Office Hours Podcast Tackles Trump Era Economic Policy in Real Time

The headlines arrive faster than most economists can process them: sweeping tariffs announced, federal agencies restructured, international agreements abandoned, debt ceilings debated. For the third season of Office Hours, the Heller-Hurwicz Economics Institute decided to lean into the chaos rather than away from it.

"We're focusing on the policy priorities of the second Trump administration, and how research can inform our understanding of our rapidly changing economic environment," the podcast announced at the start of its latest season—a departure from previous seasons' broader explorations of economic research.

The ten-episode season functioned as a real-time economic policy seminar, bringing University of Minnesota economists into conversation with Chris Farrell, senior economics contributor at Minnesota Public Radio, as major policy shifts unfolded. The result is a timely exploration of how rigorous economic research can illuminate—and sometimes challenge—the policy  transformations reshaping the American economy.

Trading Certainty for Urgency

The season opened in May with what would become one of the administration's signature issues: trade policy. In "The End of the Free Trade Era," economists Tim Kehoe and Chris Phelan offered contrasting perspectives on the president's approach to trade, setting the tone for a season willing to explore disagreement alongside analysis.

Subsequent episodes tracked the administration's policy rollout with immediacy. When concerns about Federal Reserve independence intensified, Office Hours brought in former Minneapolis Federal Reserve President Gary Stern and former Director of Research Art Rolnick to discuss checks, balances, and central bank autonomy. As inflation debates continued, VV Chari explored lessons from recent monetary policy alongside the potential impact of new tariff policies.

The podcast's responsiveness became especially evident in its eighth episode, recorded as Congress debated what would become the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. "Health policy sits at the center for much of America's recent political gridlock, including the current shutdown of the federal government," the episode noted, bringing Assistant Professor Anran Li into conversation about how shifting insurance markets and policy incentives affect preventive care investments.

The Research Behind the Headlines

What distinguishes Office Hours from typical policy commentary is its grounding in academic research. Each episode connects current debates to rigorous economic analysis, often featuring work-in-progress from Minnesota faculty.

Department Chair Tom Holmes walked listeners through a new framework for understanding tariff impacts in "Plucking the Global Goose," drawing on his research to explore how trade barriers disproportionately affect intellectual property–driven businesses and brand-name companies. "What it means to 'pluck the goose' of global trade," the episode asked, "and what it takes to walk the line between efficiency and outrage."

Economist Hannes Malmberg tackled rising national debt in the context of demographic change, connecting Congressional Budget Office projections to his research that was presented at the Federal Reserve's Jackson Hole conference. The episode explored whether "current policies are setting us up for resilience or risk" as debt levels reach unprecedented peacetime heights.

Associate Professor Kyle Herkenhoff's episode on artificial intelligence examined whether AI adoption resembles "the gradual diffusion of computers—or a deeper, structural transformation more akin to the shift from horses to cars," connecting his research on labor markets to urgent questions about job displacement and wage impacts.

The season's most recent episode featured UMN alumna (PhD, ‘03) Professor Michèle Tertilt of University of Mannheim in Germany. Tertilt examined falling fertility rates and their economic implications. With United States fertility now well below replacement level, Tertilt explored how comparison motives—individuals shaping decisions based on peers' consumption and lifestyles—may be driving declining birth rates across advanced economies. The discussion addressed what this means for economic growth, fiscal stability, and programs like Social Security and Medicare, while considering policy responses from tax incentives to childcare expansion.

From Climate to China

The season did not shy from controversial territory. When the administration began systematically dismantling climate policy tools, economist Bob Litterman discussed what these changes could mean for identifying and mitigating climate-related economic and financial risks. "Since January 2025, the Trump administration has been leveraging federal power and resources to systematically dismantle the nation's tools to address climate change," the episode noted.

HHEI Director Kjetil Storesletten provided perspective on United States-China trade tensions, examining how China is "navigating the realignment of global trade relationships" as the world's two largest economies confront escalating friction.

Exponential Growth

Since the launch of Season 3, Office Hours has recorded more than 32,000 total plays across platforms, representing a 400 percent increase over Season 2. Average listens per episode increased from roughly 100–200 in the first two seasons to about 4,000 per episode. Including clips shared on YouTube Shorts, the podcast reached nearly 99,000 views.

According to HHEI Associate Director Hannah Fairman, the addition of video recordings and a more topical, policy-focused format in Season 3 contributed significantly to the podcast's 30 percent audience growth.

The top-performing episode, "The Trade War between the US and China: What's at Stake in the Decoupling," attracted more than 13,000 views. 

“When American companies invent something new and they can sell it at a market that’s twice as big, the value of inventing something new increases, and we’re going to put more effort into inventing new stuff,” Storesletten said during the podcast. “Closing off China is going to make the value of R&D smaller, so there’s going to be less R&D, and we’re going to grow slower.” 

Previous seasons explored topics from income inequality to sovereign debt, the minimum wage to China's economic transformation. But Season 3's real-time engagement with unfolding policy represents a distinctive approach—one that treats economic research not as retrospective analysis but as an essential tool for understanding rapid change as it happens.

As the administration continues reshaping economic policy across trade, fiscal, monetary, health, climate, and labor domains, Office Hours has positioned itself as a resource for understanding not just what is changing, but what economic research suggests about the likely consequences.

For economists and engaged citizens trying to make sense of a rapidly shifting policy landscape, the podcast offers something increasingly rare: careful analysis delivered with urgency, grounded in research but responsive to the moment.

Stay tuned to discover what economic insights we'll uncover during Season 4.