There’s little debate that Covid-19 has crushed economies and triggered government rescue efforts not seen in modern times. On this week’s episode, World Bank Chief Economist Carmen Reinhart and fellow Harvard professor Kenneth Rogoff, authors of “This Time Is Different: Eight Centuries of Financial Folly,” discuss what comes next with Bloomberg Economics executive editor Simon Kennedy. The depth of the U.S. recession isn’t the only way in which this time is different. While tens of millions are...
May 21, 2020•25 min•Season 3Ep. 8
Romanian home-care workers in Italy. Indian construction crews in Dubai. Filipino maids and cooks in Singapore. The world’s wealthy economies depend on a steady flow of cheap labor from lower-income nations. And people in those nations often rely on remittances from family members working abroad. Now it seems that the coronavirus pandemic that’s crushing economies all over the world is also upending the global labor market. Workers are heading back to their native countries in large numbers—or s...
May 14, 2020•23 min•Season 3Ep. 7
Just a few months ago, the economic debate about employment centered on how low the jobless rate could go. Now, with tens of millions out of work across the globe, it's about how bad it can get. On this week's episode, host Stephanie Flanders and economy reporter Katia Dmitrieva discuss how those "last in" to a boom economy are usually the "first out" in a downturn. Focusing on seven case studies, they discuss how minorities, young people and women who benefited from the historic surge in employ...
May 07, 2020•21 min•Season 3Ep. 6
The Waffle House chain of U.S. restaurants, with most of its locations in the nation’s south, is famous for staying open during hurricanes and other severe weather. Now it’s facing what could be a tougher challenge: luring customers who are wary of spending time there because of the coronavirus. It’s all happening in Georgia, whose Republican governor made waves with his decision to let many businesses and restaurants reopen sooner than most people expected—and earlier than medical experts consi...
Apr 30, 2020•25 min•Season 3Ep. 5
How do you restart the global economy following a coronavirus-induced lockdown? China is the test case, and getting workers back to work is proving a lot easier than getting them to shop or patronize restaurants. On this week’s episode, Stephanie Flanders talks to Bloomberg Beijing bureau chief Sharon Chen about her recent visit to Wuhan, the starting point of the pandemic, and her subsequent 14-day quarantine when she returned home. Flanders also speaks with Bloomberg chief Europe economist Jam...
Apr 23, 2020•19 min
Mid-April is when the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank hold their spring meetings, where finance ministers and central bankers gather to exchange ideas on keeping global growth intact. This year, the meetings will be virtual, and the discussions less about growth and more about avoiding an economic abyss. Gita Gopinath, in her second year as the IMF’s chief economist, is projecting the worst global downturn since the Great Depression. She talks with Stephanie Flanders about what th...
Apr 16, 2020•25 min
For years, a small band of economists pushed an unorthodox approach to government spending (particularly in the U.S.), arguing that concern about deficits and debt was wildly overblown. Now, with measures to contain the novel coronavirus shutting down commerce around the world, and fiscal authorities spending trillions of dollars to fill the gap, it’s starting to become more popular. Stephanie Kelton, an economist and adviser to Senator Bernie Sanders, the now-former Democratic presidential cand...
Apr 09, 2020•24 min
In a matter of weeks the Covid-19 virus has turned the world upside down. In the start of a new season of Stephanomics, James Mayger and Zhu Lin report from China - the original epicenter of the virus – on how truck drivers there are trying to get back to normal. Then host Stephanie Flanders asks US economist Adam Posen how the economics profession has risen to the challenge of the crisis - and whether the right advice has been getting through to governments. The terrible human cost of the coron...
Apr 02, 2020•24 min•Season 3Ep. 1
Harnessing Bloomberg's reporting from every continent, Bloomberg's daily Prognosis podcast brings the news, data and analysis you need for living in the time of Covid-19. In around ten minutes, we will explain the latest developments in health and science, the impact on individuals, industries and governments and the adaptions they are making in the face of the global pandemic. Come back every weekday afternoon for a short dose of the best information about the novel coronavirus from more than 1...
Mar 25, 2020•56 sec
French economist Thomas Piketty made a big splash in 2014 with his best-selling book "Capital in the Twenty-First Century," stirring debate about how capitalism benefited the wealthy. He takes an even broader view in his new tome, "Capital and Ideology," whose English translation will be published in March. You can wait until then to read all 1000+ pages - or get a sneak preview with the author himself in this bonus episode of Stephanomics. In her conversation with Piketty, Stephanie Flanders di...
