Billionaires, Border Walls and Self-Driving Trucks: Are They Really a Thing‪?‬ Is This Really a Thing?

Presidential candidates on both sides of the aisle point to a host of different factors for the state of the U.S. economy. With an economic recession on the way, renowned economist Glenn Hubbard joins UCF Business faculty John Solow, Sami Alpanda and Paul Jarley to discuss the hot topic of income inequality and when we can expect the current expansion to hit a wall. Is a recession really on our doorstep?

 



Featured Guests



Glenn Hubbard '79 - Economist; Chairman of the Board, MetLife Inc.

John Solow - Kenneth White and James Xander Professor in Economics, UCF College of Business

Sami Alpanda - Associate Professor, Economics, UCF College of Business



Episode Highlights



1:02 - Guest introductions

3:02 - Rising income inequality

7:24 -Technical disruption in the workplace

15:54 - Politcal response to a changing economy

21:00 - Trade wars

25:35 - Rising healthcare and pharmaceutical costs

29:46 - President Trump, politicians on the economy

33:41 - Questions from the audience

40:48 - Paul Jarley's final thoughts





 

Episode Transcription

Paul Jarley:                         The economy is a thing. The national election is a thing. But, the stuff politicians talk about on the way to Election Day? Well, those aren't always things. We've assembled a panel of experts. Listen up, people.



Paul Jarley:                         This year was all about separating hype from fundamental change. I'm Paul Jarley, dean of the College of Business here at UCF. I've got lots of questions. To get answers, I'm talking to people with interesting insights into the future of business. Have you ever wondered, is this really a thing? On to our show.



Paul Jarley:                         This podcast comes from an event where we were celebrating Glen Hubbard, and his gift to endow a professorship in economics. Listen in.



Paul Jarley:                         I didn't want to resist the huge opportunity I had today to get together a panel to talk a little bit about the relationship between the economy and the political election that's coming up. So we're going to talk a little bit about whether a number of things are sort of a thing, or not in as non-political a way as we can here.



Paul Jarley:                         I have three panelists with me today to help me understand some things. Most of you know Glenn Hubbard. What you may not know is Glenn Hubbard is a graduate of our economics department at UCF. He studied here. He is currently the chairman of the board of MetLife and is the former dean of the Columbia Business School. He is still a professor there, and I like to joke with Glenn, after you're a dean, the comment that you always make is you get to go back to be part of the problem, right, and then, the part of solution, and he's enjoying that a great deal.



Glenn Hubbard:               Totally. Totally.



Paul Jarley:                         Right now.



Paul Jarley:                         Next to Glenn is John Solow. John is new to the college this year. He spent many years at Iowa. In fact, John and I were assistant professors together many, many years ago. And, he sits in the White, Xander endowed Professorship in Economics that Glenn and Glenn's wife, Constance, has funded.



Glenn Hubbard:               [inaudible 00:02:01].



Paul Jarley:                         And, it's not named after them. It's named after the two faculty members, who were most influential to Glenn while he was here becoming an economist. That's really awesome, and we're really glad to have John with us today.



Paul Jarley:                         My last guest is Sami Alpanda. Sami is an associate professor in the Department of Economics an...