our economics correspondent paul solman has more. it's part of our weekly series "making sense," which airs thursdays on the newshour. >> the united states is going down a path. it's a path of class stratification, growing inequality. and the consequences of that are more potentially damaging than i think most people appreciate. >> reporter: in a provocative atlantic magazine cover story," the birth of a new aristocracy" author and philosopher matthew stewart argues growing class division is destabilizing our society. >> so it turns out that the concentration of wealth in the united states has really been focused on the top 0.1 percent, not the top one percent. but that doesn't mean that everybody below them lost money. in fact only the bottom 90 percent did. so there's this group in between, the 9.9% that havep managed to kce. osey play a very important role in on the one handively running the economy, on the other hand basically setting up lebarriers that prevent pe from below to realize the ameran dream. >> reporter: so how much w

that's the focus of tonight's "making sense" story with paul solman as our guide. >> reporter: so your book is about the value of education and particularly the education of women. >> and that's the new wealth of nations. >> reporter: and you're his wife and an academic. >> who came up with the title of the book! >> reporter: indian economist surjit bhalla and his wife, sociologist ravinder kaur, in the u.s. recently to spread the message of "the new wealth of nations." >> the key thesis of the book is that education and the spread of education has transformed the world and has transformed relationships, inequalities between countries and finally and most importantly between the sexes. >> reporter: and the cost, what's the cost? >> the cost is that people in the west are going to lose out relative to the people in the east, the east meaning the rest of the world the west meaning the advanced countries. what happens when the world is filled with everybody graduating from high school. then the western people will lose their advantage over the rest of the world. >> reporter: so that's why

>> may. >> reporter: for the pbs newshour in austin texas, this is paul solman, sticking to my tv economi career-- at least for now. >> woodruff: next, we turn to another installment of our weekly brief but spectacular series, where we ask peopleth abour passions. tonight, in honor of l.g.b.t.q. pride month, we hear from youtube contributor, jackson bird. hosts the podcast "transmission" and creates videos for transgender people and r everyone to better understand the transgender community. >> i think it can be difficult for people to wrap their heads around gender, specifically cisgender people whose gender identity is congruent with the one assigned to them at birth. it can be difficult for them because they never had to question their gender, which is astonishing to those of us who are trans because we spend so much of our time questioningnd and thinking about in an existential way and wondering why is gender, and what is gender, and how did this happen? when i was 25, i came out as transgender, which means basically i came out as a guy. when i say that i'm a transgender man, what that

affecting the prices of .electricity in some plac and that's where our economics correspondent, paul solman, comes in to help expin these connections, part of our weekly series, "making sense." >> reporter: bucolic plattsburgh, new york, 20 miles from the canadian border. it sure doesn't look like ground zero for gold rush. but in this mall alone, cryptocurrency prosptors have installed thousands of ming machines--small computers that gobble energy-- just find new cryptocoins, in a vacated space behind the family dollar store. and it's all because plattsburgh hes dirt cheap electric rates. the invasion hasocals up in arms. >> these guys that are mining bitcoins are riding into town, taking advantage of the situation. >> reporter: and the situation, it turns out: plattsburgh is the klondike of new york. that's because the cost of mining is all in the cost of energy. as mayor colin read says... s plattsburgh has some of the lowest energy cost the world. >> reporter: that's because this is hydroelectric land, where dams power mills like this one last century. these days, electricity rates in p

. >> woodruff: for those stations sustaying witeconomics correspondent paul solman re-introduces us tousiness and arts venture that unique, to say the least. here is his reprise report from santa fe new mexico. >er> repo: new mexico's economy tumbled head over heels d08uring the crash ofand has pretty much frozen for the decade since it hit bottom. >e > so, this is use of eternal return. >> reporter: return on investment? >> well, maybe. >> hello, welcome to our house. >> reporter: and maybe even a small step towards the return of the new mexico economy, says vince kadloobek: so, it melted or something. >> yes. >> reporter: if, that is, this mystery funhouse filled with portals to other time/space dimensions should reaze its ambition of becoming the next bnttainnt, llowg lead of the rain room at new york's museum of modern art, say, toronto's lost and found escape room, or the crystal universe in singapore. >> it perfectly expresses the type of artwork that iming wildly popular around the country. instead of walking up to a painting, you actually let audiences walk inside ohe painting.