Episode 683: Corinne Low, PhD
September 11th, 2026
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A Woman’s Economic Toolkit for a Happier Life
Is it true that divorced moms actually do less housework than married moms? Is there an optimal time for women to pause their careers to start a family? How can you tell by the third date whether or not your relationship is a good deal?
Dr. Corinne Low is a professor of public policy and economics at the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. Her book, Having It All: What Data Tells Us About Women's Lives and Getting the Most Out of Yours, provides a roadmap for optimizing your resources and maximizing your satisfaction in life, whether it be with your career or your family.
Corinne and Greg discuss the problems modern women face in the workplace and at home, the economic tools women can apply to make the most out of what they’ve got, and the importance of strategically picking a romantic partner. They also unpack the million dollar question with profound social implications: Why are women still expected to do the majority of the housework?
*unSILOed Podcast is produced by University FM.*
Episode Quotes:
Women can earn more and still do more housework
28:00: In my data, I will see couples, and we focused on couples who are hourly workers 'cause otherwise people would say, "Well, men just have jobs that are more inflexible, and women have these more flexible jobs, so that's why women end up doing more of the housework." But if we zoom in on couples where they're both hourly workers, and I could go to a couple where she is earning four times what he earns per hour, okay? And she does more than twice as much housework, and he works more hours than she does, and she works fewer hours. So that couple, if he would take on some of the domestic load and she could, in the modal couple here, she's like a healthcare worker, so if she could pick up a shift as a nurse, the couple would be richer. It would loosen their economic constraints. What is stopping them? And yes, I have to think it's these deeply ingrained gender norms about what roles do we learn in our natal households? How do we feel like we're contributing?
Optimize for the life you actually want
03:57: We're all facing scarcity. But if you figure out what your utility function is and you figure out what constraints you're facing, you can solve for a life that meets your needs, fulfills you, enriches you, and provides you all sorts of amazing opportunities. But that does sometimes mean being selective and not trying to go for the maximum of everything everywhere all at once.
Is there a perfect time to have a child?
41:30: Having a child is such an important life decision and is going to be, ultimately, such a larger source of utility than your career for people who do choose to become parents, that you should do that when works for your family, right? I think you should be strategic about all the infrastructure you build around when you do that, but I don't think that you should try to be perfectly strategic about when you do it.
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