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The US has just overcome one abrupt spike in inflation, which may have cost Kamala Harris her bid for the presidency. But now President-elect Donald Trump's policy agenda threatens to cause another one. That's according to Larry Summers, the former US Treasury Secretary and President Emeritus of Harvard University. He speaks to the FT's Martin Wolf – who is standing in for Soumaya Keynes while she is on maternity leave – about the risks to economic stability posed by Trump's proposed tax cuts, trade tariffs and mass expulsion of illegal immigrants, as well as his threats to the rule of law.Martin Wolf is chief economics commentator at the Financial Times. You can find his column hereSubscribe to The Economics Show on Apple, Spotify, Pocket Casts or wherever you listen.Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Trump is returning to office with many of the same policies that characterised his last term. And for economists, none looms larger than the prospect of significant new tariffs. But are tariffs really as destructive as feared? After all, the Biden administration maintained most of them and the economy has remained strong. Today on the show, we put the question to Kimberly Clausing, a professor at UCLA, and formerly lead economist in the Biden administration's Office for Tax Policy.Soumaya Keynes writes a column each week for the Financial Times. You can find it hereSubscribe to Soumaya's show on Apple, Spotify, Pocket Casts or wherever you listen.Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The UK is lagging behind its peers in the Eurozone. Its per capita GDP trails that of France and Germany, and yet its housing and energy is scarcer and more expensive. A recent essay by Sam Bowman, co-authored with Ben Southwood and Samuel Hughes, argues that Britain has struggled over the past 15 years because it has “banned the investment in housing, transport and energy that it most vitally needs.” Sam Bowman is a founding editor of Works in Progress, has served as director of competition policy at the International Center for Law & Economics and as executive director of the Adam Smith Institute. Today on the show, we ask him if Britain's failure to launch is really a failure to build. Soumaya Keynes writes a column each week for the Financial Times. You can find it hereSubscribe to Soumaya's show on Apple, Spotify, Pocket Casts or wherever you listen.Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Politicians on both sides of the Atlantic are having heated conversations about whether or not governments can be made more efficient. The results include two new agencies, Elon Musk's ad hoc Department of Government Efficiency, and Labour's Office for Value for Money. But when it comes to improving public services, the challenges are neither new, nor easy to navigate. This week, we are asking how to make the government more efficient. And we're asking the UK's former chancellor of the exchequer, Jeremy Hunt.Soumaya Keynes writes a column each week for the Financial Times. You can find it hereSubscribe to Soumaya's show on Apple, Spotify, Pocket Casts or wherever you listen.Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Michael Clemens of George Mason University is an expert on the economics of migration, and a scholar of its history. With the newly elected President Trump promising to deport millions of immigrants, we thought it was the perfect time to talk about what illegal immigrants mean to the present economy and, more pressingly, what an economy without them might look like.If you want to learn more about The Economics Show with Soumaya Keynes, click here. New episodes available on Apple, Spotify, Pocket Casts or wherever you listen. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Trump is returning to office with many of the same policies that characterised his last term. And for economists, none looms larger than the prospect of significant new tariffs. But are tariffs really as destructive as feared? After all, the Biden administration maintained most of them and the economy has remained strong. Today on the show, we put the question to Kimberly Clausing, a professor at UCLA, and formerly lead economist in the Biden administration's Office for Tax Policy.Soumaya Keynes writes a column each week for the Financial Times. You can find it hereSubscribe to Soumaya's show on Apple, Spotify, Pocket Casts or wherever you listen.Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Michael Clemens of George Mason University is an expert on the economics of migration, and a scholar of its history. With the newly elected President Trump promising to deport millions of immigrants, we thought it was the perfect time to talk about what illegal immigrants mean to the present economy and, more pressingly, what an economy without them might look like.Soumaya Keynes writes a column each week for the Financial Times. You can find it hereSubscribe to Soumaya's show on Apple, Spotify, Pocket Casts or wherever you listen.Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
