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The Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program — Events and Interviews: Daily Summaries Delivered
by The Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program
The Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program advances strategies, policies, and ideas to help low- and moderate-income people thrive in a changing economy. This podcast features audio from our events, webinars, interviews, and other conversations.
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- 1 weeks ago1h 14m
What Employee Ownership Means to Workers
What does employee ownership mean to workers?In this conversation, the Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program shares findings from its report What Employee Ownership Means to Workers and hears from five employee-owners who participated in the research. They discuss their experiences with ESOPs, employee ownership trusts (EOTs), worker cooperatives, and broad-based equity compensation plans.The conversation explores how workers’ perspectives can help shape ownership plans, workplace practices, and policies that support employee ownership. Matt Helmer, director of job quality and worker well-being at the Economic Opportunities Program, moderates.Read the report:https://www.aspeninstitute.org/publications/what-employee-ownership-means-to-workers/Learn more about the event:https://www.aspeninstitute.org/events/what-employee-ownership-means-to-workers/Subscribe to the Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program’s YouTube channel:https://www.youtube.com/@AspenEOPListen to the Economic Opportunities Program podcast:https://pod.link/1503944129
- Oct 15, 20261h 2m
Building Economic Security: A Book Talk with Arindrajit Dube and Carrie Joy Grimes
Economic security shouldn’t be a lottery. Yet for millions of working families, stagnant wages and precarious jobs collide with the daily grind of managing money on shaky ground — leaving stability feeling less like a plan and more like a gamble. Fixing that takes more than one lever. It takes structural reform and the tools people need to take control of their financial lives, working together.In “The Wage Standard: What’s Wrong in the Labor Market and How to Fix It,” Professor Arindrajit Dube maps out how to rebuild a labor market that actually works for workers. In “The Joy of Money: How to Do More With and Feel Better About Your Money—No Matter How Much You Have,” Carrie Joy Grimes flips the script on personal finance, showing that financial agency isn’t reserved for the wealthy. Together, their ideas offer something rare: a real blueprint for security that starts at the policy level and ends in people’s pockets.This conversation — hosted by the Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program on October 7, 2026 — connected these dots and explored the big questions: What will it actually take to fix a broken labor market? How do practical financial tools build real agency, no matter your income? And what does an economy look like when systemic fairness and individual security aren’t trade-offs — but a package deal?Our speakers include Dube, Grimes, and moderator Natalie Foster, senior fellow at the Economic Opportunities Program, co-founder of Economic Security Project, and author of “The Guarantee: Inside the Fight for America’s Next Economy.”For more information about this event, including a transcript, speaker bios, and additional resources, visit our website:https://www.aspeninstitute.org/events/building-economic-security-a-book-talk-with-arindrajit-dube-and-carrie-joy-grimes/This event is part of our Opportunity in America series:https://www.aspeninstitute.org/series/opportunity-in-america/For highlights from this discussion, subscribe to our YouTube channel:https://www.youtube.com/@AspenEOPOr subscribe to our podcast to listen on the go:https://pod.link/1503944129
- Sep 28, 202659 min
Work and the Social Contract in the Age of AI: How did we get here?
“Social contract” has quickly become one of the most-used, least-defined phrases in the AI policy conversation. This first event in a two-part series will trace the origin and history of the American social contract, examining how work became the anchor of economic security, mobility, and civic identity in the United States.From an economy whose foundations were built on forced and unpaid labor, through the rise of industrialization, the New Deal, a postwar economic boom, financialization, and then globalization, the relationship between workers, employers, and the state has been redefined repeatedly. Panelists will discuss these inflection points, focusing on who was (and was not) party to these agreements — from organized labor and industrial barons to policymakers and grassroots movements — and under what circumstances their compromises established the baseline expectations of a middle-class life.Speakers explore the evolving role of labor and how structural shifts over the 20th century laid the groundwork for today’s economic landscape — including the extent to which AI is a novel force reshaping our society. The discussion provides essential context for today’s leaders to understand their respective roles in forging a new social contract for the 21st century — a discussion that will continue in the second installment of the series: Work and the Social Contract in the Age of AI: Where do we go from here?This conversation was hosted by the Future of Work Initiative, an initiative of the Aspen Institute’s Economic Opportunities Program on September 23, 2026 — explores what drove this transformation, who bears its costs, and what it would take to reverse it.Our speakers include Joseph Blasi (Rutgers University), Chris Hyams (former CEO of Indeed), Marshall Kosloff (Niskanen Center), Liba Wenig Rubenstein (Future of Work Initiative, The Aspen Institute), and Erica Smiley (Jobs with Justice).For more information about this event, including a transcript, speaker bios, and additional resources, visit our website. For highlights from this discussion, subscribe to our YouTube channel. Or subscribe to our podcast to listen on the go.This event is part of our Opportunity in America series.
