Hardly Working with Brent Orrell

In 2016, the idea of ‘deaths of despair’ went from a social science term to a much more widespread one as the forgotten man (and woman) played an integral part in electing President Trump.

How are things now, and what comes next? The authors of 2020’s Deaths of Despair and the Future of Capitalism, Angus Deaton and Anne Case joined me on this episode to talk about this problem and what needs to be done about it. 

Entry-level workers face a myriad of obstacles to finding, keeping, and advancing in their careers that can hamper progress toward achieving family-sustaining employment. These obstacles are inhibit company productivity and company efforts to reduce turnover and strengthen and diversify workforces. Employer Resource Networks are a potential solution to this problem.

This episode of Hardly Working is the second in a two-part sequence of a recent event hosted at the American Enterprise Institute, entitled “Employer Resource Networks: Improving employment retention and building career opportunities for low-wage workers”.

Entry-level workers face a myriad of obstacles to finding, keeping, and advancing in their careers that can hamper progress toward achieving family-sustaining employment. These obstacles inhibit company productivity and company efforts to reduce turnover and strengthen and diversify workforces. Employer Resource Networks are a potential solution to this problem.

This episode of Hardly Working is the first in a two-part sequence of a recent event hosted at the American Enterprise Institute, entitled “Employer Resource Networks: Improving employment retention and building career opportunities for low-wage workers”.

Cases of COVID-19 are rapidly accelerating around the country, diminishing hopes that life will return to a pre-pandemic normal anytime soon. Health concerns are not all the country has to worry about, though.

To discuss the economic and financial impacts of COVID-19 in America and in emerging markets, Brent is joined by Desmond Lachman, a Resident Fellow in Economic Policy for The American Enterprise Institute. They discuss monetary policy, our economic future, and predictions for the months ahead. 

Are prisons designed to punish, rehabilitate, or a combination of the two? At age 17, Chris Wilson was sentenced to life in prison, but he developed a list of goals — his “master plan” — to help him become the man he knew he wanted to be, despite being behind bars. Sixteen years later, Chis was granted parole. Since then, he has dedicated his life to giving back to his community, building multiple businesses, and supporting returning citizens.

In this rebroadcasted episode, Chris joined Brent to discuss COVID-19 in prisons, prison culture, and Chris’ new book, “The Master Plan: My Journey from a Life in Prison to a Life of Purpose.”

Children who are born and raised in two-parent families are significantly more likely to avoid poverty and other adverse social outcomes but how that happens is unclear.

Brent talks to Scott Winship, Director of Poverty Studies at AEI and co-author of a new report on family structure in America entitled “The Demise of the Happy Two-Parent Home”. They discuss family stability, economic security, and how family structure contributes to the success for children. 

Over the past five years, Americans have become more pessimistic about the nation’s economic future. We’ve weathered two recessions and now a pandemic that has put millions out of work. For some, these events have been a sign that free markets aren’t all they are cracked up to be and that stronger government interventions are needed. But does the data support this view?

Brent talks to Michael Strain, a Resident Scholar and Director of Economic Policy Studies at the American Enterprise Institute, as well as the author of “The American Dream is Not Dead: (But Populism Could Kill It)”, about what the data tell us is really going on with employment, wages, and intergenerational economic mobility. 

For decades society has awarded social prestige and financial benefits to those who acquire a college degree and enter the so-called “knowledge economy”. Skilled manual labor and the caring professions, however, have too often been left behind. Why are these workers not as valued as they should be? And how do we create a more equitable labor force to ensure that all workers are respected for the value they provide to our society?

Brent talks to David Goodhart, the author of “Head, Hand, Heart: The Struggle for Dignity and Status in the 21stCentury”, about the markers of a successful life, the value of skilled crafts and the caring professions, and the need to reconsider our priorities in training and educating students and workers. 

The accessibility of a college-level education in prison has been a controversial topic for decades. While some view it as an innovative solution to reduce recidivism and help prisoners better understand themselves and the world around them, others see it as a waste of taxpayer funded resources.

Brent talks to Max Kenner, the founder and Executive Director of the Bard Prison Initiative, a fully-accredited college program in the New York State correctional system, about the importance of educational equity, the history of education in prison, and how the liberal arts can set prisoners up for success in the modern workforce.

For many years it was thought that the only industries at risk of being automated were those that did not require human intelligence. Artificial intelligence is bringing automation to increasing numbers of tasks and forcing human beings to work in concert with technology. Some say, AI is actually rewriting the playbook of work altogether and may undermine the role as a source of meaning and purpose.

Brent talks to Daniel Susskind, a Fellow in Economics at Balliol College, Oxford, and the author of “A World Without Work: Technology, Automation, and How We Should Respond”. They discuss technological unemployment and the role of work in personal fulfillment. Along the way, they sort the science of artificial intelligence from the science-fiction.