Just when inflation seemed to finally be cooling, high interest rates claimed their first major victim: Silicon Valley Bank. And yet, central banks around the world claim the job is not finished, and more needs to be done to curb runaway inflation. But for some economists and business insiders, the latest debacle confirms a long held belief that central banks have largely failed as public institutions. Their supposed neutrality is a farce, and they are inherently political bodies run by unelecte...
Apr 26, 2023•44 min•Transcript available on Metacast Friday Focus provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving the news and current events. The show features Janice Gross Stein, the founding director of the Munk School of Global Affairs and bestselling author, in conversation with Rudyard Griffiths, Chair and moderator of the Munk Debates. The following is a sample of the Munk Debates’ weekly current affairs podcast, Friday Focus. On this week’s edition of the Friday Focus podcast, Janice an...
Apr 21, 2023•24 min•Ep 70•Transcript available on Metacast The indictment of Donald Trump is an historic event. The 45th president of the United States now holds the unique distinction of being the first president to face criminal prosecution in the country’s history. Some legal experts believe that prosecuting Trump sets a dangerous precedent that will open an era of politically motivated prosecutions undermining democracy and the rule of law. Future presidents will be more likely to stay in office – through undemocratic means – in order to avoid trial...
Apr 17, 2023•49 min•Transcript available on Metacast Friday Focus provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving the news and current events. The show features Janice Gross Stein, the founding director of the Munk School of Global Affairs and bestselling author, in conversation with Rudyard Griffiths, Chair and moderator of the Munk Debates. The following is a sample of the Munk Debates’ weekly current affairs podcast, Friday Focus. On this week’s edition of the Friday Focus podcast, Janice an...
Apr 14, 2023•20 min•Ep 69•Transcript available on Metacast With inflation remaining high despite rising interest rates, many economists are looking for new solutions to bring inflation down without triggering a recession. On this Munk Dialogue, we’re joined by Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody's Analytics, who gives us some insight into why the situation might not be as dire as some believe, and offers up some proposals on how to get inflation under control without raising rates. The host of the Munk Debates is Rudyard Griffiths - @rudyardg . Tweet y...
Apr 11, 2023•53 min•Transcript available on Metacast Friday Focus provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving the news and current events. The show features Janice Gross Stein, the founding director of the Munk School of Global Affairs and bestselling author, in conversation with Rudyard Griffiths, Chair and moderator of the Munk Debates. The following is a sample of the Munk Debates’ weekly current affairs podcast, Friday Focus. On this week’s edition of the Friday Focus podcast, Janice an...
Apr 07, 2023•19 min•Ep 68•Transcript available on Metacast Nearly a quarter of the way through the 21st century, there is no doubt that governments and businesses around the world have made tremendous progress in stemming their carbon emissions. But we still have a long way to go if we are to reach a goal of net zero emissions by 2050. For certain scientists, business owners, and public officials, net zero by 2050 is a chimera, and the costs associated with denying this reality will be tremendous. Replacing an entire global economy’s reliance on fossil ...
Apr 05, 2023•44 min•Ep 14•Transcript available on Metacast Friday Focus provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving the news and current events. The show features Janice Gross Stein, the founding director of the Munk School of Global Affairs and bestselling author, in conversation with Rudyard Griffiths, Chair and moderator of the Munk Debates. The following is a sample of the Munk Debates’ weekly current affairs podcast, Friday Focus. On this week’s edition of the Friday Focus podcast, Janice an...
Mar 31, 2023•26 min•Ep 67•Transcript available on Metacast Over half a million people have taken to the streets in the biggest protest movement the country has ever seen in response to Prime Minister’s Benjamin Netanyahu’s controversial plan to overhaul the judiciary and give unprecedented legal powers to the government. Michael Oren, the former Israeli ambassador to the US and Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s office, joins us for a Munk Dialogue about what he sees as a clash of two Israels: On the one side is a liberal and secular faction that w...
Mar 27, 2023•46 min•Transcript available on Metacast Friday Focus provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving the news and current events. The show features Janice Gross Stein, the founding director of the Munk School of Global Affairs and bestselling author, in conversation with Rudyard Griffiths, Chair and moderator of the Munk Debates. The following is a sample of the Munk Debates’ weekly current affairs podcast, Friday Focus. On this week’s edition of the Friday Focus podcast, Janice an...