In 2025, some major provisions in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act are going to expire. Meanwhile, spending is likely to rise. That means there is going to be a conversation about tax policy. Natasha Sarin was a counselor to Treasury secretary Janet Yellen at the US Treasury, and is now a professor at Yale and president of the Budget Lab, a research centre analysing US policy. And one thing she has been studying is the tax position of many of the ultra-wealthy. Much of their wealth is in stocks, which aren't taxed until they're sold. This week we are going to ask, what is the best way of taxing the top 1 per cent?Soumaya Keynes writes a column each week for the Financial Times. You can find it hereSubscribe to Soumaya's show on Apple, Spotify, Pocket Casts or wherever you listen.Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Intuitively, research and development is a building block of a productive future. But exactly how important is it, and can we put a number on it? Heidi Williams is a professor of economics at Dartmouth College, and an expert on innovation policy. She is also a visiting fellow at the Congressional Budget Office. Today on the show, she joins Soumaya Keynes to discuss public and private funding for R&D, how the two sources interact, and what we can know about how much it's all worth to the economic future of a country. Soumaya Keynes writes a column each week for the Financial Times. You can find it hereSubscribe to Soumaya's show on Apple, Spotify, Pocket Casts or wherever you listen.Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
With the US election in a matter of weeks, today Soumaya Keynes is joined by the FT's Washington bureau chief, James Politi. They discuss the Kamala Harris platform – from industrial policy to tax reform to housing – and what it might all cost. They also talk about how Kamala Harris might differ from Joe Biden, and which staff members might stay and which might go.Soumaya Keynes writes a column each week for the Financial Times. You can find it hereSubscribe to Soumaya's show on Apple, Spotify, Pocket Casts or wherever you listen.Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The effective altruism movement has been on a wild ride over the past decade. EA started – in the popular consciousness, at least – as a forum for mindful questions about where best to put charitable dollars. Think bed nets and de-worming pills. But, since then, EA seems to have devolved into rationalisations for making tons of money, freak-outs about AI and the end of humanity. Today, on the show, Soumaya and guest Martin Sandbu, the FT economics editorial writer, discuss EA's evolution, its future and whether it even makes any sense.Soumaya Keynes writes a column each week for the Financial Times. You can find it hereSubscribe to Soumaya's show on Apple, Spotify, Pocket Casts or wherever you listen.Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Race and gender have dominated headlines about economic outcomes in the past decades, but class … not so much. Class is often invisible, hard to describe and awkward to talk about. Anna Stansbury, an assistant professor at MIT's Sloan School of Management, sought to shed light on class in the US in a recent paper, co-written with Kyra Rodriguez. They found that independently of race or gender, people's family circumstances can hold them back. And that is even after they have done enough work to get a “Dr” in front of their name. Today on the show, Soumaya and Anna discuss the problem and how to fix it.Soumaya Keynes writes a column each week for the Financial Times. You can find it hereSubscribe to Soumaya's show on Apple, Spotify, Pocket Casts or wherever you listen.Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Jamaica's economy struggled for decades, and at one point it had amassed debts worth more than 140 per cent of GDP. Even the IMF wouldn't return its calls. But somehow, in the 2010s, it managed to halve its government debt – over just seven years. Today on the show, we ask how they did it, and what lessons Jamaica can teach much larger economies. Soumaya Keynes writes a column each week for the Financial Times. You can find it hereSubscribe to Soumaya's show on Apple, Spotify, Pocket Casts or wherever you listen.Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
This campaign, candidate Donald Trump is promising even more extreme versions of the policies that marked his first term. But what would higher, and more widespread, tariffs actually look like? And in what form would any retaliation come? Today on the show, Soumaya and the FT's senior trade writer Alan Beattie discuss the candidate's campaign promises on trade, and where they might lead.Soumaya Keynes writes a column each week for the Financial Times. You can find it hereSubscribe to Soumaya's show on Apple, Spotify, Pocket Casts or wherever you listen.Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Jared Bernstein is the chair of President Biden's Council of Economic Advisers. Today on the show, Soumaya gets to put him in the hot seat. She grills him about everything from price caps to inflation to the recent jobs numbers. They even get into the mysterious problem of the vibes. Soumaya Keynes writes a column each week for the Financial Times. You can find it hereSubscribe to Soumaya's show on Apple, Spotify, Pocket Casts or wherever you listen.Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
