Robert Willis on jumping ship from trade to study fertility and demographics

Robert Willis, Professor of Economics Emeritus at the University of Michigan, joins the podcast to discuss his time as a seaman working the Washington State Ferries, his path to economics, and the origins of the Health and Retirement Study at the University of Michigan

In this episode, Willis and Ashenfelter discuss:

• How a combination of skiing and scholarships drew Willis to Dartmouth for his undergraduate studies, but a summer back home–working the Washington State Ferries and taking a summer macroeconomics course–inspired him to pursue economics in graduate school.
• Why Willis abandoned the idea of writing a dissertation on international trade and instead decided to explore the economics of fertility.
• The origins of Willis’ famous 1978 Econometrica paper, “Dynamic Aspects of Earnings Mobility.” 
• The field’s growing awareness that demographic and economic changes were going to create problems as Americans aged, and Willis’ role in creating The Health and Retirement Study to collect longitudinal survey data on labor, wealth, income, health, and more.

Robert Willis earned his Ph.D. at the University of Washington in 1971. "The Work Goes On"—a podcast produced as Princeton's Industrial Relations Section (IR Section) celebrates its 100th anniversary—is an oral history of industrial relations and labor economics hosted by Princeton's Orley Ashenfelter.