Platypus Economics with Justin Wolfers

In this episode of the Professor Is In, Justin Wolfers answers your questions about poverty in America. Justin walks through the official poverty measure ($32,649 for two adults and two kids), the newer supplemental measure ($41,701 for a renting family that adjusts for local costs and now counts internet and phone as essentials), and why the two disagree about how many people are poor.
Justin also digs into the hard questions: is redistribution always a leaky bucket, or can fairness make the pie bigger? Why don't we just end poverty with a universal basic income?
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When the White House pulled the press badges of CNN, MS Now, and Politico, most of us reached for the First Amendment. Justin Wolfers asks a different question: what does a free press actually DO for us? What happens to your wallet when a president gets leverage over the reporters?
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Official poverty fell to 10.2% — so why does the better measure show almost no change?
The new poverty numbers are out, and the headline looks like good news: official poverty dropped to 10.2%, a third straight annual decline. But Justin Wolfers explains why that single statistic hides more than it reveals — and why the broader "supplemental" measure tells a very different story.
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on Apple Podcasts 👉 https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/platypus-economics-with-justin-wolfers/id1523898793
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The Fed just raised rates unanimously — and Justin Wolfers explains why that 12-0 vote matters more than the rate itself. Joined by Bloomberg Businessweek's Stacey Vanek-Smith on Off The Clock, Justin unpacks what "Silent Kevin" Warsh actually signaled, why the president's dream of 1% interest rates would light a fire under inflation, and why even a government that repays its debts can end up unable to borrow again.
Then, Justin and Stacey debate whether "the feelings are the data," and Stacey builds the whole global economy into one bacon cheeseburger
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Finally, Justin turns thousands of YouTube comments into a data set to show Americans something the U.S. media keeps missing: just how angry Canadians are, and why they'll accept real economic pain.
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The Fed just raised its target rate by a quarter of a percentage point, the first hike since 2023 — but Justin Wolfers argues the number on the front page isn't the real story. In this episode of The Professor Is In, producer Augusta Chapman brings you audience questions, and Justin explains why the bigger signal was new Fed chair Kevin Warsh convincing markets he's a genuine inflation hawk.
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the Podcast 👉 https://platypuseconomics.com/podcast
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