

IMF Podcasts
IMF Podcasts
Listen to the World's top economists discuss their research and deconstruct global economic trends.
Episodes
Mentioned books

May 5, 2022 • 22min
Women in Economics: Clair Brown's Holistic Approach
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/

Apr 28, 2022 • 15min
Perspectives pour l'Afrique subsaharienne: Nouveau choc, peu de marge de manœuvre
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.

Apr 28, 2022 • 14min
Sub-Saharan Africa Outlook: New Shock, Little Room to Maneuver
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

Apr 22, 2022 • 26min
Giovanni Peri on the Economic Impact of Ukrainian Migration
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

Apr 19, 2022 • 16min
Global Financial Stability: Implications of the War in Ukraine
While financial stability risks have risen on several fronts since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, the latest Global Financial Stability Report (GFSR) says no global systemic event affecting financial institutions or markets has materialized so far. Fabio Natalucci heads the GFSR as well as IMF Global Financial Markets Monitoring. In this podcast, he says stronger banking systems, higher capital and higher liquidity have helped to absorb the shock, but an intensification of the war could further test the resilience of the global financial system. Transcript: https://bit.ly/36qyl7D Read the full report at IMF.org/GFSR Read the blog at blogs.imf.org

Apr 14, 2022 • 22min
Kristalina Georgieva: Crisis Upon Crisis: How the World Can Respond
Just as many countries were beginning to feel the grip of the pandemic start to ease, another global calamity is threatening the recovery. In her customary curtain-raiser speech to the IMF-World Bank Spring Meetings, IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said the war in Ukraine has disrupted millions of lives and many aspects of the global economy. Transcript: https://bit.ly/3KJjeFt Go to IMF.org to follow the Spring Meetings and find all the IMF flagship reports, including the World Economic Outlook, the Global Financial Stability Report, and the Fiscal Monitor.

Apr 13, 2022 • 27min
Ruchir Agarwal and Miles Kimball on Electronic Money and Inflation
Most people and virtually all businesses now use electronic money for their transactions, yet central banks are still dealing with what's known among economists as the paper currency problem, which limits central banks' ability to use deep negative rates to fight recessions. In this second episode of a two-part series on inflation, economists Miles Kimball and Ruchir Agarwal discuss how fully committing to an electronic money standard would allow central banks to break the zero lower bound associated with paper currency and help them to fight both inflation and recessions more effectively, including by lowering the inflation target. Transcript: https://bit.ly/3vncUwW Miles Kimball is a professor at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and Ruchir Agarwal is a senior economist in the IMF Research Department. This podcast series is based on their inflation trilogy published in Finance and Development. Read the articles at IMF.org/fandd

Apr 8, 2022 • 22min
Ruchir Agarwal and Miles Kimball on Negative Interest Rates and Inflation
Everyone feels the pinch when inflation is on the rise and so the pressure on central banks to manage inflation rates has grown exponentially in recent weeks. In this first podcast of a two-part series on inflation, distinguished economists Miles Kimball and Ruchir Agarwal discuss how a robust negative interest rate policy can help central banks better control inflation and stabilize the economy. Transcript: https://bit.ly/3xlHFEK Miles Kimball is a professor at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and Ruchir Agarwal is a senior economist in the IMF Research Department. This podcast series is based on their inflation trilogy published in Finance and Development. Read the article at IMF.org/fandd

Mar 31, 2022 • 15min
Yamini Aiyar on the Education Pandemic
The pandemic has sparked an enormous upheaval in education around the world. But in India and many other low-income countries where remote learning is often not an option, children's education has simply fallen off the rails. Yamini Aiyar is President of the Centre for Policy Research in New Delhi. In this podcast, Aiyar speaks with journalist Rhoda Metcalfe about how the digital divide has pushed poor kids into an educational deficit that could reverberate for years. Transcript: https://bit.ly/3NBfWpk Yamini Aiyar is also the author of The Education Pandemic published in Finance and Development. Read more about bridging learning gaps amongst children here

Mar 25, 2022 • 29min
Foreign Policy Live with Kristalina Georgieva and Gita Gopinath
The last two years have proven a test for the global financial system, and the nature of the crises is getting more complex by the day. In this podcast, Foreign Policy magazine's Ravi Agrawal asks the IMF's two top leaders how governments should respond to the growing number of challenges facing the global economy. Transcript: https://bit.ly/382IPKX Watch the webcast at https://foreignpolicy.com/events/