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

Women in Economics: Jayati Ghosh on Unpaid Care Work

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

Michele Ruta on Discriminatory Regionalism

When the richest 85 people hold the combined wealth of 3.5 Billion poor people, economist Jose Antonio Ocampo explains that Income inequality can shift from a human rights issue to a marker of potentially dangerous economic instability.

Income Inequality can lead to Economic Instability

There was a time when economic expertise ruled policy debates at virtually all levels of government. And while trade, taxation, and other important policies are still guided by economic analysis, economists increasingly feel sidelined by politics. In her former roles as chief economist at the US Treasury Department and senior economist at the White House Council of Economic Advisers, Harvard professor Karen Dynan has seen too much solid economic research be rejected due to overly dense presentations. In this podcast, Dynan says economists need to engage with policymakers and the public at a level that they can understand if they want to be part of the policy conversation.   Transcript: https://bit.ly/4ojNbA6 

Read the article in Finance &amp; Development magazine: www.imf.org/fandd

Karen Dynan on Regaining Lost Ground in Policy Influence

As tech innovation, particularly in the field of AI, is increasingly focused on a few key players, the industries benefiting from these tools have also become more concentrated, which Carl Benedikt Frey says could weigh on growth. Frey is an associate professor of AI and Work at Oxford University, and his latest book, How Progress Ends, suggests that waves of technological and economic progress are often followed by stagnation. In this podcast, Frey says the concentration of AI-using industries will push the direction of technological change further towards automation rather than product innovation. 

Transcript: http://bit.ly/45Z1IbR 

Read the article in Finance & Development magazine: imf.org/fandd

Carl Benedikt Frey on AI and Growth

A lot has happened in the global economy since 2019, and few people know that better than Gita Gopinath. As the IMF Chief Economist and subsequently the institution’s First Deputy Managing Director, she navigated unprecedented global crises, including the pandemic and the ensuing great lockdown, wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, inflation, and geopolitical fragmentation. Her career as a Professor at Harvard University was put on hold to take on those IMF roles, but now she’s back. How will the 2025 version of Professor Gopinath compare to the 2018 version? In this podcast, Gita Gopinath reflects on her experiences at the Fund and what she’s taking back with her to Harvard. 

Transcript: https://bit.ly/4npTyR5

Grit and Luck: Gita Gopinath Reflects on her Career and Roles at the Fund

Bringing nations together to maintain peace and security and raise living standards for all seemed a utopian idea in the early 20th century. Still, geopolitics, economics and vision by world leaders eventually came together to make it a reality. But what happens when the great powers that have been supporting the multilateral system decide it’s not working for them anymore? Danny Quah has studied the increase in global economic tensions and sees the rising East as an important factor. Quah is the Li Ka Shing Professor of Economics at the National University of Singapore. In this podcast, he says that while economics and geopolitics worked together to build the multilateral rules-based system, they are now working together to break it apart.  

Transcript: https://bit.ly/4grrx9n 

Read the article in Finance &amp; Development magazine: IMF.org/fandd

Danny Quah on Rethinking Multilateralism

While countries came together in the late 80s to fight money laundering and the financing of terrorism, technology and the advent of virtual currencies have further complicated the tracking of illicit financial flows across borders. Over $51 billion in cryptocurrency was used by criminals last year to circumvent traditional banking regulations. Chady El Khoury is an assistant general counsel and heads the Financial Integrity Group at the IMF. In this podcast, El Khoury says the anonymity of virtual currency transactions is supercharging the ability for criminals to grow their empires. 

Transcript: https://bit.ly/3KOjzeA

Chady El Khoury on the Virtual Reality of Financial Crime

The US is a breeding ground for startups, and California has been the center of that universe since the dot-com boom in the late 1990s. But rising costs, tighter quarters, and increasing bureaucracy have many tech innovators seeking greener pastures, well beyond Silicon Valley. Princeton University’s Swati Bhatt has been studying the evolution of America’s startup boom in recent years and has uncovered a surprising trend toward rural communities, better known for raising cattle than for high-tech infrastructure. In this podcast, Bhatt talks to journalist Rhoda Metcalfe about these new entrepreneurs opting for a different lifestyle. 