Mar 24, 2023•21 min•Ep 66•Transcript available on Metacast Seemingly overnight, Chat GPT has exploded out of the deepest corners of the emerging tech space and into the mainstream, capturing the imaginations of everyone from students to CEOs. But with any new exciting technology, there tend to be more questions than answers. For the creators of Chat GPT, tech writers, and other AI evangelists, this is a Sputnik level moment in tech, and will have far ranging and transformational consequences for the future. The impact of this revolutionary technology is...
Mar 22, 2023•39 min•Ep 12•Transcript available on Metacast Friday Focus provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving the news and current events. The show features Janice Gross Stein, the founding director of the Munk School of Global Affairs and bestselling author, in conversation with Rudyard Griffiths, Chair and moderator of the Munk Debates. The following is a sample of the Munk Debates’ weekly current affairs podcast, Friday Focus. On this week’s edition of the Friday Focus podcast, Janice an...
Mar 17, 2023•18 min•Ep 65•Transcript available on Metacast Israel is facing its biggest internal confrontation since its founding in 1948. Army reservists are refusing to be called in to serve. Former Mossad chiefs are denouncing the government. Hundreds of thousands of protesters are taking to the streets. And businesses are fleeing the country en masse. What precipitated this conflict? What’s at stake? And can Israel remain a liberal democracy under Benjamin Netanyahu’s extremist coalition and the judicial reforms they are hoping to pass? Vivian Berco...
Mar 13, 2023•46 min•Transcript available on Metacast Friday Focus provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving the news and current events. The show features Janice Gross Stein, the founding director of the Munk School of Global Affairs and bestselling author, in conversation with Rudyard Griffiths, Chair and moderator of the Munk Debates. The following is a sample of the Munk Debates’ weekly current affairs podcast, Friday Focus. On this week’s edition of the Friday Focus podcast, Janice an...
Mar 10, 2023•19 min•Ep 64•Transcript available on Metacast With Nikki Haley entering the fray, The GOP primary contest has officially begun. Many more candidates are expected to announce here in the coming weeks. But of all the potential challengers, one has emerged as the odds on favorite to defeat the Republican standard bearer Donald Trump. Current Governor of Florida Ron DeSantis has proven himself a formidable political operator, many in the party elite think that the future of the party belongs in his capable hands. He is polling very well, he has...
Mar 07, 2023•40 min•Ep 10•Transcript available on Metacast Friday Focus provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving the news and current events. The show features Janice Gross Stein, the founding director of the Munk School of Global Affairs and bestselling author, in conversation with Rudyard Griffiths, Chair and moderator of the Munk Debates. The following is a sample of the Munk Debates’ weekly current affairs podcast, Friday Focus. On this week’s edition of the Friday Focus podcast, Janice an...
Mar 03, 2023•24 min•Ep 63•Transcript available on Metacast In 2015, the world’s leaders attempted to address the major problems facing mankind by setting the Sustainable Development Goals, a compilation of 169 targets to be hit by 2030. On this Munk Dialogue, we’re joined by Bjorn Lomborg, President of The Copenhagen Consensus, who argues that we need a total rethink in how we tackle and overcome our biggest challenges. This new strategy, the culmination of a partnership between several Nobel laureates and more than a hundred leading economists, aims to...
Feb 28, 2023•44 min•Transcript available on Metacast Friday Focus provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving the news and current events. The show features Janice Gross Stein, the founding director of the Munk School of Global Affairs and bestselling author, in conversation with Rudyard Griffiths, Chair and moderator of the Munk Debates. The following is a sample of the Munk Debates’ weekly current affairs podcast, Friday Focus. On this week’s edition of the Friday Focus podcast, Janice an...
Feb 24, 2023•14 min•Ep 62•Transcript available on Metacast With the death of Queen Elizabeth, one of the longest serving monarchs in world history, the commonwealth is adjusting to a new normal and a new face of the firm, Charles III. “God Save the Queen” is back to “God Save the King”, there’s a new face on postage stamps, a new face on the pound, and a slew of other changes big and small. But above all, Britain is grappling with their identity, and what the monarchy means for them today. For some, this means that the time has finally come to do away w...
Feb 22, 2023•39 min•Ep 8•Transcript available on Metacast Friday Focus provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving the news and current events. The show features Janice Gross Stein, the founding director of the Munk School of Global Affairs and bestselling author, in conversation with Rudyard Griffiths, Chair and moderator of the Munk Debates. The following is a sample of the Munk Debates’ weekly current affairs podcast, Friday Focus. On this week’s edition of the Friday Focus podcast, Janice an...
