An Unusually Wonky Conversation With Elizabeth Warren

<p>One lesson of covering policy over the past 20 years is that whatever Elizabeth Warren is thinking about now is what Washington is going to be talking about next.</p><p>So when I read Senator Warren’s new book,<a href="https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250799241"> “Persist,”</a> I read it with an eye toward that question: Where is Warren trying to drive the policy debate next? And two answers emerged. First, toward a truly pro-family progressivism, one that puts children’s well-being and care at the center of the agenda. And second, toward a view of inequality that puts wealth, not income, first, and builds a whole different set of economic priorities atop that analysis.</p><p>Warren was a policy wonk before she was a politician, and that’s the kind of conversation we had here. We discuss the drivers of the rising costs of child care, the stagnation in women’s labor force participation, whether universal day care discriminates against stay-at-home parents, Warren’s plan for fixing America’s housing crisis, whether billionaires are a policy failure, the distributional effects of canceling $50,000 in student debt, the social philosophy behind Warren’s tax proposals, how markets can be channeled toward progressive ends, the coming technologies that excite Warren, and much more.</p><p>Book recommendations: </p><p><a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/636264/heart-of-fire-by-mazie-k-hirono/">Heart of Fire</a> by Mazie Hirono</p><p><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Before-Coffee-Gets-Toshikazu-Kawaguchi/dp/1529029589">Before the Coffee Gets Cold</a> by Toshikazu Kawaguchi</p><p><a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/bookseries/B00CJJNMBO/ref=dp_st_0399150528">John Rain Book Series</a> by Barry Eisler </p><p>Thoughts? Guest suggestions? Email us at ezrakleinshow@nytimes.com</p><p>The Ezra Klein Show  is produced by Roge Karma, Jeff Geld and Annie Galvin; fact-checking by Michelle Harris; original music by Isaac Jones; mixing by Jeff Geld.</p>