IMF economist Andrea Presbitero discusses the distributional impact of rewards cards and the potential drawbacks for individuals carrying balances. The study reveals a redistribution of rewards from less privileged to more privileged areas. Presbitero argues for caution in implementing regulations and suggests improving financial literacy and increasing market competition to address wealth inequality.

Abdellatif Jouahri est le gouverneur de Banque Al-Maghrib depuis 2003 et l'homme derrière les grandes réformes qui ont fait du Maroc l'une des économies les plus importantes de la région du Moyen-Orient et de l'Afrique du Nord (MENA). Dans cet épisode, Jouahri s'entretient avec Taline Koranchelian, directrice adjointe du Département Moyen-Orient et Asie centrale du FMI pour évoquer sa longue et éminente carrière. Leur conversation a eu lieu à la veille des Assemblées Annuelles 2023 qui se tiendront au Maroc en octobre.

The dramatic opening up of markets to international trade over the past 30 years has been a boon to many developing economies but it has not benefitted everyone. Nina Pavcnik grew up in Yugoslavia and witnessed firsthand the effects of open markets on the lives of people across the border. Pavcnik is now Professor of Economics and International Studies at Dartmouth College and has become an authority on how international trade affects the poor. In this podcast, Journalist Rhoda Metcalfe sits down with Pavcnik to talk about her research as part of our series on extraordinary Women in Economics. Transcript: https://bit.ly/3YFlMMg

While import prices account for much of Europe’s inflation, its outlook largely depends on how companies absorb wage gains as higher prices erode workers’ purchasing power. IMF economist Frederik Toscani studies inflation and monetary policy in the Euro Area and is coauthor of a new paper that breaks inflation down into labor costs, import costs, taxes, and profits. In this podcast, Toscani says corporate profits account for 45 percent of price rises since the start of 2022.  Transcript: https://bit.ly/454o3Tk

Nigeria’s eNaira was the first Central Bank Digital Currency in Africa and only the second in the world when it launched in October 2021, but a growing number of countries across the globe are now planning to follow suit with their own CBDCs. What can they learn from Nigeria’s experience? Jookyung Ree is an economist in the IMF African Department and assigned to Nigeria when the CBDC was introduced. Ree has since studied its impact on the economy and found that existing mobile money networks are proving a challenge to the eNaira’s adoptability. In this podcast, Ree says the eNaira will need to complement mobile money systems to convince more Nigerians to use it.   Transcript: https://bit.ly/3Qb2FI5

Since their inception in 2008, the contentious rise of crypto assets has been dramatic. Their market value has been as high as $3 trillion and about $50 million is transacted in crypto every day. But what does this brave new world of cryptographically-protected distributed ledgers mean for traditional tax systems? Ruud De Mooij is Deputy Director of the IMF Fiscal Affairs Department and heads its work on taxation. In this podcast, De Mooij says finding ways to tax crypto will mean significant revenue gains for governments and lead to a fairer global tax system.  Transcript: https://bit.ly/3O1Hwyt Read the blog and IMF.org/blogs

The passage of the Inflation Reduction Act in the United States unleashed its largest investment in climate and energy ever. But it also left many countries questioning some of its protectionist provisions, accusing the US of bending, if not breaking international trade rules under the WTO. So how do we move forward on climate without going backward on trade? Noah Kaufman says international trade rules need to be redesigned if protectionism is not to become an unintended consequence of green industrial policy. Kaufman is a senior research scholar at Columbia University's Center on Global Energy Policy and served in the Biden Administration’s Council of Economic Advisors.  Transcript: https://bit.ly/3CwHIiw

The history of economics has largely been written by men about men. Even when the economics of family became a burgeoning field of study in the 1970s, the woman’s role was hardly talked about. Claudia Goldin is a pioneer in the field of gender economics and her latest book Career and Family places women squarely at the center of the family economics story. Goldin is the Henry Lee Professor of Economics at Harvard University and an economic historian. Journalist Rhoda Metcalfe sat down with Claudia Goldin to discuss her work and how she came to write the definitive book on gender economics Understanding the Gender Gap. The interview is part of the IMF series on extraordinary Women in Economics. Transcript: https://bit.ly/3oYUEdO

As rising geopolitical tensions chip away at globalization, will a more fragmented world mean stronger regional pacts? Economist Michele Ruta says regionalism in a time of conflict is unlikely to triumph, but rather is likely to change. The trend toward strengthening ties with friends and loosening them with non-friends is making regional trade less about integration and more about discrimination.    Transcript: https://bit.ly/3MHNbIc

Like so many countries across the Middle East and North Africa, Morocco faced successive shocks over the past three years including a devastating drought. But the country managed well thanks to an aggressive reform agenda. In this podcast, Morocco’s Finance Minister Nadia Fettah, and IMF Regional Director Jihad Azour, discuss how Morocco is keeping reforms on track despite the challenging circumstances, and what lessons other countries in the region might learn from Morocco’s experience. Their conversation was part of the Governor Talks series hosted by the IMF during the IMF-World Bank Spring Meetings, and a preamble to the Annual Meetings to be held in Marrakesh this fall. Watch the webcast at IMF.org