth Tax
The last few years have seen a renewed interest in wealth taxation. What is a wealth tax, and how does a wealth tax differ from taxes on capital income? Fatih Guvenen discusses research that highlights when a wealth tax, designed to encourage entrepreneurship and risk taking, is preferable to the...
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Mariacristina De Nardi on the Economic Puzzle of Aging
In this episode, Mariacristina De Nardi discusses how longer lives and unpredictable health make our elder years an economic puzzle. Among the puzzles economists are trying to work out: why do many couples keep putting money away long into retirement? Do we enjoy our money less as we age? She…
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Art Rolnick on Early Childhood Education
Throughout his career, Art Rolnick has been a researcher and an advocate for government to make large investments in early childhood education for children living in families with low and unstable incomes. The research shows that by investing in quality early childhood education for at-risk...
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Joseph Mullins on Bargaining and Negotiating Wages
In this episode, Joseph Mullins talks about his research from the paper, “Firms’ Choices of Wage-Setting Protocols.” The research project examines what drives differences in firms' willingness to bargain and renegotiate wages. Among the results: bargaining does contribute to the overall gender…
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Hannes Malmberg on the Aging Global Population
The global population is aging. Rising longevity is a powerful demographic force shaping the global economy in many different ways. In this conversation, economist Hannes Malmberg takes a deep dive into how global aging could impact the long-term direction of interest rates.
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LECTURE: U.S. Debt Ceiling: Reining in the Leviathan or Mutually Assured Destruction?
Raise the debt ceiling or pay the bills? Economists Chris Phelan, Marco Bassetto and Cristina Arellano discuss the looming debt limit deadline, and what the risk of default may mean for the US economy. Recording sourced from our webinar held on May 24, 2023.
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Gary Stern on the Banking Crisis
Gary Stern, former chief executive of the Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank and co-author of Too Big To Fail, joins the podcast to talk the Silicon Valley Bank crisis, and why restoring market discipline on banks is the first step to making banks and regulators accountable to bank failures. With...
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Manuel Amador & Christopher Phelan on Sovereign Debt
Sovereign debt defaults have long threatened the stability and growth of economies. Remember the Latin American debt crisis of the early 1980s? How about Europe in the 2010s? Manuel Amador and Christopher Phelan discuss their research into sovereign debt defaults, including the role of reputation.
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Fatih Guvenen on Income Inequality
The trend toward rising income inequality in the U.S. has been studied and disputed among economists. Fatih Guvenen advances the scholarly discussion by exploring the concept of measuring inflation-adjusted lifetime inequality over six decades. One stark takeaway: the widespread stagnation of...
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Kyle Herkenhoff on Monopsony and Labor Market Concentration
Have you heard of the term “monopsony”? Kyle Herkenhoff explains what monopsony is and how it is measured. His research measures local labor market concentration and its downward trend in the U.S. over the last 40 years – and its link to monopsony. We'll also discuss the Department of Justice…
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Tim Kehoe on International Trade
In this episode, Tim Kehoe discusses the impact of liberalizing international trade and foreign investment on the economy. He lays out why he believes globalization has been a source of productivity increases and the spread of economic progress throughout the world. He also calls for greater…
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Anusha Nath on the Minimum Wage
In this episode Anusha Nath reviews the initial results from the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis’ long-term minimum wage study. The economic impact of raising the minimum wage is controversial. This project is designed to assess over time the labor market effects of Minneapolis’ and St.…
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V.V. Chari on the Role of Economists in Today's World
How can economic research inform better policies? How should we define good public policy? What trade-offs are inevitable in any policy decision? V.V. Chari, founding director of the Heller-Hurwicz Economics Institute, discusses his goal for upcoming podcast episodes to address questions like...
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LECTURE: Here we go again? Silicon Valley Bank and the current banking crisis
Defund the banks? The recent failures of Silicon Valley Bank, Sovereign Bank, and internationally, Credit Suisse, have brought new focus on banks, their ability to pay depositors, and the role of central banks in regulating and ensuring the stability of our financial system. In this conversation,...
About this show
Welcome to Heller-Hurwicz Office Hours, a podcast featuring University of Minnesota economists and their research. In the podcast we’ll explore economic topics that impact our daily lives and discuss economic research aimed at improving our understanding of major societal challenges. We’ll highlight how careful economic research can inform policy decisions.
Hosted by
Heller Hurwicz
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