During this political season, you probably have heard the statistic that women typically earn about 77 cents for every dollar a man makes.  The President even mentioned this during his recent State of the Union address.  But is it really true?

The behavioral-economics authors at Freakanomics have a podcast that explores this subject in depth.  If you want to follow the political ramifications, I strongly recommend it.  You can find the podcast and a transcript at http://freakonomics.com/2016/01/07/the-true-story-of-the-gender-pay-gap-a-new-freakonomics-radio-podcast/

In case you don’t have time to listen to the podcast, I’ll be happy to summarize it for you — it’s complicated.