Feb 10, 2020•23 min
This week, Stephanomics concludes its second season with a preview of Bloomberg Markets’ special trade issue, along with a look at what could stop the spread of the coronavirus. Tyler Cowen, the George Mason University economist and Marginal Revolution blogger, talks with host Stephanie Flanders about how well—or how poorly—the U.S. and China are positioned to deal with the outbreak. On trade, reporter Enda Curran visits Hong Kong and the city’s Toy and Baby Fair to get a sense of how the territ...
Jan 30, 2020•29 min
Economy. Labor. Climate change. These are the issues that are front-of-mind for attendees of this week’s World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. On a special episode direct from the conference, Stephanie Flanders dives in with a leader from each field. On the economy, JPMorgan Chase International Chairman Jacob Frenkel, a former Bank of Israel Governor and a 33-time Davos attendee, talks about why we’re still feeling the impact of the financial crisis. Next, Christy Hoffman, head of the inte...
Jan 23, 2020•29 min
If there’s one thing many Americans agree on, it’s the importance of education as a bedrock of the U.S. economy. Yet the federal government has left children’s education almost entirely up to states and towns, its funding subject to the vagaries of the real estate market and demographic shifts. Reporter Craig Torres visits a rural community just hours from the nation’s capital, illustrating how difficult it is to improve opportunities for the less fortunate. Then host Stephanie Flanders delves i...
Jan 16, 2020•24 min
Americans are paying more and getting less for their health care than ever before. On the new season of Prognosis, reporter John Tozzi explores what went wrong. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Jan 14, 2020•2 min
With tensions rising in the Middle East, investors have been increasingly focused on the risk of war between the U.S. and Iran. On this week’s episode, host Stephanie Flanders talks with Ziad Daoud, Bloomberg’s chief Middle East economist, about what’s at stake for the region and oil markets. Then, in the first of two segments focused on education, European economy reporter Jeannette Neumann visits Greece to explore why people with so many degrees are having trouble getting jobs—and the governme...
Jan 09, 2020•27 min
Will trade wars go the way of 2019 or keep on raging? Is Europe’s economy finally on a rebound? What does U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s election victory mean for U.S. President Donald Trump and the Democrats running to replace him? These are just a few of the questions that Stephanie Flanders and our Bloomberg panel address in a special roundtable discussion. Flanders is joined by Bloomberg Chief Economist Tom Orlik, senior trade and economy reporter Shawn Donnan, and European economy edit...
Jan 02, 2020•32 min
What happens when you cross the U.S.-China trade war with the Christmas tradition of covering your home in lights, while tossing in a Nobel-winning economist for good measure? Why, you get the year-end episode of Stephanomics, of course. America slapped tariffs on holiday lights made in China, the world’s dominant supplier. So Bloomberg reporter Michelle Jamrisko went to Hanoi to find out whether the numbers are really true—the ones that show exports of Christmas lights from Vietnam are surging ...
Dec 26, 2019•28 min
In recent decades, Chile has been marked by the relative stability of its economy and politics in a region where the opposite is more typical. But the widespread protests that began in October—and the violence and deaths that followed—shattered that image, exposing a rich-poor divide and broader social dissatisfaction that the government seems unable to address. On this week’s episode, Bloomberg Santiago Bureau Chief Eduardo Thomson meets with protesters and economists to get at the roots of the...
Dec 19, 2019•26 min
On this special bonus episode, Stephanie Flanders joins the Bloomberg Westminster podcast to discuss the dramatic British election night. The Conservative Party have won their biggest majority since Thatcher. Alan Wager from the UK in a Changing Europe tells Bloomberg's Caroline Hepker and Sebastian Salek what sort of Brexit he thinks Boris Johnson will pursue. Flanders, head of Bloomberg Economics, says new Tory voters in the north of England could be the worst hit. Plus, TUC Leader Frances O'G...
Dec 13, 2019•46 min
Paul Volcker, the former Federal Reserve chairman who died this week at age 92, was an imposing public figure—in height as well as stature. He was best known for his bold moves in the U.S. war against inflation, and for his dedication to public service. But there was more to the man, as Bloomberg Markets editor Christine Harper discovered as she worked with Volcker to co-write his 2018 memoir, “Keeping At It.” Harper joins host Stephanie Flanders to share her memories and observations of Volcker...
