Economics

While the world still debates whether President Barack Obama's Nobel Peace Prize was handed out prematurely, a curious thing happened: An American woman became the first woman to receive the Nobel Prize for economics.

You'd think, certainly hope, that we've come to a point in time when hearing the first woman this and the first woman that had just about run its course. This isn't true, of course. Just ask Hillary Clinton, who had a good shot at becoming the first woman U.S. president before the Obama campaign took off in a big way. Still, when the Nobel prize for economics was announced today and we learned that Elinor Ostrom, an Indiana University political science professor, became the first woman to win the economics prize, it was kind of surprising that she was the first woman to win it, no? Read More »

In the midst of a free-falling economy, four mothers open up their hearts (and wallets) to share their families' money issues.

Drowning in Debt
by Deborah Copaken Kogan

In spring of 1995, when our first child was born, my husband and I were swimming down the river of our lives, heads held high. We owned a small apartment. We were paying off our student loans. We went out to dinner on occasion and put money in a 401(k). We believed in the American dream.

Today, no longer the owners of anything except our fraying furniture and clothes, we are drowning. In fact, I'm squeezing in the writing of this essay between searching for a cheaper rental for our family of five, dealing with my first cavity in 42 years of having teeth, and applying for a job in finance—yes, me, an Emmy Award–winning journalist with two decades of experience under my belt. Or, actually, I'll take a job in any field that offers good health and dental benefits and doesn't involve the trading of sex for money—although really, why set limits?

Related: The Real Cost of Having a Baby

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