Where Startups Do Roam: Swati Bhatt

While the US dollar has been at the top of its game for decades, new players are testing its reign. Chess grandmaster-turned-economist Ken Rogoff has long cautioned of the dangers that high debt and fiscal burdens could have on the world’s favorite reserve currency, and in his latest book, Our Dollar, Your Problem, he says its share of global reserves is on the decline. Ken Rogoff is currently the Maurits C. Boas Chair of International Economics at Harvard.

Kenneth Rogoff on Dollar Dominance

It’s not unusual for countries to reevaluate trade relationships as the global economy evolves. However, the persistent uncertainty brought on by tariffs has prompted entire regions to reconsider long-established alliances and rethink new ones that were unimaginable only a year ago. Gordon Hanson, international economist and Professor of Urban Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School, was invited to join a panel discussion on the global economy during the IMF-World Bank Annual Meetings. In this podcast, Hanson says, we need to reinvigorate the process of building new trade agreements that reflect the new world, and middle- and newly high-income countries should play a leading role.
Transcript: https://bit.ly/4qT4LvS

Gordon Hanson on Shifting Trade Alliances

Sub-Saharan Africa is holding its own despite a deteriorating global trade and aid landscape. The latest outlook projects growth to remain steady at 4.1 percent this year with a modest pickup in 2026. While the region has once again proven its resilience, what will it take to realize its full potential? IMF Economist Athene Laws helps pull together the biannual Regional Economic Outlook for sub-Saharan Africa. In this podcast, she says removing barriers to private firm growth is crucial for providing the jobs needed by the region’s young and rapidly expanding labor force.
Transcript: https://bit.ly/4i7F6vt

Holding Steady: Athene Laws on sub-Saharan Africa’s Outlook

Maintaining good relations promotes trade, but can trade repair bad relations? Marc Palen examines how Britain’s repeal of the Corn Laws in the mid-1800s sparked its interest in free trade and the idea of economic interdependence for a peaceful and prosperous world. Palen, an archaeologist, historian, and author, discusses his latest book, Pax Economica: Left-Wing Visions of a Free World. In this podcast, he talks with journalist Rhoda Metcalfe about his research into the origins of globalization.

Marc Palen on Peace Economics and Trade

Technology is often what drives big changes, but innovations like cryptocurrencies and blockchain are transforming the world of money at breakneck speed. While the volatility of digital currencies like Bitcoin has kept it out of traditional banking systems, stablecoin is gaining ground in the race for a suitable digital counterpart to fiat currency. Dante Disparte heads strategy and global policy at Circle, which issues two of the world’s most widely traded stablecoins. In this podcast, he says stablecoin money can help overcome some of the inefficiencies of the traditional banking system without compromising financial security. 
Transcript: https://bit.ly/4odNIlK

Dante Disparte on Stablecoins and the Future of Finance

While artificial intelligence continues to outperform our human abilities in many areas, Pablo Peña believes critical thinking and curiosity are what will keep us in the driver’s seat. AI can only draw on human-produced knowledge, Peña says, “The version of AI that we know now is only a sophisticated remix of what we know already.” Peña is an associate professor of economics at the University of Chicago and author of Human Capital for Humans: An Accessible Introduction to the Economic Science of People. In this Podcast, Peña and journalist Rhoda Metcalfe discuss his article in the December issue of Finance & Development magazine.
Transcript: https://bit.ly/4ptL4cE

Pablo Peña on why AI is No Match for Human Capital

Price stability is the main goal for central banks, and monetary policy is how they achieve it. However, societies are always in flux, and central bankers who pay close attention to emerging trends are more likely to make better policy decisions. Bank of Korea Governor Chang Yong Rhee has expanded the scope of research to include structural issues like population aging to better understand the changing dynamics of Korea’s economy. Before becoming Governor in 2022, Mr. Rhee held several senior roles in global financial institutions, including the IMF, where he led the Asia and Pacific Department.

