What are the key takeaways from this The Indicator episode?

Key insights include: **GLP-1 Employment Effect:** Harvard economist Rebecca Diamond found women who took GLP-1 drugs for weight loss saw a 26.9 percentage point increase in employment rates 18 months post-treatment, compared to similar women still waiting to begin treatment, suggesting a measurable "first impression obesity penalty" in hiring.; **NYC AI Office Boom:** AI companies have leased over 1 million square feet of New York City office space through mid-2025, already surpassing all of 2024's total. Office properties generate roughly 10% of NYC's tax revenue, making this boom a critical buffer against the commercial real estate doom loop.; **CEO Narcissism and RTO:** A study of 259 CEOs published in an organizational behavior journal found that leaders scoring higher on narcissism measures were statistically more likely to mandate full-time office returns, independent of productivity evidence, suggesting ego-driven decision-making shapes workplace policy for millions of workers.

What did Cooper Katz McKim discuss on The Indicator?

Three data-driven economics stories: a Harvard study linking GLP-1 weight-loss drugs to a 26.9-point employment rate jump for women, AI companies leasing over 1 million square feet of NYC office space in 2024, and CEO narcissism driving return-to-office mandates. Key topics include: **GLP-1 Employment Effect:** Harvard economist Rebecca Diamond found women who took GLP-1 drugs for weight loss saw a 26.9 percentage point increase in employment rates 18 months post-treatment, compared to similar women still waiting to begin treatment, suggesting a measurable "first impression obesity penalty" in hiring.; **NYC AI Office Boom:** AI companies have leased over 1 million square feet of New York City office space through mid-2025, already surpassing all of 2024's total. Office properties generate roughly 10% of NYC's tax revenue, making this boom a critical buffer against the commercial real estate doom loop..

How long is this episode of The Indicator?

This episode is 8 minutes long. SignalCast provides an AI-generated summary so you can get the key insights in about 3 minutes.

The Indicator

GLP-1 and women, the AI office boom, and RTO: CEO ego?

June 26, 2026

8 min episode · 2 min read

Cooper Katz McKim

Episode

8 min

Read time

2 min

Topics

Career Growth, Productivity, Remote Work

AI-Generated Summary

Published Jun 26, 2026

Key Takeaways

✓GLP-1 Employment Effect: Harvard economist Rebecca Diamond found women who took GLP-1 drugs for weight loss saw a 26.9 percentage point increase in employment rates 18 months post-treatment, compared to similar women still waiting to begin treatment, suggesting a measurable "first impression obesity penalty" in hiring.
✓NYC AI Office Boom: AI companies have leased over 1 million square feet of New York City office space through mid-2025, already surpassing all of 2024's total. Office properties generate roughly 10% of NYC's tax revenue, making this boom a critical buffer against the commercial real estate doom loop.
✓CEO Narcissism and RTO: A study of 259 CEOs published in an organizational behavior journal found that leaders scoring higher on narcissism measures were statistically more likely to mandate full-time office returns, independent of productivity evidence, suggesting ego-driven decision-making shapes workplace policy for millions of workers.
✓Hybrid Work Consensus: Emerging research consensus points to coordinated hybrid schedules of two to three in-office days per week as the productivity-maximizing model. Both fully remote and full-time in-office mandates show weaker outcomes, with RTO mandates specifically linked to morale drops and increased staff turnover.

What It Covers

Three data-driven economics stories: a Harvard study linking GLP-1 weight-loss drugs to a 26.9-point employment rate jump for women, AI companies leasing over 1 million square feet of NYC office space in 2024, and CEO narcissism driving return-to-office mandates.

Key Questions Answered

•GLP-1 Employment Effect: Harvard economist Rebecca Diamond found women who took GLP-1 drugs for weight loss saw a 26.9 percentage point increase in employment rates 18 months post-treatment, compared to similar women still waiting to begin treatment, suggesting a measurable "first impression obesity penalty" in hiring.
•NYC AI Office Boom: AI companies have leased over 1 million square feet of New York City office space through mid-2025, already surpassing all of 2024's total. Office properties generate roughly 10% of NYC's tax revenue, making this boom a critical buffer against the commercial real estate doom loop.
•CEO Narcissism and RTO: A study of 259 CEOs published in an organizational behavior journal found that leaders scoring higher on narcissism measures were statistically more likely to mandate full-time office returns, independent of productivity evidence, suggesting ego-driven decision-making shapes workplace policy for millions of workers.
•Hybrid Work Consensus: Emerging research consensus points to coordinated hybrid schedules of two to three in-office days per week as the productivity-maximizing model. Both fully remote and full-time in-office mandates show weaker outcomes, with RTO mandates specifically linked to morale drops and increased staff turnover.

Notable Moment

A city comptroller described NYC's AI-driven office revival as a freight train — framed positively — yet analysts simultaneously warned that tech stock dips could signal a bubble burst, potentially reversing all commercial real estate gains overnight.

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Episode Transcript

NPR. This is the indicator from Planet Money. I'm Waylon Wong. And I'm Darren Woods. And joining us today, a man who is cooler than the other side of the pillow, one Cooper Katz McKim. Yay. Thank you for having me. Yes. I'm wearing three fedoras right now, if you can't see. Cooler than cool. Now, Cooper, you're here right on time because today is Indigo's Day of the Week. It's the day of the week where we talk about our favorite numbers from the news. And today, we're covering GLP ones and women's employment. Office space in in New York City, so hot right now. And is your CEO a narcissist? All of that after the break. This message comes from LinkedIn. Owning a small business comes with a lot of challenges and means juggling multiple things at once. It's even harder to do it efficiently. But with LinkedIn, you get all the tools you need to grow in one place. With LinkedIn, simplify your sales, marketing, and hiring so that you can actually run your small business. Learn more at linkedin.com/indicatorshow. This message comes from Capella University. You know that feeling when there's a spark building inside you that you were meant for more? That's your own drive pushing you towards what's next. Capella University gets that. With their FlexPath learning format, you can set the pace and earn your degree without putting life on pause. You've built experience and know what you're capable of. Now this is your time to turn that momentum into more. The only real question is, what can't you do? Learn more at capella.edu. It's indicators of the week. Whelan Wong, why don't you go first? My indicator is 26.9 percentage points. That is the increase in the employment rate for women who are not working and then take GLP ones to lose weight. And this number comes from a new working paper by Harvard economist, Rebecca Diamond. 27 percentage points. That's quite a result. Yeah. I mean, the numbers definitely made a lot of waves among economists this week, and there was some online debate about whether, you know, these numbers are too high. Okay. So how did Rebecca get to this number? So she used a dataset of about 10,000 US residents, and she studied two groups. One is women who have started taking a GLP one to lose weight. The other is women who wanna start taking a GLP one but have not yet done so. These two groups are otherwise similar in terms of their income, employment status, their body mass before treatment, and some other factors. And so I I guess the issue is whether or not there are kind of unmeasurable factors that might mean that the women that end up going on these GLP ones are different from the ones who didn't. Yeah. I mean and this was not like a randomized control trial. Right? This was two groups of women who have self selected to …

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