Though born in the UK, Chris moved to the US at age 8 and attended high school in Larchmont, NY. He entered MIT in 1963 in time to work on the early computers, learning how to program and later how to create computer compilers (translating programs using high-level languages to machine language). Chris recounts his early career at MIT and his subse…

David begins by highlighting the background of his parents, how they met in Mexico, and their careers. He discusses his elementary and high school experience in San Antonio and his first national award. He describes how he chose Harvard among other schools at a time when Harvard was not a dominant brand. David provides examples of his intellectuall…

William Raduchel describes growing up in Houghton County, Michigan, as it evolved from a prosperous to a declining area. Starting from a local college, Michigan Tech, a school focused on engineering, on to Michigan State and then to many roles at Harvard, Bill gained a mastery of economics, computer science, and engineering. His career made fascina…

State Senator Jim Rosapepe describes where and how he grew up, his heritage, his early interest in politics, and the beginnings of his business career and entrepreneurship. He then turns to the relationships he built in politics, business, and foreign affairs. Jim's role in the Italian support for President Bill Clinton is one of his many interesti…

Eytan Sheshinski describes growing up in Haifa, Israel with parents who emigrated from Germany and Switzerland in the 1930s to a kibbutz. While initially joining a kibbutz and understanding economics from a Marxist perspective, Eytan talks of his excitement in learning modern economics first at Hebrew University under famed Israel economist Don Pat…

Diane Jones describes coming from a Baltimore family of modest means, attending a state college, and becoming a community college professor as she followed her deep interest in science. Her experience at the National Science Foundation led to new programs and ultimately productive years as a Congressional staffer. In her last public position, Diane…

Stephen Goss describes his transition from a math major in college with an interest in economics to his career as an actuary. He discusses the approach used by the Social Security Administration to estimate long-term costs and outlays for benefits based on trends in the economy and in the demographic make-up of the US.…

Nathan Lewin describes his family's escape from Poland soon after the 1938 Kristallnacht pogrom against Jews through Japan to the US. He recounts how his father, an important rabbi in Poland, transitioned to become a noted writer and professor and influenced the UN resolutions on freedom of religion. We hear of Mr. Lewin's decision to attend Harvar…

Don Ezra describes growing up in Calcutta with a Bhagdadi Jewish heritage. He is grateful for the Catholic school he attended, especially how the teachers pushed students to investigate issues deeply. He naturally followed this approach, asking why and then asking why again. Don's education moved quickly, earning a BA by 18, studying economics and …

Paula Hogan describes her early experience with finance, growing up with a father who pioneered concepts of variable annuities. After graduating college, Paula thought she would enter a health policy field, but came to begin financial advising while living in Texas. Learn how Paula chose to embrace ideas developed by co-host Zvi Bodie, how she buil…

Theo Kocken describes how his upbringing in a large family encouraged his independence. He drew on that experience to rethink the nature of risks by banks and pension funds. He discusses how he came to start Cardano Development in response to the need to account for scenarios that generate serious risks. He points out how his company built models t…

Professor Friedman describes his upbringing in Louisville, Kentucky, including the influences of his father and the family business as well as a special English teacher's contributions to his ability to write well. He recounts his introduction to economics as a Harvard graduate, his gravitating toward economics at Cambridge University, and his earl…

Bob Lerman describes how his parents and upbringing in a family of nine brothers and one sister influenced his path in life. After growing up in South Bend, Indiana with a focus on sports and music, he became attracted to the world of ideas at Brandeis University and subsequently at MIT. His career spanned jobs at four universities, a Congressional…

Zvi Bodie describes his lifelong interest in ideas and learning. From his birth and high school in Brooklyn and his evolution from a socialist/Zionist and kibbutz life to becoming a noted financial economist, Zvi recalls how his thinking evolved and how he luckily encountered much help from teachers and friends. Zvi explains the importance of finan…

Hear about Rabbi Tzvi Marx's fascinating upbringing, career, and ideas. Rabbi Marx describes his development from his birth in occupied France to his schooling and university experience in New York, to his role in building the Sholem Hartman Institute in Jerusalem, and to his leadership of an institute for Jewish learning in the Netherlands. Along …

Alair Townsend describes her journey from growing in Elmira and attending Elmira College, the London School of Economics, and the University of Wisconsin to a career at the highest level of public service. She describes her role as staff director of the Subcommittee on Fiscal Policy and how it produced the first set of studies of the combined cash …

William Sharpe describes how he became interested in economics and how shifting his UCLA dissertation topic while working at the RAND corporation ultimately led to his work in finance and his derivation of the widely known and widely used Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM). Dr. Sharpe was awarded the 1990 Nobel prize in economics was awarded for hi…

Tamar Frankel, Emeritus Professor of Law at Boston University, talks about growing up in Israel during its pre-State period, her service in the army and government, and how she came to Harvard Law School. She explains how she developed an interest in fiduciary law and trained international students about the importance of trust in business. She tau…

Joe Nocera describes his upbringing in Providence, his views on learning journalism, his early career in journalism, and high points in his writing and career. He recounts his coverage of T. Boone Pickens and sitting in on one of the first private equity takeovers. Joe recalls how he joined the New York Times and ultimately became an op-ed columnis…

