Barbara Kiviat

Recent articles

Losing a Home Because of the Pandemic Is Hard Enough. How Long Should It Haunt You?
The New York Times

How the Equifax Hack Could Hurt Anyone Applying for a Job
TheAtlantic.com

TIME Magazine cover stories

The Case Against Homeownership
Buying a house is supposed to make us better citizens, better investors and better off. But that American dream may well be a fantasy.

How to Create a Job
The worst recession in generations torpedoed 8.4 million jobs. Getting them back means understanding what makes the economy tick.

Select TIME Magazine feature stories

Below the Line
For a decade, the ranks of the poor have been rising. Debunking myths about poverty in America could help change that.

Real Estate’s Fault Line
Overbuilt and overleveraged, metro Denver typifies the mortgage massacre that has buckled U.S. home prices and roiled stock markets across the globe.

Can Microfinance Make It in America?
With credit tight, now seems like the right time to reach the ‘unbanked’ in the U.S. But money isn’t everything.

Bismarck: The Town the Recession Missed

Jobs Are the New Assets

Let’s Get Serious About Housing
Washington says it wants to help homeowners, but so far it hasn’t. Here’s what might actually work.

Reassessing Risk
Wall Street failed spectacularly in managing it. A new approach is emerging.

The Big Trouble in Small Loans
As large banks pile into microfinance, will profits get ahead of people?

Sewn in the U.S.A.
Wage costs forced most clothing makers abroad. Brooks Brother’ tie factory makes the case for staying local.

Wake Up and Sell the Coffee
Howard Schultz is back at the helm of Starbucks and trying to put a jolt into the company that turned coffee into an iconic brand.

They Really Do Own the Road
Loaded with investor cash, companies are buying leases of public highways, bridges and tunnels from states desperately trying to improve infrastructure. Cue the backlash.

Gentle Ben
The man who holds the reins of the economy likes to listen. Now hear what he has to say.

The (Surprising) Case for Renting

The End of Management?
With experimental markets, workers are betting on their company’s future-- and moving in on the boss’s domain.

10 Questions for John Bogle

10 Questions for Kanye West

Postcard: Oakdale

Postcard: Omaha

Postcard: Coney Island

Select TIME.com stories

The Curious Capitalist blog posts

The Real Problem with Credit Cards: The Cardholders

How to Understand a Trillion-Dollar Deficit

Green Shoots: The Trouble with Economic Metaphors

Why Are Economists So Bad At Forecasting?

Greenspan Makes Grown Men Gush

The Census Games: Groups Gear Up to Be Counted

Should the Census Be Asking People If They Are Negro?

After Layoffs, There’s Survivor’s Guilt

Select freelance work

The CFPB Is Making Government More Accountable. The GOP Wants to Stop It.
WashingtonMonthly.com

The Big Jobs Myth: American Workers Aren't Ready for American Jobs
TheAtlantic.com

Going Shopping? How You Pay Can Affect How Much You Spend.
ConsumerReports.com

The "Success" of Workfare When Jobs are Scarce
Reuters.com

Is Microfinance the New Subprime?
HarvardBusinessReview.org

New York’s New J-School
The Chronicle of Higher Education

College Fund Blues
Fortune magazine

Afterword to American Realities, by photographer Joakim Eskildsen