The use of economic sanctions has surged in recent decades. But what does the evidence say about their effectiveness in influencing the actions of other countries? And under what conditions are sanctions more likely to achieve their goals? Daniel Drezner joins EconoFact Chats to discuss these questions. Dan is a Professor of International Politics at the Fletcher School at Tufts University, and a non-resident senior fellow at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. He is also a regular contributor to Foreign Policy, and the Washington Post.

U.S. unemployment remains low while inflation has fallen, even though it remains above its 2 percent target. But there remain public concerns about the economy. Binyamin Appelbaum of The New York Times, Scott Horsley of NPR, Greg Ip of The Wall Street Journal, and Heather Long of The Washington Post join EconoFact Chats to discuss some of the sources of current economic discontentment among voters, as well as issues related to the longer-run performance of the economy, such as inequality, housing, and manufacturing competitiveness.

“Grexit,” Greece dropping out of the Eurozone, seemed the most likely outcome of that country’s debt crisis in the early 2010s. There were fears that Grexit would be followed by a more widespread splintering of the Eurozone. But Greece and its creditors came to an agreement that enabled the country to service its debt and contributed to its subsequent recovery (and the preservation of the Eurozone). In a striking turnaround, Greece was named the 2023 “Country of the Year” by The Economist magazine. Charles Dallara (Partners Group) recounts the resolution of this crisis, the Greek recovery, and his role in getting Greece and its creditors to come to agreement, in his new book 'Euroshock: How the Largest Debt Restructuring in History Helped Save Greece and Preserve the Eurozone,' which he discusses in this EconoFact Chats episode, along with the lessons of this experience for the current high-debt conditions today. Charles is Chairman and Advisory Partner at Partners Group. At the time of the Greek crisis he was the Managing Partner of the Institute for International Finance. Before that he spent nearly four decades working on international economic policy issues, including at the United States Treasury.

The spring 2024 edition of the IMF's influential World Economic Outlook (WEO) projects 'steady but slow' growth of the world economy over the next two years. But Maurice Obstfeld, widely recognized as among the world’s leading expert in international economics, notes that while the recovery from the pandemic has proved surprisingly resilient, the WEO forecast could be derailed by the buildup of unsustainable debt, rising great-power competition, the adverse effects of accelerating climate change or another pandemic. Maury is a Senior Fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics and Professor of Economics Emeritus at UC Berkeley. He served as a member of President Obama’s Council of Economic Advisors, and from 2015 to 2018, as Chief Economist at the International Monetary Fund.

Michael Klein speaks with Michael Keen and Joel Slemrod about their new book, Rebellion, Rascals and Revenue: Tax Follies and Wisdom Through the Ages, highlighting the challenges governments face when taxing their citizens, how taxes alter people's behavior, and the difficulty in assessing who bears the burden of a particular tax. Note: This podcast was first published on 29th March, 2021.

Argentina has, in the last 120 years, fallen from one of the richest countries in the world to one that has seen numerous episodes when national income cratered, multiple debt defaults (forcing it to turn repeatedly to the IMF for bailouts), and hyperinflation. What have been the sources of these crises? Are the radical plans of the country’s new president, Javier Milei, likely to turn the corner on the past? Alejandro Werner joins EconoFact Senior Advisor Charles Collyns to discuss the history of Argentina’s economy, the problems it currently faces, and its prospects for recovery. Currently Director of the Georgetown Americas Institute, Alejandro served as a senior official in the Mexican Finance Ministry, and subsequently as Director of the IMF’s Western Hemisphere Department.

In 2019, the U.S. Congressional Budget Office projected that net immigration in 2023 would total 1 million. More recent estimates from the agency put net immigration for 2023 at 3.3 million. How has increased immigration affected the post-COVID economic recovery in the U.S.? More broadly, what role does immigration play in the American economy? What parts of the economy are particularly dependent on non-native born workers? And with low birth rates, how important is immigration for continued economic growth, and for the solvency of Social Security and Medicare? Tara Watson joins EconoFact Chats to discuss these issues. Tara is a Professor of Economics at Williams College. She served as Deputy Assistant Secretary at the U.S. Treasury from 2015 to 2016, and is currently a Rubenstein Fellow at the Brookings Institution.

In the wake of COVID, many colleges dropped SAT and ACT test requirements. Recently however, schools including Dartmouth, Yale, and Brown have mandated standardized test scores once again. Could the move hurt less economically privileged applicants? David Deming joins EconoFact Chats to highlight that even though standardized tests can be gamed by more privileged students through extensive test preparation, and retaking of tests, they remain less biased than other factors that can help students stand out in the admissions process. And getting rid of standardized testing, or even going ‘test optional,’ could make the problem of privilege in college admissions worse, instead of better. David is the Isabelle and Scott Black Professor of Political Economy, and Academic Dean at the Harvard Kennedy School.

Economic analysis does not offer many answers when it comes to valuing efficiency gains versus disruptions to people and communities from changes brought about by international trade or technological change. Jeff Frieden joins EconoFact Chats to highlight that politics, while often messy, remains one of the only ways societies put a value on things economists can’t easily measure. Jeff is a Professor of Government at Harvard University. His research focuses on the politics of international economic relations.

At over $840 billion, the United States Department of Defense budget request for 2024 accounts for ~3% of national income, almost half of all Federal discretionary budget outlays, and over 35% of global military spending. Michael E. O’Hanlon of the Brookings Institution joins EconoFact Chats to put these figures in historical context, and discuss how decisions about the size and type of defense expenditures the U.S. undertakes are made. Michael is a Senior Fellow and the Director of Research in Foreign Policy at the Brookings Institution. He also serves as a member of the Defense Policy Board at the U.S. Department of Defense.