The war in Ukraine and the rise of emerging market economies have opened a new chapter in international relations, with important implications for the global economic order. Like an earthquake, the war has an epicenter, located in Russia and Ukraine, but its seismic waves are impacting economies far and wide and revealing a shift in the underlying geopolitical tectonic plates. In this podcast, IMF Chief Economist, Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas discusses what fragmentation of the global economy might mean for the dominance of the US dollar in the international monetary and financial system.  Transcript: https://bit.ly/3N4ZOei Read the article at IMF.org/fandd

Welcome to Fintech Forward, a new IMF podcast series with a focus on financial technology. Fintech has grown exponentially in recent years and prompted a paradigm shift in virtually all areas of finance, with significant implications for financial stability. Fintech Forward, hosted by IMF economist Tara Iyer, will draw from the expertise of the IMF Monetary and Capital Markets Department to better understand the impact of emerging technologies on financial systems and local economies around the world. In this first episode, Tobias Adrian, Director of the IMF's Monetary and Capital Markets Department, says fintech is causing nothing less than a revolution in the global financial system. Transcript: https://bit.ly/3aQSqWH

When women begin to participate more in the economy, good things happen. There's more growth, less inequality, and greater financial stability. So, why is women's labor force participation still so low in so many countries? Katharine Christopherson is an Assistant General Counsel in the IMF legal Department and coauthor of some new research that looks at the legal impediments to women’s economic activity across the globe. In this podcast, journalist Rhoda Metcalfe and Katharine Christopherson discuss the outdated laws that hold women back and what drives countries to reform them. Transcript: https://bit.ly/3xbEO0P

Most of the goods we purchase travel across the oceans in steel containers aboard the largest ships ever to sail the seas. But the pandemic and ensuing lockdowns knocked the wind from their sails and disrupted the entire global shipping network, causing supply shortages and soaring shipping costs. IMF economist Yan Carrière-Swallow has studied the macroeconomic impact of shocks to ocean freight, and in this podcast, he says shipping costs are an important driver of inflation around the world.  Transcript: https://bit.ly/3GjIdxD Yan Carrière-Swallow is coauthor along with Pragyan Deb, Davide Furceri, Daniel Jimenez, and Jonathan Ostry, of Shipping Costs and Inflation available at IMF.org.

Economies grow better when they are more equal, and taxation is a powerful tool to help reduce inequalities. But increasingly, the international tax system is doing the opposite of that by allowing corporations and the world's wealthiest people to avoid paying their fair share. The Tax Justice Network estimates the combined global revenue losses from cross-border tax abuse by people with undeclared offshore assets and of multinational companies amount to some $483 billion a year. Alex Cobham is Chief Executive of the Tax Justice Network, and in this podcast, he speaks with journalist Rhoda Metcalfe about his article Taxing for a New Social Contract in Finance and Development. Transcript: https://bit.ly/3sG6rMI Read the article at IMF.org/fandd

Fragility and conflict have forced hundreds of millions of people to live outside of state control without access to basic services. And with violent conflict on the rise, two-thirds of the world's poorest could soon be living in fragile and conflict affected states. The International Committee of the Red Cross is one of the world's most important providers of humanitarian assistance and works at the front line of most conflicts across the globe. In this podcast, ICRC President, Peter Maurer discusses the importance of including the expertise of economists in their humanitarian work and the significance of the IMF's new strategy to strengthen its support to fragile and conflict affected states. Transcript: https://bit.ly/3P8coMh

Becoming an economist in the 1970s- for a woman, was a lonely road. When Clair Brown joined the Department of Economics at UC Berkeley in 1974 alongside people like Nobel laureate George Akerlof, she was the only female faculty member. But thanks to Brown's prodding, the department hired more women and Berkeley has since become well known for its female economists. Brown has always seen the power of diversity in her work. In 2013 she helped create a new graduate program called Development Engineering that teams engineers with economists to develop technologies that benefit developing regions. Today, she's advocating for a new, more sustainable approach to economic thinking in her book, Buddhist Economics. Journalist, Rhoda Metcalfe spoke with Clair Brown for our special series on extraordinary Women in Economics.                                Transcript: https://bit.ly/388DzG3 Book: http://buddhisteconomics.net/

La reprise économique en Afrique subsaharienne a surpris à la hausse au second semestre 2021, mais ces progrès ont été compromis cette année par l'invasion russe de l'Ukraine. La guerre a déclenché un choc économique mondial qui frappe la région à un moment où la capacité de réaction des pays est minime, voire inexistante. Papa N'Diaye dirige l'équipe qui produit les Perspectives économiques régionales pour l'Afrique subsaharienne. Dans ce podcast, il affirme que la croissance a de nouveau ralenti et ne suffira pas à rattraper le terrain perdu.

The economic recovery in sub-Saharan Africa surprised on the upside in the second half of 2021, but that progress has been jeopardized this year by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The war has triggered a global economic shock that is hitting the region at a time when countries’ ability to respond is minimal to nonexistent. Papa N’Diaye leads the team that produces the Regional Economic Outlook for sub-Saharan Africa. In this podcast, he says growth has slowed once again and will not be enough to make up for lost ground. Transcript: https://bit.ly/3OIo6N8 Read the report at IMF.org

The war in Ukraine has sparked one of the biggest refugee crises of modern times. So, can Europe afford to accommodate the millions of people coming across its borders? Giovanni Peri says while a crisis of this scale will imply significant upfront costs, the European Union is doing right by investing in the human capital of refugees. Peri heads the Global Migration Center at UC Davis, and in this podcast, he says Ukrainian migrants are an opportunity for many European countries that are experiencing aging populations and labor shortages.  Transcript: https://bit.ly/3jY7cMn