Larry Kotlikoff describes how his upbringing and family circumstances led to his hard work and his entrepreneurial streak, not only in economic research. but also in promoting wise policies for the United States. Larry explains the logic behind generational accounting and his concerns about the long-term and prodigious debt the government is passin…

Chris Farrell describes his early career, including his service on a merchant ship, his education, his entry into the world of journalism, and how came to author several books. He concludes with some perspectives on the state of journalism today. Chris is a senior economics contributor at Minnesota Public Radio and Marketplace, American Public Medi…

Dan describes how he developed Northfield Financial Services as making the evaluation of many possible asset portfolios affordable. Instead of having to buy expensive software that could only be run on expensive mainframe computers, Dan's innovation made it possible to assess portfolios in sophisticated ways using personal computers. He explains th…

David Shipler recounts the arc of his career after college, including his service as an officer in the US Navy, early jobs at the New York Times, assignments in Vietnam, Russia, and Israel, and how he came to author books. Among the seven books he published are Arab and Jew: Wounded Spirits in a Promised Land (for which he won a Pulitzer Prize), Ru…

Dr. Sheldon Glashow, former Harvard professor of physics, begins by describing his fascination with science as a kid. He then explains how he came up with the ideas and paper that won his Nobel prize. Amazingly, Dr. Glashow wrote the paper just after graduate school. He explains some of his subsequent research, including theoretically introducing t…

Derrick Ramsey talks about growing up in rural Florida, his development as an athlete in high school, his experience in college football, his transition to professional football, and how he prepared for his post-football career and advanced education. Derrick then describes his experience running athletic departments and his leadership as Kentucky'…

Paul Solman is an award-winning journalist who has specialized in economics, business, and politics since the early 1970s. He has been the business and economics correspondent for the PBS NewsHour since 1985, with occasional forays into art reporting. Paul describes how his early involvement in writing and journalism, starting as an Art reporter fo…

Dallas Salisbury describes his evolution from grade school and high school politics in small town Washington State, to expertise on redistricting, all on the way to becoming the nation's foremost expert on employee benefits. Widely consulted by the Congress and multiple Administrations, Dallas built EBRI into a highly influential think tank on pens…

Allison Schrager describes her evolution from a small, college town in Connecticut, to college in Scotland, to her interest and graduate studies in economics, and to her learning about and fascination with risk. She explains why she sees a decline in risk-taking, why taking risk can promote growth, and how risk management strategies can help foster…

Tom Bewick describes his interesting life and career, from living in foster care to becoming the CEO of the UK's Federation of Awarding Bodies. Tom points out the changing patterns as well as continuing reality of elites in the UK. His lesson on British history becomes the background for expressing his views on Brexit and his journey to becoming a …

Yair Stern, an Israeli former reporter, editor, and Washington bureau chief for Israel TV, looks back on his upbringing, his education, his army service, and his early and subsequent career. Yair describes his meetings with Presidents, especially his interview with former President Jimmy Carter, as well his challenges in running Israeli TV. He refl…

David Lerman is the Chairman of the Board of Steel Warehouse Co., Inc, headquartered in South Bend, Indiana. Under his leadership as CEO for over 40 years, Steel Warehouse and affiliated companies grew to become one of the leading steel service centers in the country. In 2004, Metal Center News selected Dave as the Executive of the Year. He describ…

Tamar Jacoby is president of Opportunity America, a Washington-based nonprofit working to promote economic mobility – work, skills, careers, ownership and entrepreneurship for poor and working Americans. This interview chronicles her career, starting as a journalist as the deputy editor of The New York Times op-ed page and senior writer and justice…

Zvi and Bob interview Eugene Steuerle, a highly noted economist and expert on budget, tax, and social benefit programs. Gene is an Institute Fellow and Richard B. Fisher Chair at the Urban Institute. He has served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Tax Analysis (1987-1989), President of the National Tax Association (2001-2002), and c…

Deborah Lucas is an MIT Professor of Finance and directs the Golub Center for Finance and Policy. This episode explores her early involvement in economics, how she evolved into a top flight economist specializing in finance, and her contributions to the use of finance in public policy, especially at the US Congressional Budget Office. Dr. Lucas pro…

Jack Habib describes his role in the development of Israeli social research and policy over three decades. As director of the Myers-JDC-Brookdale Institute, Jack oversaw studies and recommendations that dealt with new immigrants from Ethiopia and the former Soviet Union, Israeli Arabs, children at risk, and the elderly. The conversation recounts th…

Leonard Hausman offers his perspectives on China and the Middle East based on his experience with business and political leaders from both regions. He reveals how his work on the Harvard's Middle East economic policy center and MIT's East Asia programs emerged. Lenny even provides a short glimpse of his activities on behalf of civil rights early in…

In this first episode of Ideas and Lives, Professor Meir Kohn of Dartmouth College describes his historically-based theory of economic growth, based on his manuscript,Commerce, predation, and production: a new theory of economic progress. His interview with fellow economists Bob Lerman and Zvi Bodie not only offers an in-depth discussion of this th…