When presidential candidate Kamala Harris proposed legislation to ban price gouging, we naturally thought to interview Isabella Weber, an associate professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Weber's paper on the subject lit up economic discussion in the wake of gas and food market disruptions caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Weber calls for governments to examine capping prices on certain staples, and amassing supplies to even out pricing. But is this prudent oversight of the markets, or a step down the road to central planning and scarcity?Soumaya Keynes writes a column each week for the Financial Times. You can find it hereSubscribe to Soumaya's show on Apple, Spotify, Pocket Casts or wherever you listen.Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Daron Acemoğlu is an economics professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the author of Power and Progress: Our Thousand-Year Struggle Over Technology and Prosperity. Today on the show, he and Soumaya discuss artificial intelligence and productivity growth, querying how and why AI will change the trajectory of the world economy, and how the workers and the middle class will be affected along the way. It's a wide-ranging conversation about the past and the future of technology, and what it means for the world's wellbeing.Soumaya Keynes writes a column each week for the Financial Times. You can find it hereSubscribe to Soumaya's show on Apple, Spotify, Pocket Casts or wherever you listen.Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Computer chips power toys and control nuclear reactors. They are in phones, cars and planes, getting us to work and keeping us safe. And they are at the centre of a growing tech war between the US and China, with many other players. Governments around the world are throwing money at industry and erecting barriers to trade, trying desperately to onshore a multitrillion-dollar global industry. This week Soumaya discusses the geopolitics of chips with Chris Miller, associate professor at Tufts University and author of Chip War: The Fight for the World's Most Critical Technology.To take part in the audience survey and be in with the chance to win a pair of Bose QuietComfort 35 wireless headphones, click here. Click here to find T&Cs for the prize draw.Soumaya Keynes writes a column each week for the Financial Times. You can find it hereSubscribe to Soumaya's show on Apple, Spotify, Pocket Casts or wherever you listen.Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
How much would it take for you to retire? The question is fun to think about, but also central to a serious conversation happening in economics about the cost and wisdom of a universal basic income. Today on the show, Soumaya is joined by FT editor and columnist Pilita Clark to discuss basic income, and an interview Soumaya did with Mouhcine Guettabi, who studied how Alaska's payments to its citizens changed how much they worked and when.To take part in the audience survey and be in with the chance to win a pair of Bose QuietComfort 35 wireless headphones, click here. Click here to find T&Cs for the prize draw.Soumaya Keynes writes a column each week for the Financial Times. You can find it hereSubscribe to Soumaya's show on Apple, Spotify, Pocket Casts or wherever you listen.Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Recent events, including a weak US jobs report, a pullback in Japan, and volatility in US markets have made life trickier for central bankers around the world. In the UK, moderating inflation led the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee to cut rates on August 1. The vote was 5-4, with member Catherine Mann voting to hold. Today on the show, Soumaya Keynes and Mann discuss the case for holding steady in a time of volatility and falling inflation. To take part in the audience survey and be in with the chance to win a pair of Bose QuietComfort 35 wireless headphones, click here. Click here to find T&Cs for the prize draw.Soumaya Keynes writes a column each week for the Financial Times. You can find it hereSubscribe to Soumaya's show on Apple, Spotify, Pocket Casts or wherever you listen.Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
This week, we're bringing you something from our fellow FT podcast, The Economics Show with Soumaya Keynes. Sir Angus Deaton won the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2015. So when he says he is rethinking many of his assumptions about the field, it matters. Today on the show, Soumaya discusses what we are getting wrong about everything from inequality to immigration to the role of globalisation in the reduction of poverty.Soumaya Keynes writes a column each week for the Financial Times. You can find it here.Subscribe to Soumaya's show on Apple, Spotify, Pocket Casts or wherever you listen.Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Plus, tell us what you think about Behind the Money! Complete this survey before August 29 for a chance to win a pair of Bose QuietComfort 35 Wireless headphones (terms and conditions can be found here). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
