First came Brexit. Then Trump. Now the world's attention turns once again across the Atlantic to France, where a presidential election is coming up and far-right candidate Marine Le Pen could be the next politician to upend the establishment. The nation is reeling from terror attacks, the economy is in lousy shape, and President Francois Hollande's popularity is dismal. Nicolas Veron, a scholar at think tanks Bruegel and the Peterson Institute for International Economics, joins Scott and Kate to...
Nov 22, 2016•19 min
Millions of Americans could help solve a looming labor shortage for certain U.S. industries. Problem is, they're felons. Are ex-cons who can't get jobs holding back economic growth? Join us on Benchmark this week to hear from Keri Blakinger, who served time in state prison for heroin possession before getting out, finishing college (at Cornell) and managing to get a job in, of all things, journalism. What's it like to go to an office cubicle from a prison cell? See omnystudio.com/listener for pr...
Nov 16, 2016•20 min
In the wake of Donald Trump's surprise presidential victory, the Benchmark team has a few questions: Is trade with Mexico destined to end? Is our relationship with China about to drastically shift? Is the U.S. about to experience a Reagan-esque stimulus? Take a trip around the world as Kate, Dan and Scott discuss what the president-elect means for the global economy as we know it. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Nov 09, 2016•17 min
Falling food prices may be good for your Thanksgiving tab this year, but they're doing a number on the U.S. economy. Food commodity prices have fallen over 20 percent from early 2015, helping to keep inflation at bay and wages stagnant, according to a research note from Goldman Sachs. As prices have fallen, the cost of eating out has stayed the same - what gives? This week, co-hosts Kate Smith and Dan Moss are joined by Al Di Meglio, the chef behind buzzy new South Williamsburg restaurant Barano...
Nov 02, 2016•27 min
How tight is the U.S. labor market? So much that one trucking company is offering $5,000 signing bonuses to lure new drivers. Yet millions of Americans remain out of the workforce -- people who might be candidates for a job that, while tough, takes relatively little training and can't be shipped overseas. What's going on here? Two guests share their theories with co-hosts Scott Lanman and Kate Smith: Scott's uncle, Kenny Hahn, a professional truck driver for almost four decades, and Justin Fox, ...
Oct 19, 2016•19 min
If U.S. childcare costs are so expensive, why do people who walk your dog make more money than the workers who take care of your kids? Is there any way it could become cheaper to send your kid to day care than to attend a public university? Our co-hosts are interested: Scott because he has two young daughters in preschool, and Kate because she pays a sizable sum to have her dog walked. Joining them are Scott Cotter, CEO of Childcare Network, which operates 249 centers across the southeastern U.S...
Oct 12, 2016•23 min
How did a diminishing slice of Western economies come to so dominate the political narrative? The roar of the white working class, mainly in onetime industrial powerhouses, put Donald Trump within shouting distance of the White House, ejected Britain from the EU and fueled the surge of far-right parties in France and Germany. J.D. Vance, bestselling author of "Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis" tells Daniel Moss and Scott Lanman how we got here. The onetime resident of ...
Oct 05, 2016•25 min
And you might want to cross San Francisco off the list, too. In the past 30 years, the most expensive metro areas in the U.S. have seen their housing prices grow at a much faster pace than the least expensive markets, according to a new report out from Trulia. That rapid increase has caused certain areas - especially New York's long-envied Manhattan borough - to be closed off to not only the successful and wealthy, but those that were also raised by the successful and wealthy. Kate Smith and Dan...
Sep 28, 2016•22 min
The world's most powerful central bank kept interest rates unchanged today, but the Federal Reserve also suggested an increase is imminent -- perhaps as soon as December. Join Dan, Scott and Fed reporter Matt Boesler on a special Benchmark podcast to figure out what's new and what's not. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Sep 21, 2016•10 min
Can a nation's entire economy fit on one smartphone app? In China, that day is almost here. More than 700 million Chinese -- more than double the entire U.S. population -- use WeChat. It's an all-purpose super-app that does the job of Facebook, Uber, Paypal, Tinder and many other apps, making it an invaluable tool for the Asian nation's rising middle class. That's helped give WeChat's parent Tencent, a stock-market valuation larger than any other company outside the U.S. -- even bigger than Wal-...