Governor Chang Yong Rhee on Bank of Korea’s Innovative Approach

From global financial crises to cybercrime, globalization has its downsides. The director of the Oxford Martin School discusses the pitfalls of the global community’s ever closer union, and offers some possible remedies to its darker side.

The Dark Side of Globalization

من بين خمسة ملايين نسمة من الفارين من الحرب الأهلية في سوريا، هناك أكثر من مليون لاجئ انتهى بهم المقام في الأردن. وقد أثرت أزمة اللاجئين بشدة على البلدان المضيفة مثل الأردن. وقد شارك معالي وزير التخطيط الأردني، السيد عماد فاخوري، في ندوة حول الصراعات وأزمة اللاجئين، على هامش اجتماعات الربيع المشتركة بين الصندوق والبنك الدولي. وفي هذا البث الصوتي يحدثنا معالي الوزير فاخوري عن آثار أزمة اللاجئين على الأردن.

عماد فاخوري، أزمة اللاجئين تؤثر سلبا على الأردن

Muna AbuSulayman, is founder and co-host of the most popular social issues program on Arab television. Kalam Nawaem tackles controversial topics and has been pushing social boundaries in the region for 15 years. In this podcast, AbuSulayman says Arab women should be free to achieve their goals without cultural or economic barriers. Contributors: Muna AbuSulayman, Co-founder of Meedan.com, a news hub for Arab youth and women.

Muna AbuSulayman: Gender Equity in Saudi Arabia

Blockchain technology is a shared, public ledger of transactions that’s open to inspection but not subject to any form of central control. And while it offers potential for a variety of applications, its most famous is providing the platform for virtual currencies like bitcoin. Peter Smith is co-founder and CEO of Blockchain, and in this podcast, he talks about the evolution of crypto currency financial systems and what it could mean for big data analytics. Smith was the keynote speaker at the  IMF’s Fifth Statistical forum on Measuring the Digital Economy. Peter Smith, co-founder and CEO of Blockchain.

Blockchain’s Peter Smith: The Promise of Virtual Currency Systems

Estonians rarely stand in line for anything anymore. Estonia ranks among the most digitally advanced countries in the world and virtually all government services are now offered online. Estonia is also where Skype was born. In this podcast, Estonia’s Chief Information Officer, Siim Sikkut talks about how technology has transformed Estonia’s economy, and an e-residency program that is wooing more start-ups. Read more about Estonia’s remarkable digitalization process in the March 2018 issue of Finance and Development Magazine. Siim Sikkut is Estonia’s Chief Information Officer.

Siim Sikkut on The Making of E-Estonia

While sub-Saharan Africa has lagged behind the rest of the world in access to finance, some countries in the region are bucking the trend thanks to advancements in financial technology known as Fintech. Mobile technology has made sub-Saharan Africa the global leader in mobile money transfer services, helping provide financial services to millions previously off the formal financial grid. A new IMF study shows Fintech is emerging as a technological enabler, improving financial inclusion and serving as a catalyst for innovations in other sectors. In this podcast, economist Amadou Sy, says Fintech could be a real game changer for the region. Sy is an Advisor in the African Department at the IMF, and headed this new research on the impact of Fintech in Sub-Saharan African Countries. Amadou Sy, is an Advisor in the IMF’s African Department.

Amadou Sy: Fintech Breaking Down Barriers in Africa

The effects of copyright and patent laws on artistic creativity and technological innovation are gaining more and more significance in today’s economy driven to a large part by content. Economic historian Petra Moser uses data from 19th century Italian operas and world fairs to examine the economic implications of basic copyright and patent protection for innovators. In this podcast, Moser describes how Napoleon’s military victories in Italy in the late 1700s changed the copyright landscape and created an excellent model to study the effects on Italian opera composers. Petra Moser is an associate professor of Economics at New York University, and was invited by the IMF’s Institute for Capacity Development to present her research on the economic impact of creativity and innovation. Petra Moser is an economic historian at the Stern School of Business, New York University. You can find all of her research papers at PetraMoser.net.