A recently released research paper calls into question many of the assumptions about the rate at which income inequality has grown in the US over the past 75 years. Today on the show, Soumaya and the FT's economics commentator, Chris Giles, discuss this bombshell report, and what it means for economists thinking about wealth and income in the US.To take part in the audience survey and be in with the chance to win a pair of Bose QuietComfort 35 wireless headphones, click here. Click here to find T&Cs for the prize draw.Soumaya Keynes writes a column each week for the Financial Times. You can find it hereSubscribe to Soumaya's show on Apple, Spotify, Pocket Casts or wherever you listen.Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The GM plant in Janesville, Wisconsin, closed during the financial crisis in 2008, ending decades of production – and 3,000 steady, highly paid jobs. Journalist Amy Goldstein wrote about the town as the plant's workers hurried to make new lives. Her book, ‘Janesville: An American Story', won the Financial Times and McKinsey Book of the Year in 2017. This summer, Goldstein returned to town for the FT, and now joins Soumaya Keynes to talk about what Janesville lost and what it has gained in the years following the closing of the plant. To take part in the audience survey and be in with the chance to win a pair of Bose QuietComfort 35 wireless headphones, click here. Click here to find T&Cs for the prize draw.Soumaya Keynes writes a column each week for the Financial Times. You can find it hereSubscribe to Soumaya's show on Apple, Spotify, Pocket Casts or wherever you listen.Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
NOTE: This podcast was recorded before Joe Biden announced he was stepping down from the US presidential raceBoth the Republicans and Democrats are talking tough on economic competition with China. But is this wise? Today on the show, Adam Posen, president of the Peterson Institute for International Economics, discusses why a hard line on China might not be the best line. To take part in the audience survey and be in with the chance to win a pair of Bose QuietComfort 35 wireless headphones, click here. Click here to find T&Cs for the prize draw.Soumaya Keynes writes a column each week for the Financial Times. You can find it hereSubscribe to Soumaya's show on Apple, Spotify, Pocket Casts or wherever you listen.Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Hyun Song Shin is the economic adviser and head of research at the Bank for International Settlements, the “bank for central banks,” based in Basel, Switzerland. Today on the show, they talk about the possibilities and final limits of monetary policy. It's a wide-ranging discussion about the machinery of international finance, covering everything from how much credit central bankers should get for the recent fall in inflation, to what would happen if we returned to a low-rates world.To take part in the audience survey and be in with the chance to win a pair of Bose QuietComfort 35 wireless headphones, click here. Click here to find T&Cs for the prize draw.Soumaya Keynes writes a column each week for the Financial Times. You can find it hereSubscribe to Soumaya's show on Apple, Spotify, Pocket Casts or wherever you listen.Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Sir Angus Deaton won the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2015. So when he says he is rethinking many of his assumptions about the field, it matters. Today on the show, Soumaya discusses what we are getting wrong about everything from inequality to immigration to the role of globalisation in the reduction of poverty. Soumaya Keynes writes a column each week for the Financial Times. You can find it hereSubscribe to Soumaya's show on Apple, Spotify, Pocket Casts or wherever you listen.Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
For years, pollsters described elections as referendums on the economy. But recently, voters have started to change how they talk about the economy, and how they vote. Today on the show, data reporter John Burn-Murdoch joins Soumaya to discuss shifts in how voters are thinking, and what that means for democracy. Soumaya Keynes writes a column each week for the Financial Times. You can find it hereSubscribe to Soumaya's show on Apple, Spotify, Pocket Casts or wherever you listen.Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Our guest this week, Zoe Cullen, joins FT columnist Pilita Clark and Soumaya to discuss the benefits and hazards of revealing all about pay. Cullen is an assistant professor at Harvard Business School who has been studying the economics of pay transparency for years. She finds that pay transparency doesn't necessarily mean more money for everyone . . . but it can! It all depends on what kind of pay transparency you choose.Soumaya Keynes writes a column each week for the Financial Times. You can find it hereSubscribe to Soumaya's show on Apple, Spotify, Pocket Casts or wherever you listen.Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Olivier Blanchard is the former chief economist of the IMF and a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington. He collaborated with former Fed chair Ben Bernanke to study the responses of 10 central banks to the recent bout of inflation, what we know about its causes, and whether finally getting it back to 2% will require a hard landing. In a wide-ranging chat with Soumaya, he also discusses areas where he has changed his mind, as well as the recent tilt towards the right in France.Soumaya Keynes writes a column each week for the Financial Times. You can find it here.Subscribe to Soumaya's show on Apple, Spotify, Pocket Casts or wherever you listen.Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Today on the show, the FT's chief economics commentator joins host Soumaya Keynes to discuss why the US is racing ahead of Europe and whether the trend could reverse. They also discuss the outlook for interest rates, China's future, AI and productivity. Plus, Martin shares his most controversial opinion. Soumaya Keynes writes a column each week for the Financial Times. You can find it hereSubscribe to Soumaya's show on Apple, Spotify, Pocket Casts or wherever you listen.Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Today on the show Soumaya Keynes talks about macroeconomic mistakes and the interest rate outlook with Neel Kashkari, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. FT economics commentator Chris Giles joins them to discuss what the Fed got right and wrong about inflation, and Neel's journey from dove to hawk.Subscribe to Soumaya's show on Apple, Spotify, Pocket Casts or wherever you listen.Soumaya Keynes writes a column each week for the Financial Times. You can find it here.Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Emily Oster is a professor of economics at Brown University, but she is probably best known as the author of the bestsellers 'Expecting Better' and 'Cribsheet', which crunch the research about the often gut-driven practice of parenting. Today on the show we talk about research, process and the many myths about raising children. Oster hosts the ParentData podcast and publishes the weekly ParentData newsletter.Soumaya Keynes writes a column each week for the Financial Times. You can find it here.Subscribe to Soumaya's show on Apple, Spotify, Pocket Casts or wherever you listen.Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Former Trade Talks co-host brings you her new podcast, "The Economics Show with Soumaya Keynes". New episodes available on Apple, Spotify, Pocket Casts or wherever you listen.
Elon Musk's xAI has secured new backing from three Silicon Valley venture capital giants, women in Ukraine have increasingly stepped into roles men used to perform before Russia's full-scale invasion, and the FT's Soumaya Keynes explains why the UK's Labour party benefits from being boring. Mentioned in this podcast:Elon Musk's xAI secures new backing from Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia and TribeUkrainian women wanted in factories as men drafted into armyHow large might Labour's ‘dullness dividend' be?Introducing The Economics Show with Soumaya KeynesThe FT News Briefing is produced by Fiona Symon, Sonja Hutson, Kasia Broussalian and Marc Filippino. Additional help by Breen Turner, Sam Giovinco, Peter Barber, Michael Lello, David da Silva and Gavin Kallmann. Our engineer is Monica Lopez. Topher Forhecz is the FT's executive producer. The FT's global head of audio is Cheryl Brumley. The show's theme song is by Metaphor Music.Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
US government debt is high, and it's getting higher. The US debt-to-GDP ratio is more than 100 per cent of GDP. The Congressional Budget Office thinks the deficit is headed to 6 per cent of GDP, and a lot of that is just the debt interest. Those numbers sound pretty scary, and neither political party seems ready to do anything about it. Today on the show, we worry about it with Jason Furman, the former chair of the Council of Economic Advisers during the Obama administration, and current professor of economics at Harvard.Soumaya Keynes writes a column each week for the Financial Times. You can find it here.Subscribe to the show on Apple, Spotify, Pocket Casts or wherever you listen.Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The Economics Show with Soumaya Keynes is a new weekly podcast from the Financial Times packed full of smart, digestible analysis and incisive conversation. Soumaya Keynes digs deep into the hottest topics in economics along with a cast of FT colleagues and special guests. Come for the big ideas, stay for the nerdery. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt's overriding message in his big pre-election Budget was that hard economic choices were paying off in the form of tumbling inflation, improved growth and the promise of more cuts to personal taxes. But his Budget also promises a brutal fiscal reckoning for whoever wins the general election expected later this year. Lucy Fisher discusses the Budget's implications with FT economics columnist Soumaya Keynes and Political Fix regulars George Parker and Stephen Bush.Follow Lucy on X: @LOS_FisherWant more? Free links:Chancellor's modest Budget giveaways set up fiscal pain for after electionLabour claims chancellor will create a £46bn fiscal hole with pledge to scrap NIThe 2024 Budget in briefSign up here for 30 free days of Stephen Bush's Inside Politics newsletter, winner of the World Association of News Publishers 2023 ‘Best Newsletter' award. Presented by Lucy Fisher. Produced by Manuela Saragosa with Leah Qiunn. Audio mix and original music by Breen Turner. The FT's head of audio is Cheryl Brumley. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Alex Forsyth presents political debate from the Mowlem Theatre in Swanage, Dorset.
