This week Aspen Institute Radio features highlights of some of the latest sessions from around the institute. Today’s episode includes a conversation with Walmart’s Kathleen McLaughlin on expanding economic opportunities for retail workers, a discussion of architecture with the late Zaha Hadid at CityLab: London, and a chat with former U.S. Secretary of State Madeline Albright on designing an economic plan for the Middle East’s refugee crisis.
Aspen Institute Radio, our two-hour radio show, airs every Saturday and Sunday on SiriusXM Insight (channel 121). Each episode dives into the topics that inform the world around us. Here in our weekly Listen Longer posts, we’ll recap each episode and show where you can read, watch, and listen to more. Don’t have SiriusXM? Try it for free for a month here.
Reimagine Retail: A Conversation with Kathleen McLaughlin and Walter Isaacson
Retail has long been one of the most influential industries in the United States. Currently the retail industry employs more than 15 million people, and even with economic changes, such as the rise of online shopping, it is projected to continue growing. Because it employs such a large portion of the American workforce, even small changes in the retail industry have immense potential to help expand opportunities for low- and moderate-income workers. What can the retail industry, related industries, nonprofits, philanthropy, and other members of the private sector do to enhance economic opportunities?
Zaha Hadid at CityLab 2015
At CityLab 2015 in London, Zaha Hadid discusses her favorite cities, how she would design a city, emerging ideas in architecture, and more.
Designing an Economic Plan for the Middle East’s Refugee Crisis (feat. Madeleine K. Albright)
This discussion offered practical recommendations around the key components of what a long-term economic plan for Syrian refugees and Syrian refugee-hosting countries in the region might look like including: proposals to enable refugee-hosting countries to remove barriers that prevent refugees from accessing job opportunities and other essential resources such as health, support for small enterprise development to create jobs both for local host communities and refugees, a plan to harness the commitment of international financial institutions and business leaders to invest in the region’s economic recovery and growth, as well as increase education access and vocational training.
