On this week's episode, we talk to Jim Sullivan. Professor Sullivan is the Gilbert F. Schaefer College Professor of Economics at Notre Dame.  He has been a visiting scholar at the National Poverty Center and a visiting professor at the University of Chicago, Harris School. His research examines the consumption, saving, and borrowing behavior of poor households, and how welfare and tax policy affects the well-being of the poor. In 2012, with fellow Notre Dame Professor William Evans, Professor Sullivan founded the Wilson Sheehan Lab for Economic Opportunities (LEO). LEO is a research center that works with service providers to identify effective and replicable solutions to reduce poverty in America. Our conversation discusses economics as a social engineering tool and we try to understand where does economics go right, where is it doing okay, and where can economics do better.  For more on Jim's work visit his Google Scholar Page For more information about LEO  Music sampled from Outkast- SpottieOttieDopaliscious