Petra Moser on Italian Opera, World Fairs and Innovation

Over two-thirds of global financial institutions have seen an increase in cyberattacks in recent years. In the UK alone, the number of security breaches has increased by over 480%. Cybersecurity is no longer just about firewalls, data encryption, and strong passwords. While those are still necessary, they are not enough to fight a threat that knows no borders.&nbsp; One recent law enforcement operation that started in Spain busted a cyber gang operating in 15 countries and required coordinated efforts with the FBI, Europol and other private companies. In this podcast, three leading specialists in cybersecurity discuss how to create a safer digital world for financial institutions. Carnegie Endowment's Tim Maurer, IMF's Chris Wilson, and Central Bank of Spain's Silvia Senabre participated in a recent workshop on cybersecurity hosted by the IMF. Tim Maurer is co-director of the Cyber Policy Initiative at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and author of  Cyber Mercenaries: The State, Hackers, and Power. Silvia Senabre is a mathematician and computer engineer who works on cybersecurity risk evaluation for the Central Bank of Spain. Chris Wilson is a Senior Financial Sector Expert in the IMF's Monetary and Capital Markets Department and co-author of  Cybersecurity Risk Supervision.

Cybersecurity: A Global Threat Needs a Global Response

Guinea Bissau is on the brink of a "new beginning", according to the IMF. This West African country has recently had 87 percent of its external debt cancelled. That means less money spent on servicing debt and more money available for health, education and investment.

Debt Burden Lifted for Guinea Bissau

حتى قبل الاضطرابات التي اجتاحت شمال افريقيا والشرق، كان صندوق النقد الدولي ينبه إلى حاجة تونس لإجراء إصلاحات هيكلية رئيسية لمعالجة ارتفاع معدلات البطالة. ويقدر معدل البطالة في تونس بأكثر من 13%، ولكن يعتقد أن أنه أعلى من ذلك بكثير بين الشباب.

رأي الكاتبة والناشطة التونسية سمر المزغني في دور البطالة في الانتفاضات الأخيرة التي شهدتها المنطقة

Selon l'Organisation internationale du travail, le taux de chômage global parmi les jeunes de 15 à 24 est de plus de 13 %. En Afrique, le chômage et le sous-emploi sont particulièrement aigus. Dans ce podcast, nous explorons les causes de ces problèmes et les politiques qui pourraient contribuer à les atténuer.

La lutte contre le chômage des jeunes en Afrique

Sub-Saharan Africa is on the front lines of climate change with extreme weather wreaking havoc on infrastructure and agricultural production. COVID-19 introduces yet another level of risk to the food chain. In this podcast, IMF economists Pritha Mitra and Seung Mo Choi say the increase in frequency and intensity of natural disasters is weighing down on the region, which relies heavily on rainfed agriculture. The latest  looks at how the region can better manage the types of shocks that threaten its food supply.

Safeguarding Food Security in sub-Saharan Africa

Migration has been the focus of heated political debate in recent years, surfacing misconceptions of its real economic impact. But a new study in The  World Economic Outlook shows migration improves economic growth and productivity in host countries. In this podcast, IMF economist and co-author of the study, Margaux MacDonald, says supporting migrants now and ensuring migration trends continue beyond the pandemic will help the global economy recover.  Look for the blog at Blogs.IMF.org 

Margaux MacDonald is an economist in the IMF's Research Department.

Migration Part and Parcel of Healthy Global Economy

Despite outnumbering men as college graduates within OECD countries, women are still underrepresented at the very top managerial levels, particularly in finance and business.  

In this podcast a group of women veterans of Wall Street describe how they got to Wall Street, what they found there, and offer advice to young women who want to get there.

Read the associated article from Finance & Development magazine:
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2013/06/fang.htm


Women's Tales from Wall Street

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