In this episode, Levy Research Scholar Aashima Sinha sits down with University of Massachusetts Amherst Professor Emerita and Levy Senior Scholar Nancy Folbre to discuss how feminist economics is reshaping our understanding of well-being, care, and inequality—from new measures that value household production to the challenges of integrating gender and care work into macroeconomics. They discuss fiscal and political barriers to gender-equitable policy, major data gaps (and efforts to fix them), and how patriarchy and capitalism reinforce each other across global contexts.

Further reading:

• Integrating Nonmarket Consumption into the Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Expenditure Survey, by A. Zacharias, F. Rios-Avila, N. Folbre, and T. Masterson
• The Care Board, University of Kansas
• A Data Infrastructure for Measuring the Care Economy, National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine
• "Unmasking Hidden Poverty in America: The Role of Time Deficits," by A. Zacharias, F. Rios-Avila, T. Masterson, and A. Sinha
• "Measuring Care: Gender, Empowerment, and the Care Economy," by N. Folbre

Applications for the Levy Institute Graduate Programs in Economic Theory and Policy are open. For more information and to start your application, please visit: https://www.bard.edu/levygrad/. The early decision deadline to apply is January 15, 2026. The regular decision deadline is April 15, 2026.

*International Student should apply by March 15th to allow time for securing a visa.*

All applicants are eligible for financial aid. Financial aid is awarded based on each individual's merits and accomplishments both inside and outside the classroom.

Culminating in a 2024 report, the Levy Institute (Zacharias, Rios-Avila, Folbre, and Masterson) conducted research commissioned by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) to develop a methodology to integrate home production (unpaid household labor like cooking, cleaning, and caring for children) into the BLS measure of household consumption. Senior Scholar Ajit Zacharias and Research Associate İpek Ilkkaracan sit down to discuss this research and its potential applications in the US and abroad.

Applications for the Levy Institute Graduate Programs in Economic Theory and Policy are open. For more information and to start your application, please visit: https://www.bard.edu/levygrad/. The deadline to apply is April 15, 2025.

Further reading:

• Integrating Nonmarket Consumption into the Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Expenditure Survey, by A. Zacharias, F. Rios-Avila, N. Folbre, and T. Masterson

Levy Institute President Pavlina R. Tcherneva sits down with Lord Robert Skidelsky to discuss his new book, Mindless. Their conversation spans Skidelsky's roots in economics, his studies as biographer of John Maynard Keynes, and a revisit of the "Economic Possibilities for Our Grandchildren." Be sure to listen and join the conversation through your favorite podcast listening service.

The early application deadline for the Levy Institute Graduate Programs in Economic Theory and Policy is January 15, 2025. For more information and to start your application, please visit: https://www.bard.edu/levygrad/

Further Readings:

• Levy Institute Working Paper No. 1073 "Frankenstein in Fact and Fiction" | Lecture at Bard College (View Lecture), November 19, 2024 by Robert Skidelsky
• Mindless: The Human Condition in the Age of Artificial Intelligence, by Robert Skidelsky
• John Maynard Keynes, by Robert Skidelsky
• Keynes: The Return of the Master, by Robert Skidelsky
• What's Wrong with Economics?, by Robert Skidelsky
• How Much Is Enough?, by Robert Skidelsky