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.

In this episode, Goldin and Ashenfelter discuss: 

• Goldin’s upbringing in the Bronx and the role of several economists–including Fred Kahn, Sam Peltzman, Les Telser, Ron Coase, Gary Becker, and Bob Fogel–on her education and career.

• Goldin’s early research on slavery in the U.S. south and the economic costs of the U.S. civil war–as well as her famous study, conducted with Princeton’s Cecilia Rouse, on blind auditions and gender discrimination in orchestras.

• The evolution of her work on female labor force participation and gender inequalities in the labor force.

• The consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic on women’s labor force participation. 

• Goldin’s experience as one of few female labor economists in the 1970s.

Goldin earned her Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in 1972. She joined the faculty at Harvard in 1990, becoming the first woman to be tenured in the economics department. "The Work Goes On"—a podcast produced as Princeton's Industrial Relations Section (IR Section) celebrates its 100th anniversary—is an oral history of industrial relations and labor economics hosted by Princeton's Orley Ashenfelter.

Read the transcript of this interview:	https://irs100.princeton.edu/sites/default/files/2023-02/004-TWGO-Claudia%20Goldin%20episode%20transcript%202.0.pdf

References

Goldin, Claudia Dale. “Career & Family: Women's Century-Long Journey Toward Equity.” 
Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2021.

Goldin, Claudia Dale, and Lawrence F Katz. “The Race Between Education and Technology.” Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2008.

Goldin, Claudia Dale. “Understanding the Gender Gap: An Economic History of American Women.” New York: Oxford University Press, 1990.

Claudia Goldin on her journey from the Bronx to Harvard–with groundbreaking research in between

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.

In this episode, McKersie and Ashenfelter discuss: 

• McKersie’s early academic career at the University of Chicago, where he worked with George Shultz, Joel Seidman, Al Rees, and Gregg Lewis.

• McKersie’s perspective on the recent railway workers labor negotiations.

• McKersie’s role in helping negotiate an agreement to end the culinary workers strike at Harvard in 2016.

• The importance of the Black Lives Matter movement and how it compares to the civil rights movement in the 1960s.

• McKersie’s latest book, “A Field in Flux.”

McKersie earned an MBA and a DBA from Harvard Business School in 1959. "The Work Goes On"—a podcast produced as Princeton's Industrial Relations Section (IR Section) celebrates its 100th anniversary—is an oral history of industrial relations and labor economics hosted by Princeton's Orley Ashenfelter.

Read the transcript of this interview:	https://irs100.princeton.edu/podcasts/robert-mckersie-2023

• McKersie, Robert B. “A Field in Flux: Sixty Years of Industrial Relations.” Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2019.

• McKersie, Robert B. “A Decisive Decade: An Insider's View of the Chicago Civil Rights Movement During the 1960s.” Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 2013.

• Kochan, Thomas A., Adrienne E. Eaton, and Robert B. McKersie. “Healing Together: The Labor-Management Partnership at Kaiser Permanente.” Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2013.

Robert McKersie on his lifelong study of labor negotiations and the state of unions today

James J. Heckman, Henry Schultz Distinguished Service Professor in Economics at the University of Chicago, joins the podcast to discuss graduate school at Princeton, why an often overlooked paper on the effect of civil rights laws is his favorite, and much more.

Read a transcript of this interview: https://irs100.princeton.edu/sites/default/files/2023-04/010-TWGO-Heckman%20transcript.pdf

For more details about this episode, visit: https://irs100.princeton.edu/podcasts/james-heckman-2023

James Heckman on his early academic career and the work that makes him proud

Thomas Kochan, the George Maverick Bunker Professor Emeritus of Management at the Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, joins the podcast to discuss his life’s work studying unions, arbitrating labor disputes, and advocating for the restoration of a social contract that rewards the contributions of workers. Kochan and Ashenfelter also discuss the “deep economic dimensions and deep political dimensions” of the currently ongoing United Auto Workers strike.

Read a transcript of the podcast here: https://irs100.princeton.edu/sites/default/files/2023-09/016-TWGO-Kochan_transcript.pdf 

For more details on this episode, visit: https://irs100.princeton.edu/podcasts/thomas-kochan

Thomas Kochan on the United Auto Workers strike and the need for a new social contract at work

Robert Willis, Professor of Economics Emeritus at the University of Michigan, joins the podcast to discuss his time as a seaman working the Washington State Ferries, his path to economics, and the origins of the Health and Retirement Study at the University of Michigan.

Read a transcript of the podcast here: https://irs100.princeton.edu/sites/default/files/2024-02/022-TWGO-Willis_transcript.pdf

For more details on this episode, visit: 
https://irs100.princeton.edu/podcasts/robert-willis-2024

Robert Willis on jumping ship from trade to study fertility and demographics

Bob Gregory, Professor Emeritus at the Research School of Economics at Australian National University, joins the podcast to discuss how getting polio at fourteen years old affected his life trajectory, why he fell in love with economics, and his many contributions as a public servant.

Read a transcript of the podcast here: https://irs100.princeton.edu/sites/default/files/2024-02/024-TWGO-Gregory_transcript.pdf

For more details on this episode, visit:
https://irs100.princeton.edu/podcasts/bob-gregory-2024

Bob Gregory on how polio changed his life–and inspired him as a student

Robert Flanagan, the Matsushita Professor of International Labor Economics and Policy Analysis Emeritus at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business, joins the podcast to discuss what he’s learned both studying and working for unions, how his time in a musician’s union inspired him to research financial difficulties in the performing arts, and more.

Read a transcript of the podcast here: https://irs100.princeton.edu/sites/default/files/2024-03/025-TWGO-Flanagan_transcript-edit2.pdf

For more details on this episode, visit: https://irs100.princeton.edu/podcasts/robert-flanagan-2024

Robert Flanagan on boosting union membership and why orchestras struggle financially

Barry Chiswick, Professor of Economics and International Affairs at George Washington University, joins the podcast to discuss his wealth of research on immigration and what he learned studying Jewish Americans in the labor market.

Read a transcript of the podcast here: https://irs100.princeton.edu/sites/default/files/2024-03/026-TWGO-Chiswick_transcript.pdf

For more details on this episode, visit: https://irs100.princeton.edu/podcasts/barry-chiswick-2024

Barry Chiswick on immigration, the American Jewish experience, and how to measure discrimination

David Lewin, the Neil Jacoby Emeritus Professor of Management and Human Resources at UCLA’s Anderson Graduate School of Management. joins the podcast to discuss what sparked his interest in unions and grievance procedures, the Federal Trade Commission's new plan to ban noncompete agreements, and why unionization will re-emerge in the U.S. south and elsewhere.

Read a transcript of the podcast here: https://irs100.princeton.edu/sites/default/files/2024-05/028-TWGO-Lewin_transcript.pdf

For more details on this episode, visit: https://irs100.princeton.edu/podcasts/david-lewin-2024

David Lewin on employee voice in a capitalist economy and the re-emergence of unionization

Ernst Stromsdorfer, Emeritus Professor of Economics at Washington State University, joins the podcast to discuss his impressive body of research on the impact of labor market programs on different groups of people, and his wide-ranging career across academia, the private sector, and state and federal governments.

Read a transcript of the podcast here: https://irs100.princeton.edu/sites/default/files/2024-06/029-TWGO-Stromsdorfer_transcript3.pdf

For more details on this episode, visit: https://irs100.princeton.edu/podcasts/ernst-stromsdorfer-2024

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