Carrie Leana, George H. Love Professor of Organizations and Management in the Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business, recently spoke about her research on financial precarity at the Aspen Institute Ideas Festival in Aspen, Colorado. 

The nation’s premier public gathering place for leaders from around the globe and across many disciplines, the Aspen Ideas Festival presents discussions on cutting-edge ideas and issues that shape and challenge the times.

“Many of the conversations are about public policy,” said Leana. “It’s an opportunity to influence and be informed by leading policymakers, practitioners, and other academics, and to put research findings into the hands of those who can make real change.”

The “Aspen Ideas: Health” track explored challenges in medicine, science, and global health. Leana’s topic, “A Living Wage Buys Health,” was informed by her research that ties financial worries to impacts on health and workplace productivity. 

“Health and financial precarity go hand in hand,” said Leana. “The financially precarious tend to be less happy, less healthy and die younger than their less precarious counterparts.”

The Aspen Institute is an educational and policy studies organization with a mission to foster leadership based on enduring values and to provide a nonpartisan venue for dealing with critical issues.