America’s unemployment rate is holding at a 17-year low, but Harvard University professor Edward Glaeser suggests a deeper look. Where only 5% of “prime age” men between 25 and 54 were jobless in 1967, the proportion is 15% today despite a far healthier economy. The problem stems in part, he says, from public policies creating incentive not to work, from unemployment benefits and food stamps to disability insurance and housing vouchers.

Glaeser examines the issue and how to address this “war on work” and its fallout, pushing for the reform of social programs, new forms of vocational training, and entrepreneurial stimulation – among other things, making it easier for small businesses to open and operate in low-income areas.

Glaeser teaches microeconomics theory and urban and public economics at Harvard. Co-presented by the Show-Me Institute.