wOw: Women’s sports has never caught on as a business. Any idea why?

Nocera: I wish I knew. I am a huge fan of the UConn women’s basketball team — I love the way good women’s basketball teams play the game the way it should be played: unselfishly and below the rim. But the pro game, even with the backing of the NBA, is still a marginal sport. And women’s soccer — where the American national team is as good as any in the world and which captured the country’s imagination some years ago — has also never caught on as a pro sport. Maybe there is something about women playing for money — as opposed as for the love of sport — that subconsciously turns off sports fans. It’s a shame, because the WNBA is really fun basketball to watch.

wOw: Where does women’s wealth go?

Nocera: So much wealth is now going into foundations and causes, and that is especially true of women’s wealth. To over-generalize greatly, wealthy women seem less interested than men in buying yachts and fancy cars and other such "look-at-how-rich-I-am" toys, and more interested in using their money to make the world a better place. Environmental causes, it seems to me, are near and dear to the hearts of many wealthy women.