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

Even optimal economic policies create winners and losers, and that’s where politics steps in. Trade liberalization is an example of a policy that can make a country better off as a whole, but what happens to workers who lose out to cheaper goods? Jeffry Frieden says while politics is often messy, it’s how society puts a value on things economists can’t measure. 

Frieden is a Professor of Government at Harvard University. 

Transcript: https://bit.ly/4cU34qZ 

Read A Place for Politics at IMF.org/fandd

Jeffry Frieden: How Politics and Economics Interact

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

The implications of crypto-assets, emerging payment technologies and Facebook’s plans to create a global digital currency, Libra – discussed by our host, Michael Steen, and guests, Dirk Bullmann, Maria Teresa Chimienti, and ECB Executive Board member Benoît Cœuré. 

Recorded on 6 and 9 September 2019.


In this episode:

(01:03) Benoît Cœuré 
The big picture: what is money, why is there a demand for digital currencies and what is the role of central banks in this field?

(11:47) Maria Teresa Chimienti
Getting technical: what are crypto-assets, what makes Facebook’s Libra different, and why is it important for central banks to research these phenomena?
  
(17:32) Dirk Bullmann
Talking innovation: what is blockchain and DLT, why are they so fascinating and how does innovation at the ECB help make payments instant?


Further reading:

Explainer: What is money?
https://www.ecb.europa.eu/explainers/tell-me-more/html/what_is_money.en.html

Explainer: What is bitcoin?
https://www.ecb.europa.eu/explainers/tell-me/html/what-is-bitcoin.en.html

Explainer: How could new technology transform financial markets?
https://www.ecb.europa.eu/explainers/tell-me-more/html/distributed_ledger_technology.en.html

Research – special feature: Distributed Ledger Technology (e.g. blockchain)
https://www.ecb.europa.eu/pub/annual/special-features/2016/html/index.en.html

Research – Occasional Paper:  Crypto-Assets: Implications for financial stability, monetary policy, and payments and market infrastructures
https://www.ecb.europa.eu/pub/pdf/scpops/ecb.op223~3ce14e986c.en.pdf

Research – Economic Bulletin Article:  Understanding the crypto-asset phenomenon, its risks and measurement issues
https://www.ecb.europa.eu/pub/economic-bulletin/articles/2019/html/ecb.ebart201905_03~c83aeaa44c.en.html

European Central Bank website
https://www.ecb.europa.eu/

The views expressed are those of the speakers and not necessarily those of the European Central Bank.

Innovation in payments: Libra, blockchain and crypto-assets

How is the coronavirus pandemic affecting the economy? Which sectors have been hit hardest? What is the ECB doing to limit the economic impact of the crisis? Our host Michael Steen discusses these questions with ECB Chief Economist Philip R. Lane.
The views expressed are those of the speakers and not necessarily those of the European Central Bank.  
Published on 18 May 2020; recorded on 11 May 2020.

In this episode:

(02:30) Coronavirus and the economy
The economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic, the characteristics of the shock on the supply and demand sides and which sectors have been hit the hardest by the crisis.

(08:11) Coronavirus and the policy response
The need to address the dramatic downturn in the economy that is threatening price stability, how we are supporting households and firms and why fiscal policy has to play a central role.

(15:18) The risk of falling prices and targeted lending
How the pandemic pushes prices down in the short and medium-term and how our targeted measures incentivise banks to continue lending to small and medium-sized businesses and households in these uncertain times.

The ECB’s response to the coronavirus pandemic
https://www.ecb.europa.eu/home/search/coronavirus/html/index.en.html
https://www.bankingsupervision.europa.eu/home/search/coronavirus/html/index.en.html

Philip R. Lane: Interview with the Telegraaf
https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/inter/date/2020/html/ecb.in200512~13fcf73079.en.html

Philip R. Lane: The monetary policy response to the pandemic emergency
https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/blog/date/2020/html/ecb.blog200501~a2d8f514a0.en.html

ECB announces new pandemic emergency longer-term refinancing operations
https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/pr/date/2020/html/ecb.pr200430_1~477f400e39.en.html

ECB recalibrates targeted lending operations to further support real economy
https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/pr/date/2020/html/ecb.pr200430~fa46f38486.en.html

Luis de Guindos, Isabel Schnabel: Improving funding conditions for the real economy during the COVID-19 crisis: the ECB’s collateral easing measures
https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/blog/date/2020/html/ecb.blog200422~244d933f86.en.html

Fabio Panetta: Why we all need a joint European fiscal response
https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/inter/date/2020/html/ecb.in200421~a7f2ec5159.en.html

Christine Lagarde: How the ECB is helping firms and households
https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/blog/date/2020/html/ecb.blog200409~3aa2815720.en.html

Luis de Guindos, Isabel Schnabel: The ECB’s commercial paper purchases: A targeted response to the economic disturbances caused by COVID-19
https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/blog/date/2020/html/ecb.blog200403~54ecc5988b.en.html

Christine Lagarde: Our response to the coronavirus emergency
https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/blog/date/2020/html/ecb.blog200319~11f421e25e.en.html

ECB announces €750 billion Pandemic Emergency Purchase Programme (PEPP)
https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/pr/date/2020/html/ecb.pr200318_1~3949d6f266.en.html

ECB statement
https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/pr/date/2020/html/ecb.pr200318~152e1c740f.en.html

Philip R. Lane: The Monetary Policy Package: An Analytical Framework
https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/blog/date/2020/html/ecb.blog200313~9e783ea567.en.html

ECB announces easing of conditions for targeted longer-term refinancing operations (TLTRO III)
https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/pr/date/2020/html/ecb.pr200312_1~39db50b717.en.html

ECB announces measures to support bank liquidity conditions and money market activity
https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/pr/date/2020/html/ecb.pr200312_2~06c32dabd1.en.html

European Central Bank website
https://www.ecb.europa.eu/

Coronavirus: from health crisis to economic crisis

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

Listen to IMF economists and other experts discuss key economic and financial issues of the day.

Jeffry Frieden: How Politics and Economics Interact

IMF Podcasts

Related tracks