The Work Goes On


An Oral History of Industrial Relations and Labor Economics
In this podcast series of conversations with leading thinkers and practitioners, we are creating an oral history of an entire generation of industrial relations experts and labor economists whose contributions to their fields have been absolutely extraordinary. Hosted by Orley Ashenfelter, the Joseph Douglas Green 1895 Professor of Economics at Princeton University.
Episodes

Frank Stafford on the origins of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID)
Frank Stafford, Professor of Economics Emeritus at the University of Michigan, joins the podcast to talk to Princeton’s Orley Ashenfelter about the origins of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) and his research on labor supply, income volatility, household finances, and more.

Robert Solow on growing up in Brooklyn, fighting Nazis, and everything that came after
In a wide-ranging interview, Robert Solow joins the podcast to talk about the origins of his infamous career, covering everything from his being “a child of the Great Depression” to leaving Harvard to fight in WWII to his time serving in President Kennedy’s Council of Economic Advisors.

Richard Freeman on the state of unions in the U.S., why few Americans pursue STEM degrees, and more
Richard Freeman, who holds the Herbert Ascherman Chair in Economics at Harvard University, joins the podcast to talk to Princeton’s Orley Ashenfelter about the early influences of Martin Segal and John Dunlap on his career, who pursues careers in STEM and why, and whether we can expect inequality at the bottom of the wage distribution, which shrunk during the pandemic for the first time in recent history, to continue its decline.

Robert McKersie on his lifelong study of labor negotiations and the state of unions today
Robert McKersie, Professor of Management Emeritus at MIT's Sloan School of Management, joins the podcast to talk to Princeton’s Orley Ashenfelter about his path from being the son of an International Workers of the World (IWW) member in Paterson, NJ to becoming one of the leading global experts on labor negotiations.

Claudia Goldin on her journey from the Bronx to Harvard–with lots of groundbreaking research in between
Claudia Goldin, the Henry Lee Professor of Economics at Harvard University, joins the podcast to talk to Princeton’s Orley Ashenfelter about growing up as an “inner city kid” in the Bronx, how her famous study on the impact of blind auditions at orchestras came to be, and her life’s work on “the single most important change in the labor force” for almost every country: women’s labor force participation.