Trumponomics

The world's most powerful central bank kept interest rates unchanged today, but the Federal Reserve also suggested an increase is imminent -- perhaps as soon as December. Join Dan, Scott and Fed reporter Matt Boesler on a special Benchmark podcast to figure out what's new and what's not.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Can a nation's entire economy fit on one smartphone app? In China, that day is almost here. More than 700 million Chinese -- more than double the entire U.S. population -- use WeChat. It's an all-purpose super-app that does the job of Facebook, Uber, Paypal, Tinder and many other apps, making it an invaluable tool for the Asian nation's rising middle class. That's helped give WeChat's parent Tencent, a stock-market valuation larger than any other company outside the U.S. -- even bigger than Wal-Mart. But does WeChat actually contribute to China's GDP? Or are there better ways to measure its value? Economist Gan Li, who splits his time between the U.S. and China, and Dune Lawrence, a former Bloomberg correspondent in Beijing, join Kate and Scott to pin down the answers.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

More than a decade after the first Internet boom, U.S. productivity growth has stagnated and the economy has been unable to break out of 2 percent expansion. This situation is testing even the most optimistic of forecasters, but in contrast to our recent guest Robert Gordon, MIT professor Erik Brynjolfsson is unbowed. Brynjolfsson -- who's also director of MIT's Initiative on the Digital Economy, and co-author of the book "The Second Machine Age" -- joins Daniel Moss and Scott Lanman to explain why he thinks the current wave of advances in technology means we don't have to worry about secular stagnation after all.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sometimes the monthly U.S. jobs report delivers a clear signal on the labor market and the economy. This is not one of those times. Fortunately, the Bloomberg Benchmark crew is here to talk about the burning questions raised by the latest report, including the implications for the Federal Reserve and what the wage numbers mean. In this special bonus episode of the Benchmark podcast, reporter Jeanna Smialek joins hosts Dan Moss and Scott Lanman to break it all down.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Happily ever after doesn't come cheap in the U.S. Couples looking to tie the knot pay an average of about $30,000 between things like caterers, flowers and photographers to capture the day. But why is it that weddings cost more than other large-scale parties? In this week's Benchmark, former White House economic adviser Austan Goolsbee explains how the concepts that we learned in freshman year economics class determine why celebrating eternal love costs so much. Kate Smith is also joined by guest host Brian Chappatta, a government bonds reporter at Bloomberg News and soon-to-be married man, who gives us his experience in planning a wedding.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When phone companies implored U.S. customers in 2003 to text more because they were lagging behind the rest of the world, it was all over. Almost. While we're used to a dizzying array of new apps each month and new "sharing economy" companies such as Uber and AirBnB transform the way we do business, one of the greatest periods of U.S. productivity was already behind us by 2005. The little gadgets we're addicted to now are nothing compared with the invention and adoption of the electric light, indoor plumbing and the automobile. That's according to Robert J. Gordon, author of "The Rise and Fall of American Growth" and a professor at Northwestern University. There's not much on the horizon to change all that, Gordon tells Scott Lanman and Daniel Moss. But take heart: A recession isn't likely anytime soon!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week the Benchmark team takes a look at one of South Korea's most promising new exports: beauty products. Seoul is pivoting away from the country's reliance on government-sponsored companies like Samsung and LG and instead attempting to capitalize on its multi-generation tradition of expensive, multi-step skincare regimens. Women - and men - around the world are buying into the trend, helping overseas beauty sales for Korean beauty products to rise 73 last year. Co-hosts Kate Smith and Scott Lanman are joined by Nina Bahadur, a senior editor at Conde Nast, and Alicia Yoon, founder of the cult K-beauty e-commerce company Peach and Lily, to see just how much fancy face creams are helping South Korea's economy.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As much as economics permeates our lives, the concepts behind the subject can often be rather dry. Fortunately, the smash Broadway musical "Hamilton" takes some of those concepts and sets them to catchy hip-hop tunes. Matt Rousu, an economics professor at Susquehanna University in Pennsylvania, is already creating lessons for his students based on some of the musical's songs as well as numbers in other Broadway shows. Scott Lanman and Dan Moss break down some of the music with Matt and find the connections between the songs and talking about the Federal Reserve -- who knew?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Now that slavery, of all things, has popped up as one of the weirder talking points in the bizarre U.S. presidential campaign, we figured it might be time to examine just how much of a link slavery -- and everything it connotes -- has to do with international economics. And yes, we did get into Brazil just last week, but with the Olympics starting this month, what better region to focus on than Latin America? Join Dan Moss and Kate Smith, along with Sao Paulo-born Vivianne Rodrigues, who runs economic and government news in the region, as we discuss why some nations clung so long to plantation-based economies that they lagged in making the leap to industrialization.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Police strikes, threats of Zika and a $20 billion tab: Welcome to the 2016 Summer Olympics games in Brazil. But Rio's position isn't just matter of bad luck. It was actually self-imposed. Every four years countries vie to be the next host of the summer Olympics, despite cautionary tales of unnecessary stadium spending from places like Montreal and Athens. What is it about sports that make otherwise rational politicians make irrational decisions? To help answer that question, Dan and Kate are joined this week by Neil deMause, an expert in the world of publicly financed sports facilities.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.