More than 150 years after the end of slavery in the U.S., the net worth of a typical white family is nearly six times greater than that of the average Black family. Season 3 of The Pay Check digs into into how we got to where we are today and what can be done to narrow the yawning racial wealth gap in the U.S.Jackie Simmons and Rebecca Greenfield co-host the season, which kicks off with a personal story about land Jackie's family acquired some time after slavery that they're on the verge of losing. From there the series explores all the ways the wealth gaps manifests and the radical solutions, like affirmative action, quotas, and reparations, that can potentially lead to greater equality.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Governments spent trillions of dollars in 2020 tackling the pandemic while propping up businesses and households. But the unprecedented expenditure has awakened real concern about such high levels of borrowing. World Bank Chief Economist Carmen Reinhart says we should worry about winning the war first and how to pay for it later. She joins host Stephanie Flanders to discuss why policymakers shouldn't confuse rebound with recovery, and how a slow rollout of vaccines may cut global growth in half this year. Flanders also speaks with Bloomberg Economics’ Jamie Rush about the real cost of all that borrowing. And Bloomberg Businessweek Economics Editor Peter Coy looks at the parallels between the current crisis and that of the 1920s, and how this decade could be just as roaring. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Incoming U.S. Treasury Secretary, Janet Yellen, is discussed in a sneak preview of her tenure. The global shipping industry struggles with container shortages, impacting supply chains worldwide. Insights into Yellen's confirmation hearing and debate on stimulus package, minimum wage increase, and currency policy shift are highlighted.

Covid-19 isn't just a deadly threat to human life; it's also a mental health catastrophe with economic consequences. Fear of illness, strict lockdowns, isolation from friends and family, rising unemployment and collapsing businesses weigh on the hearts and minds of people all across the globe. But poor mental health isn’t just a symptom of economic malaise: It can also be a cause. Bloomberg economics reporter William Horobin reports from Paris about what the psychological effects of the pandemic could mean for our longer-term prosperity, and what can be done to help. Host Stephanie Flanders also speaks with Baron Richard Layard, an expert in the economics of happiness at the London School of Economics. He talks about why the coronavirus should make us rethink how we treat mental illness, how "building back better" should mean services rather than roads and railways, and why money really doesn’t make us happy. Really.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

An economy is its people. Alongside the almost 360,000 killed by the coronavirus in the U.S., there are millions more whose lives have been upended by the pandemic’s economic shock. Bloomberg senior reporter Shawn Donnan introduces one of those people as he investigates the widening inequalities across America, and host Stephanie Flanders talks with Bloomberg reporter Michael Sasso about what the results of this week’s Georgia Senate runoff could mean.Across the Atlantic, U.K. economy reporter Lizzy Burden speaks with the frustrated truck drivers stranded on the front line of Britain’s Covid and Brexit woes, desperate to get home to their families—and clean toilets. Flanders also talks with senior U.K. economist Dan Hanson about the country’s latest lockdown and its last-minute trade deal with the European Union.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The events of 2020 caught most people off guard. The global economy was upended, prompting unprecedented responses by governments and central banks while shaking up supply chains. It was also a year that made many of us rethink the way we live. On this podcast, host Stephanie Flanders leads a roundtable discussion about the year’s most memorable moments, and what 2021 may hold in store for us. She's joined by Bloomberg Editor at Large Francine Lacqua, Chief Economist Tom Orlik, former Beijing Bureau Chief Sharon Chen and Businessweek Economics Editor Peter Coy. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As a tumultuous year for the global economy comes to a close, host Stephanie Flanders speaks with someone on the front line of the policy response. Bank of England Chief Economist Andy Haldane discusses the outlook for recovery now that vaccinations have begun, how central bankers view inflation and whether the pandemic is really the answer to the productivity puzzle.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Adding robots to factories, retail stores or mines was historically seen as a job killer by workers and the unions that support them. But this year, automation has allowed sectors of the economy to continue producing with fewer people, minimizing the coronavirus risk for workers. U.S. economy reporter Olivia Rockeman explains what that might mean in the long term and what needs to happen to help the displaced.Host Stephanie Flanders talks with Harvard Economics Chair Richard Freeman about how 2020 has changed the world of work and what the future will hold. She also speaks with Bloomberg’s Chief European Economist Jamie Rush about what kind of economic boost the rollout of coronavirus vaccines could bring.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Internet companies have long been the target of complaints that they don’t pay their fair share of taxes. The system wasn’t built for a digital global economy, but how do you now impose rules on multinational tech giants? Bloomberg Economy reporter William Horobin reports from Paris on the battle to find common ground among almost 140 countries and avoid a new transatlantic trade conflict.Host Stephanie Flanders talks with Pascal Saint-Amans, director of the center for tax policy at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and the man trying to find a way through the arguments. She also speaks with Ivory Coast reporter Leanne de Bassompierre about a very different trade spat between the chocolate makers we all know and love and the West African nations that produce their cocoa. It’s a fight that might play out in the price of your Hershey’s kisses this Christmas.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In Washington, personnel is policy. The people President-elect Joe Biden has picked to run economic policy can tell us a lot about what we might expect from the next administration. Bloomberg Businessweek Economics Editor Peter Coy introduces us to the key players and explains what Bidenomics could look like. Then host Stephanie Flanders speaks with Harvard University Professor Jason Furman, former chair of the Council of Economic Advisers under President Barack Obama. He says the U.S. should stop worrying about debt and rethink fiscal policy, explaining why members of the new administration, many of whom he considers friends, are the right people for the job.Finally, with less than five weeks before the U.K. leaves the European Union, Flanders talks with Bloomberg finance reporter Viren Vaghela about the damage already done to London’s financial industry and what’s at stake if the trickle of jobs and money leaving Britain becomes a flood.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.