Backstory: Loren Brandt on Labor Force Participation and Structural Change

In this episode, Riccardo interviews Loren Brandt about the paper “Labor Force Participation and Structural Change,” coauthored with Chaoran Chen and Xiaoyun Wei. Loren reflects on his journey into research and academia, from his early work on China’s economy to the broader questions that have guided his career. He explains what it takes to build a coherent research agenda and why he found academia the best path for exploring the questions that interest him.