- Sep 15, 20261h 0m
Disposable Workers: A Book Talk with MIT Sloan Professor Paul Osterman
This event took place on Wednesday, September 9, 2026
- Sep 8, 202636 min
How Tax Policy Can Help Employers Expand Access to Learning
Many employers want to help workers build new skills, advance into better jobs, and meet evolving business needs, but the systems designed to support employer-provided education benefits can be difficult to navigate. Longstanding tax policies like Section 127 and Section 132 offer employers important tools for expanding access to education and training, yet outdated limits and administrative confusion can prevent these benefits from reaching the workers who could use them most.In this interview, Chelsea Miller of Upskill America speaks with Nick Greif of InStride about how employers can design education benefits that are more accessible, strategic, and aligned with workforce goals. Their conversation covers changes coming to Section 127 in 2027, how employers can think about related tax policies, common misconceptions about education benefit programs, and practical ways to build programs that support both business needs and workers’ economic mobility.
- Sep 2, 20261h 0m
Metrics that Matter: Improving Financial Analysis of CDFI Small Business Lenders
CDFI boards, leadership teams, investors, and regulators have long relied on a familiar set of financial metrics to assess organizational performance. While measures such as delinquency, loan loss rates, self-sufficiency, and net asset ratios remain important, they often provide an incomplete picture of how effectively a CDFI small business lender is deploying capital, managing risk, serving its target market, and positioning itself for long-term sustainability. In the present moment, navigating the most effective strategies and solutions is more important than ever. This session — hosted by the the Aspen Institute’s Business Ownership Initiative on August 26, 2026 — explores an emerging framework that seeks to move beyond compliance-oriented reporting toward a more integrated view of organizational performance. Participants examine how decisions related to risk, pricing, capitalization, deployment, and operating costs influence both mission outcomes and financial strength and discuss what metrics may better support real-time decision-making for leadership teams, boards, funders, and investors.Our speakers include BOI Senior Director Joyce Klein and Aspen Institute Senior Fellow Brett Simmons, principal at Blue Aster Advising.For more information about this event, including a transcript, speaker bios, and additional resources, visit our website. For highlights from this discussion, subscribe to our YouTube channel. Or subscribe to our podcast to listen on the go.
- Aug 25, 202658 min
The Impact of Foundational Skills on Workforce Success
Foundational skills — including literacy, math, digital fluency, and English language proficiency — are critical elements for a thriving workforce. Yet, gaps in these essential skills stall employee growth and corporate goals alike.This conversation — hosted by UpSkill America and Lumina Foundation on August 18, 2026 — offers an exclusive look into how innovative employers are turning this challenge into an opportunity. Drawing on early insights from our forthcoming national landscape analysis, this conversation explores the practical impact of foundational skill gaps and highlights the cutting-edge solutions leading companies are deploying to bridge them.Our speakers include Della Adams (Tyson Foods), Quentin Bradley (Ochsner Health), Joe Dunlap (CJK Group), Georgia Reagan (Lumina Foundation), and moderator Chelsea Miller (UpSkill America).For more information about this event, including a transcript, speaker bios, and additional resources, visit our website. For highlights from this discussion, subscribe to our YouTube channel. Or subscribe to our podcast to listen on the go.
- Aug 3, 202659 min
The Necessity of Employee-Centered Strategies: A Book Talk with Steve Dawson and Jerry Rubin
We are living through a moment of profound uncertainty about the future of work. Rapid advances in artificial intelligence are raising urgent questions about which jobs will survive, which will be transformed, and which will disappear entirely. Yet amid all the speculation, one thing is already clear: millions of Americans are working jobs that do not pay enough, do not offer stability, and do not provide a real path forward. And businesses — in health care, child care, hospitality, food service and other large employment sectors — seek to hire even more people into such jobs.In their new book, “Help Wanted: How To Find and Keep Talent in a Forever-Tight Labor Market,” authors Steve Dawson and Jerry Rubin argue that demographic realities, including an aging population, slowing growth, and declining workforce participation, mean the competition for workers is structural and long-term, not a temporary blip. Rather than treating workers as a cost to be minimized, they argue that investing in people is now a competitive necessity, and they introduce readers to business leaders who are redesigning jobs, recruiting differently, and partnering with workforce organizations to attract and retain the talent their businesses depend on.This conversation — hosted by the Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program on July 29, 2026 — goes beyond the employer-competitiveness frame to ask harder questions: How can we redesign work to maximize the value of all workers? How can businesses organize and advocate on behalf of their workforces? What barriers keep businesses from changing practice? And what role can policy, philanthropy, and workforce intermediaries play in redesigning work at scale?Our speakers include Dawson, Rubin, and moderator Maureen Conway, a vice president at the Aspen Institute and executive director of the Economic Opportunities Program.For more information about this event, including a transcript, speaker bios, and additional resources, visit our website. This event is part of our Opportunity in America series.For highlights from this discussion, subscribe to our YouTube channel. Or subscribe to our podcast to listen on the go.
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About The Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program — Events and Interviews
The Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program advances strategies, policies, and ideas to help low- and moderate-income people thrive in a changing economy. This podcast features audio from our events, webinars, interviews, and other conversations.
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