Dec 12, 2019•28 min•Season 2Ep. 7
Will the Conservatives loosen the purse strings and spur a growth revival? Can Labour realize its vision of radically reshaping the U.K. economy? How will the course of Brexit be altered? Stephanie Flanders tackles these questions and more in a preview of Great Britain’s Dec. 12 vote to elect a new government. Flanders leads a live-recorded panel discussion with three important thinkers: Paul Johnson of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, Bronwen Maddox of the Institute for Government and Anand Me...
Dec 05, 2019•42 min
What does the business of flashy superyachts for the megarich have to do with the health of the U.S. economy? A lot, it turns out. They’re often seen as a barometer of consumer spending, and as the holiday shopping season gets in full swing, all eyes are on American wallets. On this week’s episode of “Stephanomics,” Bloomberg reporter Michael Sasso visits a big boat show in Florida only to discover that sales aren’t looking so great. Then host Stephanie Flanders talks with Carl Riccadonna, Bloom...
Nov 28, 2019•22 min
This week’s episode of Stephanomics comes to you from Beijing, where Bloomberg hosted the second annual New Economy Forum , bringing together global leaders to discuss how to solve the world’s biggest challenges. Stephanie Flanders first interviews Nicholas Stern, one of the world’s foremost experts on climate change and economics—a combined subject that’s gained increasing urgency for policymakers. Stern is a former adviser to the U.K. government and now chair of the Grantham Research Institute...
Nov 22, 2019•33 min
Beneath the tariffs, counter-tariffs and on-again off-again negotiations between the U.S. and China over trade policy, a deeper confrontation is brewing—one with potentially bigger consequences. In a punitive, short-term move, the U.S. is preventing Chinese companies from using some American technologies. But longer-term, the tactic may trigger a “Silicon Curtain” behind which China develops homegrown tech to rival America’s. Carolynn Look reports from China on how this is playing out for busine...
Nov 14, 2019•27 min•Season 2Ep. 7
The 2020 U.S. presidential election may be a year away but one policy idea is already stirring fierce debate: a big-time tax on the richest Americans. Katia Dmitrieva reports on why Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren want to implement a wealth tax, and how it might work. Many economists have also been warming to the idea of taxing wealth. But you can't help noticing that most of the European countries that have tried wealth taxes have later junked them. Host Stephanie Flanders talks with Bloomb...
Nov 07, 2019•29 min
Economies represent the ultimate sum of millions of people and businesses making millions of decisions. And if enough of those businesses are frozen on how to respond to the U.S.-China trade war -- like the owner of a Los Angeles cosmetics company featured in this week's episode -- then the U.S. economy will be in trouble. Sarah McGregor, editor of Bloomberg's real-economy team, reports on how the businesswoman, Dara Venekeo, is being forced to consider whether to relocate her hard-built supply ...
Oct 31, 2019•23 min•Season 2Ep. 5
What is the future for international institutions like the International Monetary Fund - and what, if anything, can it do to help Argentina? These are just some of the topics in a special episode from the annual meetings of the Fund and World Bank in Washington. Stephanie speaks about the future of the world on an all-star panel with former India central bank chief Raghuram Rajan and ex-Bundesbank head Axel Weber, along with Columbia University professor Glenn Hubbard, a White House economic adv...
Oct 24, 2019•35 min•Season 2Ep. 4
Bloomberg's Travel Genius podcast is back! After clocking another hundred-thousand miles in the sky, hosts Nikki Ekstein and Mark Ellwood have a whole new series of flight hacking, restaurant sleuthing, and hotel booking tips to inspire your own getaways—along with a who's who roster of itinerant pros ready to spill their own travel secrets. From a special episode on Disney to a master class on packing, we'll go high, low, east, west, and everywhere in between. The new season starts Nov. 6. See ...
Oct 23, 2019•1 min
The macroeconomic kind of economist tends to get the most attention - talking about growth, inflation and whether interest rates should go up or down. But it’s the micro economists working away quietly on smaller parts of the economy who have typically done most to change the world. This week Stephanie Flanders talks to one of them - Harvard University’s Michael Kremer about winning the 2019 Nobel Prize for Economics with two other researchers - and how their work has transformed the way we tack...
Oct 17, 2019•28 min•Season 2Ep. 3
Growth has been slowing around the developed world — not just in recent months but for decades. One potential reason is that women are having fewer babies. On this week's Stephanomics, reporter Jeannette Neumann visits a region in Spain with the lowest fertility rate in Europe to find out why this is happening and what it means for the global economy. Host Stephanie Flanders also talks with Darrell Bricker, co-author of the book “Empty Planet,” about his theory that the global population will be...
Oct 10, 2019•30 min•Season 2Ep. 2
