“When I was in college at Amherst, my father asked me a favor: to take ...” — Edmund Phelps Quote

When I was in college at Amherst, my father asked me a favor: to take one course in economics. I loved it - for the challenge of its mysteries.

For decades, my research was driven by outstanding problems in macroeconomics: mainly growth theory and employment theory.

The difficulties of many European countries derive from their corporatism: state projects serving cronies and vast social protection programmes, both run by elites. These surged in the 1970s and 1980s.

I'm hoping that the administration and other thought leaders will succeed eventually in bringing the country back to the older idea that the American dream is having a career, getting a job, and getting involved in it, and doing well. That was the core of the good life.

Because I'm a woman, and I'm petite and blonde, you wouldn't believe how often I'm asked to model the clothes.

I cried most days working on the first draft. The last scenes were the hardest. I had a feeling where I wanted to end - the exact note - but I couldn't see how to get there. Sarah Murphy, my editor, asked the right questions to help me. I think of 'The Bear' as a hopeful book.

For an hour every day, I did something. I was on the elliptical or the treadmill, and if someone asked me to go to a class - whether it was spinning, boxing, yoga, you name it - I went. By the end of the month, I felt so good, I just kept going. I didn't want to lose my momentum.

When I'm asked to define football, I always talk about emotions, the heart, love. It's something you feel deep down inside when you enter a stadium, raise your eyes, and look at the stands, the fans coming in.