Goodbye for now, as old friend Soumaya Keynes joins Chad Bown to discuss why and what comes next.
As Rishi Sunak celebrates his first year in office, the FT's Lucy Fisher asks whether he has succeeded in steadying the Tory ship, while the FT's Miranda Green and George Parker mark his scorecard. The Political Fix team also examines the tough choices facing Keir Starmer as he braces himself for potential frontbench resignations over his approach to the Israel-Hamas war. Plus, economics columnist Soumaya Keynes joins to outline how she spotted apparent plagiarism in Labour shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves's newly published book, The Women Who Made Modern Economics.You can find Lucy, Miranda and George on X, formerly Twitter, @LOS_Fisher and @greenmiranda and @GeorgeWParkerWant more? Rishi Sunak faces intractable problems on first anniversary as prime ministerMuslim Labour MPs urge Keir Starmer to back Gaza ceasefireThe Women Who Made Modern Economics by Rachel Reeves - credit where it's due?How Claudia Goldin transformed our understanding of women and work Clip: BBCSign up here for 30 free days of Stephen Bush's Inside Politics newsletter, winner of the World Association of News Publishers 2023 ‘Best Newsletter' award. Presented by Lucy Fisher. Produced by Audrey Tinline. The executive producer is Manuela Saragosa. Audio mix and original music by Breen Turner. The FT's head of audio is Cheryl Brumley. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
It's the fastest growing app in the world, filled with dance trends, cats misbehaving, and questionable financial advice. Teenagers love it; Western politicians are less convinced. Could TikTok's popularity be its downfall?In one of our favourite episodes of 2022, hosts Mike Bird, Alice Fulwood and Soumaya Keynes investigate just who is afraid of TikTok's growing influence. First, our media editor Tom Wainwright unpacks the relationship between TikTok, its parent company ByteDance, and its Chinese twin, Douyin. Then, AB Bernstein's Robin Zhu outlines just how big a threat the app poses to the likes of Facebook, Snapchat, and YouTube. Plus, Federal Communications Commissioner Brendan Carr outlines his concerns about TikTok's ability to harvest user data. And we ask: how long before this ticking geopolitical time-bomb blows up? Sign up for our new weekly newsletter dissecting the big themes in markets, business and the economy at www.economist.com/moneytalks For full access to print, digital and audio editions, subscribe to The Economist at www.economist.com/podcastoffer Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Economists are a gloomy lot, and no less so at Christmas. Whereas most people see gift-giving as a source of joy, economists fret about the potential for misallocated resources. One Scrooge-ish study found that, on average, $100 spent on gifts was worth the same as around $85 of cash spent directly by the recipient. But are there reasons to believe that over time, Christmas is becoming more efficient?On this week's podcast, hosts Soumaya Keynes, Mike Bird and Alice Fulwood hear from the father of Scroogenomics, Joel Waldfogel, about why Christmas may be improving for economists—even if it means fewer presents. And they speak to The Economist's Ore Ogunbiyi about the nightmare after Christmas for retailers.Sign up for our new weekly newsletter dissecting the big themes in markets, business and the economy at www.economist.com/moneytalks For full access to print, digital and audio editions, subscribe to The Economist at www.economist.com/podcastoffer Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Startup founders in Silicon Valley are often motivated by an almost religious idealism: young tech workers, looking to move fast and break things, want to use technology to make the world a better place. But 2022 has brought about a reckoning: the business models of once-star firms, such as Uber and Meta, are under threat; the allure of the dishevelled whizz-kid has been undermined by the downfall of Sam Bankman-Fried; and the expense of Palo Alto has pushed plucky startups out. The Bay Area has often been populated by liberals, but many of tech's heroes, like Elon Musk and Marc Andreessen, have shifted to the right. On this week's podcast, hosts Mike Bird, Soumaya Keynes and Alice Fulwood ask whether Silicon Valley has lost its religion. Margaret O'Mara, professor of history at the University of Washington, reveals the Valley's past. And Adrian Daub, the author of “What Tech Calls Thinking”, tells us that the secret of the successful founder is to bamboozle regulators while they make a bit more money.To help us improve our podcasts, please fill out a short questionnaire at economist.com/moneytalkssurveySign up for our new weekly newsletter dissecting the big themes in markets, business and the economy at www.economist.com/moneytalks For full access to print, digital and audio editions, subscribe to The Economist at www.economist.com/podcastoffer Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