Sep 15, 2016•22 min
More than a decade after the first Internet boom, U.S. productivity growth has stagnated and the economy has been unable to break out of 2 percent expansion. This situation is testing even the most optimistic of forecasters, but in contrast to our recent guest Robert Gordon, MIT professor Erik Brynjolfsson is unbowed. Brynjolfsson -- who's also director of MIT's Initiative on the Digital Economy, and co-author of the book "The Second Machine Age" -- joins Daniel Moss and Scott Lanman to explain ...
Sep 07, 2016•21 min
Sometimes the monthly U.S. jobs report delivers a clear signal on the labor market and the economy. This is not one of those times. Fortunately, the Bloomberg Benchmark crew is here to talk about the burning questions raised by the latest report, including the implications for the Federal Reserve and what the wage numbers mean. In this special bonus episode of the Benchmark podcast, reporter Jeanna Smialek joins hosts Dan Moss and Scott Lanman to break it all down. See omnystudio.com/listener fo...
Sep 02, 2016•11 min
Happily ever after doesn't come cheap in the U.S. Couples looking to tie the knot pay an average of about $30,000 between things like caterers, flowers and photographers to capture the day. But why is it that weddings cost more than other large-scale parties? In this week's Benchmark, former White House economic adviser Austan Goolsbee explains how the concepts that we learned in freshman year economics class determine why celebrating eternal love costs so much. Kate Smith is also joined by gues...
Aug 31, 2016•26 min
When phone companies implored U.S. customers in 2003 to text more because they were lagging behind the rest of the world, it was all over. Almost. While we're used to a dizzying array of new apps each month and new "sharing economy" companies such as Uber and AirBnB transform the way we do business, one of the greatest periods of U.S. productivity was already behind us by 2005. The little gadgets we're addicted to now are nothing compared with the invention and adoption of the electric light, in...
Aug 24, 2016•23 min
This week the Benchmark team takes a look at one of South Korea's most promising new exports: beauty products. Seoul is pivoting away from the country's reliance on government-sponsored companies like Samsung and LG and instead attempting to capitalize on its multi-generation tradition of expensive, multi-step skincare regimens. Women - and men - around the world are buying into the trend, helping overseas beauty sales for Korean beauty products to rise 73 last year. Co-hosts Kate Smith and Scot...
Aug 17, 2016•19 min
As much as economics permeates our lives, the concepts behind the subject can often be rather dry. Fortunately, the smash Broadway musical "Hamilton" takes some of those concepts and sets them to catchy hip-hop tunes. Matt Rousu, an economics professor at Susquehanna University in Pennsylvania, is already creating lessons for his students based on some of the musical's songs as well as numbers in other Broadway shows. Scott Lanman and Dan Moss break down some of the music with Matt and find the ...
Aug 10, 2016•23 min
Now that slavery, of all things, has popped up as one of the weirder talking points in the bizarre U.S. presidential campaign, we figured it might be time to examine just how much of a link slavery -- and everything it connotes -- has to do with international economics. And yes, we did get into Brazil just last week, but with the Olympics starting this month, what better region to focus on than Latin America? Join Dan Moss and Kate Smith, along with Sao Paulo-born Vivianne Rodrigues, who runs ec...
Aug 03, 2016•22 min
Police strikes, threats of Zika and a $20 billion tab: Welcome to the 2016 Summer Olympics games in Brazil. But Rio's position isn't just matter of bad luck. It was actually self-imposed. Every four years countries vie to be the next host of the summer Olympics, despite cautionary tales of unnecessary stadium spending from places like Montreal and Athens. What is it about sports that make otherwise rational politicians make irrational decisions? To help answer that question, Dan and Kate are joi...
Jul 27, 2016•24 min
No one thinks the Fed is going to raise interest rates at its next meeting. Chair Janet Yellen isn't scheduled to hold a press conference, and there won't be any new rate projections from Fed officials. So what should you look for when the central bank issues its statement on Wednesday? In this special bonus episode, reporters Chris Condon and Jeanna Smialek join host Scott Lanman to tell you the five things you need to know to become an expert translator of the next iteration of Fed-speak. See ...
