Maria Fitzpatrick, the current Milman Fellow in the Bronfenbrenner Center, sat down with Karl to talk about her work centering on creating well being for the most vulnerable: children and elder adults. Maria is the first economist we've had on the podcast! They discuss mortality and retirement, the opoid crisis and child maltreatment, Maria's insights into working with policy makers, and the importance of high-quality early childhood programs.

Maria Fitzpatrick is an associate professor in the Department of Policy and Management, Milman Fellow at the Bronfenbrenner Center for Translational Research, and research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. She is also an affiliate in the CESifo Research Network, the Cornell Populations Center, the Center for the Study of Inequality, and the Bronfenbrenner Center for Translational Research. Her main area of focus is the economics of education. Specifically her research focuses on early childhood education policies, and higher education and teacher compensation, benefits, and labor supply.