China's draconian zero-covid policies have required repeated and lengthy lockdowns, enormous make-shift quarantine facilities, and endless testing for the population. They have also done real damage to its economy. After rare outbreaks of protest against the policy in several cities, the strict rules that have smothered normal life around the country are being relaxed, after almost three years in place.On this week's podcast, hosts Mike Bird, Soumaya Keynes and Alice Fulwood ask what this means for the Chinese economy—and the world. One of China's best-known investors, Fred Hu, tells us the policy has been driving China's economy “to the ground” and Goldman Sachs' Andrew Tilton says that restrictions have shaved up to 5% off GDP growth. But what will happen as China opens up?Take our listener survey at economist.com/moneytalkssurveySign up for our new weekly newsletter dissecting the big themes in markets, business and the economy at www.economist.com/moneytalks For full access to print, digital and audio editions, subscribe to The Economist at www.economist.com/podcastoffer Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
High inflation, amid warnings of a global recession, is forcing investors to tear up the rule book. Since the financial crisis, bonds have been seen as a safe bet—even if they did not promise much of a return. Equity markets, led by soaring tech stocks, were where fortunes were made. Both have plunged this year. In a world where rising interest rates have left governments worrying about how to afford their debts, and companies will struggle to raise cash, investors need new strategies.On this week's podcast, hosts Alice Fulwood, Soumaya Keynes and Mike Bird ask what those new rules of investing look like. Wei Li, global chief investment strategist for the world's biggest investor, BlackRock, argues this new macroeconomic era is here to stay. And Mohamed El-Erian, chief economic adviser to Allianz, says investors need to focus on picking winners within stocks and bonds.Sign up for our new weekly newsletter dissecting the big themes in markets, business and the economy at www.economist.com/moneytalks For full access to print, digital and audio editions, subscribe to The Economist at www.economist.com/podcastoffer Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Indonesia is the world's third-largest producer of coal. Not only does it power the country, it powers the economy. But the country's president, Joko Widodo, wants to change that. Indonesia is garnering global attention due to its stock of nickel and cobalt, core elements in the batteries needed for the booming electric vehicle industry. Can the government swap the fossil-fuel-powered economy to one that runs on batteries instead?On this week's podcast, hosts Soumaya Keynes, Mike Bird and Alice Fulwood ask whether Indonesia can really go green. Zanny Minton Beddoes, The Economist's editor-in-chief, sits down with Joko Widodo to find out if he is the man to wean the country off coal. Finance minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati and education minister Nadiem Makarim tell us how to train a generation of battery-makers. And Patrick Foulis, our business-affairs editor, warns of a red flag.Sign up for our new weekly newsletter dissecting the big themes in markets, business and the economy at economist.com/moneytalks For full access to print, digital and audio editions, subscribe to The Economist at www.economist.com/podcastoffer Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Until last week, Sam Bankman-Fried - or SBF as he's become known - was crypto's poster-child. He was a regular in Washington, DC where he schmoozed journalists, regulators and lawmakers alike. He funded political campaigns and sponsored sports teams ranging from basketball to Formula One. For many, the floppy-haired, 30-year-old once-billionaire wasn't