Heller-Hurwicz Office Hours

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 create to innovation and competition. In this episode of Heller-Hurwicz Office Hours, Schmitz discusses h...

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, growth, financial stability, and the Fed's independence have taken on renewed importance. In this ep...

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 America's role in the global economy. The policy sparked fierce debate, with supporters promising an indus...

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 demographic change, entitlement spending and macroeconomic forces are shaping the outlook for U.S. publi...

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, fiscal stability, and the future of programs like Social Security and Medicare. In this episode of Heller-...

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 monetary policy. Watch this December 8, 2025 webinar for a conversation with former top leaders of the Mi...

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 U.S. labor market. We explore whether today’s AI wave resembles the gradual diffusion of computers — or a...

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 coverage. In this episode of Heller Hurwicz Office Hours , economist Assistant Professor Anran Li joins us to...

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 industries and global brands and walks us through a new framework for assessing tariff exposure. Draw...

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% of GDP and is projected to reach 117% by 2034. The new One Big, Beautiful Bill adds even more pressure...

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 Scheuer of the University of Zurich and HHEI Director Professor Kjetil Storesletten discussing the...

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 resources to systematically dismantle the nation's tools to address climate change. Among other actio...

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 total halt in trade between the world’s two biggest economies, the second Trump administration’s escal...

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 presidential election. The Federal Reserve's main tool to combat this inflation was higher interest rates, ot...

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 monetary policy. Independence means the central bank can focus on their mission without undue...

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 Kehoe and Chris Phelan will share differing perspectives on how the President’s approach to trade poli...

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 Nicolini, a senior research economist with the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.

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 Christopher Phelan from the Department of Economics. 

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 of these estimates, implications for GDP, and the puzzle of stable compliance rates despite falling au...

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 emissions.

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 Amil Petrin and Keaton Miller also calculate the impact of lower payments to Medicare Advantage provid...

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 ineffectiveness of the Federal Reserve Board's monetary policy.

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, making clear that the labor market concentration is going to be an important factor in antitrust poli...

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 business taxation, and she uses the framework to tease out the impact of two potential reforms, higher...

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 does it actually mean? Proportional tax would be if I double your income, I doubled the amount of tax...