Wall Street Week Wall Street Week | 25 Years of Markets
Dec 19, 2025
Dive into 25 years of economic upheaval and transformation! Explore major shocks like Y2K, the Great Recession, and the pandemic that reshaped capitalism. Discover insights on wealth inequality trends, retail investors' impact, and the rise of meme stocks. Delve into China's global ambitions and the challenges they pose. Engage with discussions on technology's evolution, from the tech boom to the rise of AI. Reflect on continuous market turbulence and the defining role of innovation in our future.
AI Snips
Chapters
Transcript
Episode notes
Quarter Century Defined By Recurrent Shocks
- The first 25 years of the century were reshaped by recurrent shocks: Y2K fears, the dot-com bust, the Great Recession, and COVID.
- Those events forced big policy pivots and altered public trust in markets and capitalism.
Low Rates Surprised Economists
- Interest rates stayed unusually low despite rising deficits, surprising many economists.
- That allowed more borrowing and changed fiscal responses to crises across the period.
Globalization Kept Inflation Low
- Globalization and immigration held down inflation for decades by keeping goods and wage pressures low.
- Recent deglobalization, immigration limits, and COVID supply shocks revived upward inflation pressure.