just the face of his crypto trading firm FTX, he was the face of crypto. But last week, SBJ's business, which was valued at $32bn at the start of the year, collapsed into bankruptcy and now he is being investigated by regulators and law-enforcement agencies.On this week's “Money Talks', hosts Alice Fulwood and Soumaya Keynes ask whether the crypto phenomenon can survive the loss of a figurehead. They speak with Alesia Haas, the CFO of the second-largest exchange Coinbase. And hear from some of the recipients of SBF's contributions to the effective altruism movement about what's next. Sign up for our new weekly newsletter dissecting the big themes in markets, business and the economy at www.economist.com/moneytalks For full access to print, digital and audio editions, subscribe to The Economist at www.economist.com/podcastoffer Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
On November 1st, New York City's workers woke up to a new reality: every job listing for work that could be done in one of the five boroughs now had a stated salary band. Gossips rejoiced. But who does the law really benefit?On this week's podcast, hosts Soumaya Keynes, Mike Bird and Alice Fulwood look at the pros and cons of pay transparency. First, they hear from Harvard Business School's Zoe Cullen who says wages fell by 2% on average when firms opened up about pay. Then, they speak to Joel Gascoigne, the founder of online marketing firm Buffer, who went further than companies in New York and published each of his employees' salaries, by name, on the company's website (it lists his salary as $298,958). And then they go to Norway, where incomes have always been publicly available - and hear about the unexpected consequences on happiness when you can easily see what your friends, neighbours and enemies earn. Sign up for our new weekly newsletter dissecting the big themes in markets, business and the economy at www.economist.com/moneytalksFor full access to print, digital and audio editions, subscribe to The Economist at www.economist.com/podcastoffer Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Most of America's biggest technology firms are having a bad time - and not just the ones who have been recently acquired by a mercurial billionaire. More than $1tn has been wiped from their market value in recent weeks. Is the sell-off just investor jitters? Or is it a symptom of something more fundamental about the future of the sector? On this week's podcast, hosts Soumaya Keynes, Mike Bird and Alice Fulwood are joined by our technology editor Tom Wainwright and global business correspondent Thomas Lee-Devlin to diagnose the common problem facing the movers (like Uber), the streamers (like Netflix) and the creepers (like Facebook owner, Meta). And we ask what they can learn from China, where tech behemoth Alibaba has seen its share price plunge by 77% from a 2020 peak. Plus, we ask if this is a turning point - what does that mean for the future of the formerly most profitable sector in America?Sign up for our new weekly newsletter dissecting the big themes in markets, business and the economy at www.economist.com/moneytalks For full access to print, digital and audio editions, subscribe to The Economist at www.economist.com/podcastoffer Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Gary Gensler has spent just a little over a year and a half as the head of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), America's top markets regulator. In that time, he's proposed 37 separate filings for rules, given 60 speeches, and intervened, in sometimes controversial ways, in everything from crypto to SPACs to environmental regulations. In other words: he is getting a lot done and making a lot of people angry. On this week's episode, hosts Alice Fulwood, Mike Bird and Soumaya Keynes sit down with Mr Gensler to try and figure out what he wants to accomplish and how he plans on getting it all done. They discuss everything from the functioning of the Treasury market, to efforts to prioritise retail investors in the wake of the meme-stock craze, to why he thought it was important that the SEC fine the reality television star Kim Kardashian.Sign up for our new weekly newsletter dissecting the big themes in markets, business and the economy at www.economist.com/moneytalks For full access to print, digital and audio editions, subscribe to The Economist at www.economist.com/podcastoffer Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.