Jul 22, 2016•11 min
How would the U.S. economy fare under President Donald J. Trump? Hosts Scott Lanman and Kate Smith journey one year into the future to track the Benchmark podcast from July 21, 2017. Joning them is Neil Dutta from Renaissance Macro Partners, who helps explain just what's happened during Trump's first six months -- and we also learn just how crazy this Pokemon Go thing has gotten. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Jul 20, 2016•21 min
China wasn't on the ballot when U.K. citizens made the surprise decision to leave the European Union. But it has played a major role in the forces of globalization that Britons rebelled against with their vote in June. How does one connect the dots from Deng Xiaoping's opening up of the Chinese economy in 1978 to Brexit in 2016? Marc Champion, a reporter for Bloomberg News in London, joins Dan and new co-hosts Kate Smith and Scott Lanman to talk all about it -- once Scott stops showing off his M...
Jul 13, 2016•19 min
From the U.S. to the U.K., immigration and its consequences are flaring up as never before. But how exactly do they shape the economy, and how are native workers affected when immigrants enter the labor force? For answers to these questions as well as a frank discussion on where policy should go from here, Tori and Aki talk to Giovanni Peri, a professor at the University of California at Davis and one of the top economists in the field of human migration. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy ...
Jul 06, 2016•32 min
Drug companies and researchers have made huge advances in recent years to treat cancer, possibly the world's leading cause of death. And more breakthroughs are likely. But it will come with a big price tag, and getting all the way to a cure will be tricky. What does it all have to do with the global economy? And what's a moonshot, anyway? Dr. Louis Weiner, director of the Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center in Washington, explains it all to Dan Moss and guest host Scott Lanman, who h...
Jun 29, 2016•21 min
Why is Norway attracting attention in a post-Brexit Britain? Saleha Mohsin, who followed Norwegian politics and economics for Bloomberg, joins Dan Moss to explain `EU Decaf.' How does it work and how is it different, if at all, than being a full member of the EU? You get freedom of goods, services, capital and -- critically -- labor. Norway even contributes to the EU budget! Yet Norwegians are happy with EU Decaf. Oh, and an EU referendum was defeated there as well. Twice. See omnystudio.com/lis...
Jun 29, 2016•10 min
Have British voters rejected more than the EU? The vote to leave the Union, which grew from the idea seven decades ago that enmeshed economies won't wage war on one another, is a blow to the liberal order that's prevailed since 1945. It's also a shot across the bow of modern family life. Paul Gordon from London joins Dan Moss to explain why. We also find out what the barista said to Paul as dawn broke in London and how he will greet his German wife when he comes home to Frankfurt. See omnystudio...
Jun 24, 2016•15 min
Will the government still feed me when I'm 64? How about 74, or even 84? Americans are living longer than ever, but the retirement age has barely budged from the original 65. How can Washington adjust the public retirement system -- a political third rail -- without enraging millions of U.S. workers? What the heck do we mean by a third rail? Join us for a chat with Peter Coy, economics editor at Bloomberg Businessweek, Dan Moss and guest host Kate Smith about the future of Social Security and wh...
Jun 15, 2016•21 min
Venezuela, home to the world's biggest oil reserves, is in the throes of economic crisis. With inflation projected at nearly 300 percent this year, how do Venezuelans live amid six-hour lines for groceries, crumbling hospitals and growing violence? Nathan Crooks, Bloomberg's Caracas bureau chief, walks Aki and guest co-host Catarina Saraiva through his daily life, how things got so bad and what's next for the troubled country. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....
Jun 08, 2016•25 min
Every day the gig economy gets bigger, whether you're talking about drivers on Uber or programmers on Upwork. Are these workers freed from the drudgery and rigidity of full-time jobs, or are they exploited by companies that want to sidestep the commitments and the costs of traditional employees? Danny Margulies, who catapulted from unemployment in 2012 to a freelance copywriter commanding as much as $250 an hour, joins Aki and guest co-host Saleha Mohsin this week to offer a peek into his own li...
Jun 01, 2016•26 min
Washington is once again mired in political gridlock, this time involving the Supreme Court. A seat on the highest court in the land has been open since February, and it probably won't be filled until a new president is elected. How do businesses fare in the face of so much uncertainty? For answers, Tori speaks with Al Franken, the junior senator from Minnesota and a former star of Saturday Night Live, along with Bloomberg's Supreme Court reporter Greg Stohr. As an added bonus, Franken shares hi...
May 25, 2016•34 min
After decades of progress in U.S. mortality rates, scores of white middle-aged Americans are dying or reporting that their health is deteriorating and life is increasingly painful. What does this have to do with the economy, and even the election? More than you might think. To discuss, Tori and Aki talk to Princeton professor Anne Case, whose work with husband Angus Deaton has documented the stunning regression. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....
May 18, 2016•26 min
