IMF Podcasts

La planète reste aux prises avec une pandémie qui dure et avec une accélération des changements climatiques. Les solutions à ces défis internationaux doivent mobiliser tous les pays et toutes les régions, y compris l'Afrique subsaharienne, qui possède la population la moins vaccinée au monde et des écosystèmes critiques. La croissance de la région devrait s'établir à 3,7 % en 2021, puis à 3,8 % en 2022. Cela fait suite à la forte contraction de 2020, mais représente toujours la reprise la plus lente par rapport aux autres régions. Papa N'Diaye dirige l'équipe qui produit les perspectives économiques régionales pour l'Afrique subsaharienne. Dans ce podcast, il dit que l'accès aux vaccins est toujours la priorité pour la région.

The world remains in the grip of the pandemic and a seemingly accelerating pace of climate change. Solutions to these global problems must involve all countries and regions, especially sub-Saharan Africa, with the world's least vaccinated population and critical ecosystems. Sub-Saharan Africa's economy is set to expand by 3.7 percent in 2021 and 3.8 percent in 2022. This follows the sharp contraction in 2020, but still represents the slowest recovery relative to other regions. Papa N'Diaye leads the team that produces the Regional Economic Outlook for sub-Saharan Africa. In this podcast, he says access to vaccines is still the priority for the region. Transcript: https://bit.ly/3ppx8EP

The Women in Economics series showcases extraordinary work by extraordinary women in a field dominated by men. In this second episode, journalist Rhoda Metcalfe speaks with Jayati Ghosh, Professor of Economics at University of Massachusetts Amherst, whose work on gender issues and the public value of care work gives voice to the unpaid caregivers who form the economic base for societies around the world. In this podcast, Ghosh says our whole notion of productivity is skewed because most care work is not captured in GDP. Transcript: https://bit.ly/3lUclqA

While the World Economic Outlook shows output in advanced economies set to exceed pre-pandemic levels next year, prospects for low-income countries and emerging markets have darkened considerably due to vaccine shortages and limited support. Overall, the outlook's global growth projection for 2021 has been revised down marginally to 5.9 percent and is unchanged for 2022 at 4.9 percent. The downgrade also reflects continuing supply disruptions and the impact on advanced economies. IMF Chief Economist, Gita Gopinath heads the WEO. In this podcast, she says universal vaccine access remains key for an equitable global recovery. Transcript Transcript: https://bit.ly/3BBV2zZ Read the blog at: blogs.imf.org

The latest Global Financial Stability Report takes a close look at how recent supply chain disruptions, wage pressures and inflation might compromise the stability of the global financial system. Fabio Natalucci is Deputy Director of the Monetary and Capital Markets Department and heads the GFSR. In this podcast, he says while risks have been contained so far, vulnerabilities remain in a number of sectors including the housing market, where house prices have unexpectedly surged during the pandemic. Transcript Read the blog at blogs.imf.org Read the report at imf.org/GFSR

The crypto ecosystem is growing fast because there are a number of potential benefits to adopting crypto assets, like making payments and financial services cheaper, faster and accessible to more people. But the rapid growth and increasing adoption of crypto assets are posing new challenges to financial stability. Analysis in the latest Global Financial Stability Report takes a deep dive into the world of crypto and calls for a global push to regulate crypto assets. IMF Financial Counsellor, Tobias Adrian, headed the research and in this podcast, he says a regulatory approach with common standards across countries will make crypto assets safer and protect investors. Transcript: https://bit.ly/3oIisjG Read the blog at blogs.imf.org

Inflation has not been much of a concern since the 70s when exogenous oil shocks were widely seen to have caused the phenomenon known as stagflation. But given the uncertain nature of the pandemic recovery, inflation is now on the rise and once again on everyone's mind. Analysis in the latest World Economic Outlook explores today's inflation landscape and finds we're in uncharted territory. Prachi Mishra is an Advisor in the IMF Research Department and coauthor of the study. In this podcast, she says while inflation expectations have stayed relatively anchored so far, there is still much to be concerned about. Transcript: https://bit.ly/3lgu7UV Read the blog at: blogs.imf.org

Most economists would agree a carbon tax is a powerful tool in fighting climate change, but carbon pricing alone is not enough. As green technologies evolve and prices fall, the fight against climate change will need a more nuanced plan of attack where people can actually afford to do the right thing. In this podcast, journalist Rhoda Metcalfe talks to Harvard Professor of Political Economy James Stock about how he sees the decarbonization process playing out sector-by-sector, which is the subject of his article titled Driving Deep Decarbonization in the September edition of Finance and Development. Transcript: https://bit.ly/3m8QV7Z Read the F&D article at IMF.org/fandd

This is the first in a series of IMF podcasts that will showcase extraordinary work by extraordinary women in economics. In this episode, Dr. Lisa Cook, speaks with journalist Rhoda Metcalfe about her work using data on lynching and racial violence in the US to study the impact of violence on innovation and economic growth. Cook has made her mark not only as a black woman economist in a field dominated by white men but for her ground-breaking research on how racism, sexism and violence prevent economies from achieving their potential. Transcript: https://bit.ly/3zsucIG Read her Profile in F&D at IMF.org/fandd

Nature is often missing in economic models, but in a study commissioned by the UK government, Partha Dasgupta examines the economic benefits of biodiversity and the costs of losing it. Dasgupta is Professor Emeritus of Economics at the University of Cambridge, and his 600-page study titled the Economics of Biodiversity: The Dasgupta Review sets out a framework for including Nature in our economic thinking and provides a guide for change through three broad, interconnected transitions. Professor Dasgupta published an article about his findings in the September edition of Finance and Development. In this podcast, he says humans are embedded in nature and cannot escape the biosphere through ingenuity. Transcript: https://bit.ly/3A56Eem Read the F&D article at IMF.org/fandd