Levy Scholars Claudio H. Dos Santos, Gennaro Zezza, and Michalis Nikiforos sit down in this episode to discuss the life and legacy of one of the Institute's Distinguished Scholars, Wynne Godley (1926-2010).

This episode serves as part of the Levy at 40 Series. In 2026, the Levy Economics Institute marks the 40th anniversary of its founding. For four decades, the Institute has advanced independent economic research, shaped policy debates, and moved beyond the boundaries of mainstream economic thinking.

In the months ahead we will share new and archival content reflecting on the ideas, research, and scholars that have shaped the Institute’s work over the past 40 years.

Further reading on the work of Wynne Godley:

• "Seven Unsustainable Processes: Medium-term Prospects and Policies for the United States and the World," by Wynne Godley
• "Debt and Lending: A Cri de Coeur," by Wynne Godley and Gennaro Zezza
• "The US Economy amid Rising Global Uncertainty," by Dimitri B. Papadimitriou, Giuliano Toshiro Yajima, and Gennaro Zezza
• Monetary Economics: An Integrated Approach to Credit, Money, Income, Production and Wealth, by Wynne Godley and Marc Lavoie

In this episode, Levy Research Scholar Aashima Sinha sits down with University of Massachusetts Amherst Professor Emerita and Levy Senior Scholar Nancy Folbre to discuss how feminist economics is reshaping our understanding of well-being, care, and inequality—from new measures that value household production to the challenges of integrating gender and care work into macroeconomics. They discuss fiscal and political barriers to gender-equitable policy, major data gaps (and efforts to fix them), and how patriarchy and capitalism reinforce each other across global contexts.

Further reading:

• Integrating Nonmarket Consumption into the Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Expenditure Survey, by A. Zacharias, F. Rios-Avila, N. Folbre, and T. Masterson
• The Care Board, University of Kansas
• A Data Infrastructure for Measuring the Care Economy, National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine
• "Unmasking Hidden Poverty in America: The Role of Time Deficits," by A. Zacharias, F. Rios-Avila, T. Masterson, and A. Sinha
• "Measuring Care: Gender, Empowerment, and the Care Economy," by N. Folbre

Applications for the Levy Institute Graduate Programs in Economic Theory and Policy are open. For more information and to start your application, please visit: https://www.bard.edu/levygrad/. The early decision deadline to apply is January 15, 2026. The regular decision deadline is April 15, 2026.

*International Student should apply by March 15th to allow time for securing a visa.*

All applicants are eligible for financial aid. Financial aid is awarded based on each individual's merits and accomplishments both inside and outside the classroom.

Culminating in a 2024 report, the Levy Institute (Zacharias, Rios-Avila, Folbre, and Masterson) conducted research commissioned by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) to develop a methodology to integrate home production (unpaid household labor like cooking, cleaning, and caring for children) into the BLS measure of household consumption. Senior Scholar Ajit Zacharias and Research Associate İpek Ilkkaracan sit down to discuss this research and its potential applications in the US and abroad.

Applications for the Levy Institute Graduate Programs in Economic Theory and Policy are open. For more information and to start your application, please visit: https://www.bard.edu/levygrad/. The deadline to apply is April 15, 2025.

Further reading:

• Integrating Nonmarket Consumption into the Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Expenditure Survey, by A. Zacharias, F. Rios-Avila, N. Folbre, and T. Masterson