PBS NewsHour - Making Sen$e

Unemployment is down, the GDP is growing at over 3 percent, the stock market hits record highs nearly every day and President Trump says it's a function of his policies. Does he deserve the credit? Economics correspondent Paul Solman reports.

What kind of hostilities do female economists face, and why? A recent paper highlights the sexualization of women in the field: In a list of the top words that correlated most frequently with women interviewing for jobs, none had anything to do with economics. Teresa Ghilarducci of The New School for Social Research sits down with economics correspondent Paul Solman to discuss power imbalances.

Corporate executives are getting a lesson in leadership and communication from the conductor’s podium thanks to the Music Paradigm, a program that trains business leaders in the fine art of teamwork. Paul Solman goes behind the scenes of a recent session.

What’s the beef with beef? As plant-based meat startups try to chop the meat from our diets, beef is seen as bad for the land, air and the body. But that’s not the full story. Economics correspondent Paul Solman takes a closer look at the costs, pros and cons of our obsession with the mighty bovine.

The corporate tax rate is set to drop 14 percent under the new tax bill. Will big businesses invest more in American plants and factories? What will it mean for American workers? Economics correspondent Paul Solman breaks down the numbers.

A new chapter for cryptocurrencies begins Sunday night as bitcoin, the most mainstream digital asset, launches on futures markets. The milestone will open up the market, allowing investors to bet against the currency without actually owning it. Author Nolan Bauerle at the news site CoinDesk joins Hari Sreenivasan for more.

Four years ago, businesses in Kansas went from paying over 6 percent taxes to paying nothing at all, as part of a Republican experiment to boost the limp state economy. But when the massive drop in tax revenue destabilized the economy lawmakers started slashing the budget and social programs and underfunding schools. Economics correspondent Paul Solman reports on what happened next.

The pitches have been quirky, some might even say desperate. City officials across North America are trying to get Amazon's attention in hopes that the fourth-largest company in the U.S. will build its next big tech hub in their community. Economics correspondent Paul Solman reports on what they stand to gain -- and pay -- for the chance.

The price of cranberries has been sinking for more than five years due to overproduction. Families like the Rhodes, who own Edgewood Bogs in Massachusetts, are used to periodic cycles of oversupply and falling prices, but new bogs in western U.S. states in Canada are making farmers especially vulnerable. Paul Solman reports on how small growers are surviving in a changing cranberry market.

President Donald Trump ran on a campaign promise that he would “put America first” by pulling out of multilateral trade agreements. But for many top industries, outsourcing in the global market is essential for business, not to mention vital to Americans’ standard of living. Is it feasible in the 21st century for America to go it alone? Economics correspondent Paul Solman reports.

As attitudes toward meat-eating shift and climate-conscious consumers experiment with alternatives, investors are throwing their money at mock meat startups that are replicating the smell and texture of a meaty burger. Economics correspondent Paul Solman explores the emerging technology that might help Americans wean off of their meat habit.

Is geographic mobility the key to moving up the economic ladder? Economists are finding that the odds no longer favor American kids in doing better than their parents, but some hope that uprooting their families and moving to safer streets with better schools will guarantee a brighter economic future. Economics correspondent Paul Solman explores the link between location and inequality.

Every food story is an economic story, says author Laura Shapiro. In "What She Ate," Shapiro offers tales of female empowerment or self-definition by way of the kitchen and dinner table, cooking up portraits of Eleanor Roosevelt, Eva Braun, Helen Gurley Brown and others. Economics correspondent Paul Solman reports.

University of Chicago scholar Richard Thaler was honored with the 2017 Nobel Prize in economics for his work questioning traditional assumptions that markets act rationally, and for taking human nature into account. Economics correspondent Paul Solman helps explain Thaler's theories, then Judy Woodruff speaks with Thaler about his honored work.

In northeastern Ohio, employers say they see jobseekers all the time who look like "the walking dead," would-be workers struggling with opioid addiction. The problem is so great, reports economics correspondent Paul Solman, that it's had a noticeable effect on the nation's labor force.