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The headlines during the pandemic spoke of a Great Resignation. And millions of “missing jobs.” And a mass and permanent exodus of women from the workforce. But during the pandemic, things weren’t always what they first appeared to be.

Some thought the 20 million jobs lost in the first month of the COVID-19 lockdowns was the start of a brutal downturn. But labor markets somehow quickly bounced back. In this overview, we examine fears that weren’t realized and changes that look lasting.

Federal Reserve Bank of Boston senior economist and policy advisor Paul S. Willen, co-author of the 2023 working paper “House Prices and Rents in the 21st Century,” discusses key ways that the housing booms of the 2000s and 2020s differ. 

Boston Fed economist Bo Zhao discusses the potential financial impacts of climate change in New England, including projections from his report, “The Effects of Weather on Massachusetts Municipal Expenditures: Implications of Climate Change for Local Governments in New England.”

The Boston Fed’s chief of information security, Anjan Bagchee, is constantly monitoring the growing ransomware threat. Bagchee discusses the increasing sophistication of the attacks, their economic implications, and how organizations can protect themselves. 

The nation’s child-care sector is in crisis because affordable, high-quality care is so hard to find. But this care is even more scarce for those who don’t work 9-to-5. In a bonus episode, we hear from four moms and get insight from Boston Fed expert Sarah Savage.

Researchers say even in high-crime areas, it’s usually just a few streets segments causing the problems. And they say that focusing on lowering crime in these areas of “concentrated disadvantage” can have a major impact on closing racial disparities.

There’s agreement on the need to close racial disparities, but it’s fair to ask if solutions are even possible in today’s polarized environment. So we did. Georgetown’s Harry Holzer and Brown’s Glenn Loury discuss racism, narratives, and backlash.

The country’s sharp geographic segregation is fueling racial disparities, and our racist past has helped create divides. But researchers say a voluntary phenomenon called “racial sorting” may be playing an underappreciated role.

Racial disparities in wealth are jarringly sharp. Asians and whites are the nation’s highest-wealth groups, and they are trailed significantly by Hispanics and Blacks. Closing wealth gaps is a priority, but the gaps are both complex and controversial.

Disparities in academic achievement across racial groups exist at all levels, and they aren’t closing. No one really knows how to narrow the gaps, which defy easy diagnosis. But experts say that even if there aren’t “silver bullets,” there is hope.

The nation’s enduring racial disparities are highly politicized and emotional. Some say racism entirely explains the gaps. Others say that’s too narrow – numerous factors are at play. In this overview, we discuss what’s at stake as these gaps persist.

Racial disparities in the U.S. have persisted for decades – in wealth, in education, in crime, in neighborhoods. Their impacts are profound, their causes hotly debated. This season, we seek insight in research, data, and a mix of perspectives.

Susan M. Collins talks about taking over as president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston during a busy time for the Bank and an important and challenging time for the Federal Reserve.

The Boston Fed’s Prabal Chakrabarti is helping direct a new 3-year research effort into racial wealth disparities in Massachusetts. He discusses the project’s ambitious aims and how it expands on the Bank’s impactful “The Color of Wealth” report. 

The focus across the Federal Reserve System is curbing inflation, which just hit a 40-year high. Evidence of inflation’s effects on consumers is everywhere – in the media, in stores, at gas stations, and beyond. That’s made Americans increasingly aware of rising inflation, and according to a new study published by the Boston Fed, that can make it more difficult to rein it in. Boston Fed Senior economist Jenny Tang is co-author of the paper called “Inflation Levels and (In)attention,” which looks at the ways inflation can be affected by how much attention people pay to it. In the latest episode of Six Hundred Atlantic, Tang speaks about how different levels of attention can influence everything from what kind of mortgage a person chooses to whether they think it’s a good time to go appliance shopping.

Season 2 of Six Hundred Atlantic looked at a broken child care sector, including hopes the pandemic would trigger reform by highlighting child care’s problems and importance. In a bonus episode, experts Beth Mattingly and Tom Weber discuss the evolving crisis.

Something is different these days in the push for child care reform. There’s momentum. Some say right now is the best window for reform in decades. But others are skeptical, citing its massive costs and a spending-weary public.

The American ideal once saw women at home, while men went to work. But cultural expectations have changed, and for many women that’s not possible or desirable. Still, women say the child care system hasn’t adjusted, and they bear the brunt of its problems.

Steep child care costs matter, and not just to the parents who pay them. Those fees are also the sector’s main source of revenue. Advocates see this as one of the system’s major flaws, and they say parents, providers, and workers all suffer for it.