Feb 17, 2023•20 min•Ep 61•Transcript available on Metacast 2022 was not a great year for the world’s so-called “strong men”. The defeat of Bolsonaro in Brazil, the political isolation of Donald Trump, the military miscalculations of Putin and the disastrous COVID policies of Xi Jinping has weakened the hold these men had over their parties and institutions. On this episode of the Munk Dialogues, we’re joined by chief foreign affairs columnist for the Financial Times, Gideon Rachman, whose latest book, The Age of the Strong Man , was named one of the top...
Feb 14, 2023•44 min•Ep 7•Transcript available on Metacast Friday Focus provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving the news and current events. The show features Janice Gross Stein, the founding director of the Munk School of Global Affairs and bestselling author, in conversation with Rudyard Griffiths, Chair and moderator of the Munk Debates. The following is a sample of the Munk Debates’ weekly current affairs podcast, Friday Focus. On this week’s edition of the Friday Focus podcast, Janice an...
Feb 10, 2023•15 min•Ep 60•Transcript available on Metacast For the first time in almost three years, most white collar professionals are back in the office, at least some of the time. The pandemic unleashed sweeping, societal change virtually overnight, and among the largest of those changes, was the way that we work. But now, almost three years later, we have returned to some semblance of normalcy. But hybrid and flexible work schedules have persisted. And for many managers, consultants, and economists, the cat may be out of the bag for good. These fol...
Feb 07, 2023•40 min•Ep 6•Transcript available on Metacast Friday Focus provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving the news and current events. The show features Janice Gross Stein, the founding director of the Munk School of Global Affairs and bestselling author, in conversation with Rudyard Griffiths, Chair and moderator of the Munk Debates. The following is a sample of the Munk Debates’ weekly current affairs podcast, Friday Focus. On this week’s edition of the Friday Focus podcast, Janice an...
Feb 03, 2023•14 min•Ep 59•Transcript available on Metacast It’s the annual event that no major businessman or policy-maker dares to miss. Among the famous attendees of the most recent World Economic Forum in Davos were the CEO’s of Amazon, BlackRock, Pfizer, JPMorgan Chase, the head of the FBI, publisher of The New York Times , and heads of states from all corners of the earth. This exclusive get together of the world’s elite has a noble mission statement: to improve the state of the world through public-private participation. Critics of the forum, howe...
Feb 02, 2023•50 min•Ep 5•Transcript available on Metacast Friday Focus provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving the news and current events. The show features Janice Gross Stein, the founding director of the Munk School of Global Affairs and bestselling author, in conversation with Rudyard Griffiths, Chair and moderator of the Munk Debates. The following is a sample of the Munk Debates’ weekly current affairs podcast, Friday Focus. On this week’s edition of the Friday Focus podcast, Janice an...
Jan 27, 2023•18 min•Ep 58•Transcript available on Metacast 2023 is here, and with it come new year's resolutions, a new congress, and the unofficial start date for 2024 primary campaigning. Joe Biden’s first two years in office have certainly been a bit of a mixed bag. He has passed some monumental, bipartisan legislation like the Inflation Reduction Act, Infrastructure Bill, and COVID aid. But he’s also had quite a few bobbles. Afghanistan, Student Debt Relief, and a bleak economic landscape. All of this begs the question, is Biden really the best pers...
Jan 25, 2023•38 min•Ep 4•Transcript available on Metacast Friday Focus provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving the news and current events. The show features Janice Gross Stein, the founding director of the Munk School of Global Affairs and bestselling author, in conversation with Rudyard Griffiths, Chair and moderator of the Munk Debates. The following is a sample of the Munk Debates’ weekly current affairs podcast, Friday Focus. On this week’s edition of the Friday Focus podcast, Janice an...
Jan 20, 2023•16 min•Ep 57•Transcript available on Metacast One might assume, based on the film depictions of famous drug lords like Pablo Escobar and El Chapo, that the heyday of cocaine and its production in Latin America was during the 1980’s and 1990’s. According to journalist and author Toby Muse, those assumptions are dead wrong. South America, he argues, is producing more cocaine than ever before, reaching corners of the earth previously untouched by the deadly drug. Toby joins us for a fascinating discussion about how this dangerous and illegal i...
Jan 18, 2023•39 min•Ep 3•Transcript available on Metacast Friday Focus provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving the news and current events. The show features Janice Gross Stein, the founding director of the Munk School of Global Affairs and bestselling author, in conversation with Rudyard Griffiths, Chair and moderator of the Munk Debates. The following is a sample of the Munk Debates’ weekly current affairs podcast, Friday Focus. On this week’s edition of the Friday Focus podcast, Janice an...
Jan 13, 2023•10 min•Ep 56•Transcript available on Metacast 
