Six Hundred Atlantic

The Boston Fed’s Prabal Chakrabarti is helping direct a new 3-year research effort into racial wealth disparities in Massachusetts. He discusses the project’s ambitious aims and how it expands on the Bank’s impactful “The Color of Wealth” report.

The focus across the Federal Reserve System is curbing inflation, which just hit a 40-year high. Evidence of inflation’s effects on consumers is everywhere – in the media, in stores, at gas stations, and beyond. That’s made Americans increasingly aware of rising inflation, and according to a new study published by the Boston Fed, that can make it more difficult to rein it in. Boston Fed Senior economist Jenny Tang is co-author of the paper called “Inflation Levels and (In)attention,” which...

Season 2 of Six Hundred Atlantic looked at a broken child care sector, including hopes the pandemic would trigger reform by highlighting child care’s problems and importance. In a bonus episode, experts Beth Mattingly and Tom Weber discuss the evolving crisis.

Something is different these days in the push for child care reform. There’s momentum. Some say right now is the best window for reform in decades. But others are skeptical, citing its massive costs and a spending-weary public.

The American ideal once saw women at home, while men went to work. But cultural expectations have changed, and for many women that’s not possible or desirable. Still, women say the child care system hasn’t adjusted, and they bear the brunt of its problems.

Steep child care costs matter, and not just to the parents who pay them. Those fees are also the sector’s main source of revenue. Advocates see this as one of the system’s major flaws, and they say parents, providers, and workers all suffer for it.

Polls indicate strong support for investing in a better child care system. Actual legislative results tell another story. Does history offer clues about why comprehensive reform has been so elusive, even though – on the surface – the idea is popular?

Child care follows a familiar storyline in the U.S.: Crisis comes, people act. Then momentum fades, and the system limps ahead. What’s preventing lasting reform? Advocates say many underestimate the sector’s broad impacts on the economy and the future.

The nation’s struggling child care system follows a familiar storyline: Crisis comes, people act. Then momentum fades, and the flawed sector limps forward. What is the cost to our economy and our families? This season, Six Hundred Atlantic looks at child care’s difficult present and uncertain future. Is major change ahead? Or will the story stay the same?

This season of Six Hundred Atlantic focuses on growing regional gaps in variables such as income or health – trends that are decades in the making. Now, they’re being shaped by the global COVID-19 pandemic. Are cities in trouble? Are rural areas poised for a rebound? Urbanist Richard Florida and economist Edward Glaeser join Six Hundred Atlantic for a conversation about our post-pandemic future.

The blunt truth is this: Many communities that were struggling economically decades ago are still struggling now. Existing policies simply aren’t working. Is it time to think about “place?” Economists traditionally have focused on policies aimed at improving an individual’s prospects and been skeptical about policies that focus on helping particular places. But some say it’s time for a new way of thinking.

Research shows that where people are from can be extremely important to their health, including how long they’ll live. But why? As economists try to make sense of this, some are exploring regional levels of sentiments like hope, purpose, and happiness. They say these subjective feelings can be measured with hard data, and they have undeniable impacts on how long – and how well – people live.

For decades, Americans took this famous advice: “Go West, young man!” But fewer are today. Interstate migration has been dropping for decades. People aren’t moving, even from bad economic situations or places with no future. The question is whether the unwillingness or inability of people to move is worsening regional economic and social divisions.

Rural areas are by no means the only places struggling in America, but there’s no denying their problems. Decades-long trends show despair is up in rural America and economic growth is down. Meanwhile, “superstar cities” are headed in exactly the opposite direction. These high-demand locales with high incomes offer a stark contrast to places in long decline and accent an urban-rural divide that policymakers say must be closed.

Does where you are born and live matter when it comes to educational opportunity? To how much money you’ll make? To how long you’ll live? The answer to all those questions is yes, and these regional disparities are only getting worse. Why is this happening, what can be done, and how do policymakers need to think differently?

The American story tells us our possibilities are limited only by our aspirations. But what if when it comes to our financial, physical, and emotional well-being, where we were born and live is more important than ever? This season, Six Hundred Atlantic takes a look at “geographic disparities” – widening gaps in economic and social well-being between regions.