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Climate Change

Climate Goals and Debt: A Fiscal Balancing Act

Christine Richmond, Raphael Lam November 28, 2023

Global warming is wreaking havoc on so many levels, but climate action is costly and presents policymakers with difficult tradeoffs. High debt, rising interest rates, and weaker growth prospects make public finances harder to balance and climate goals harder to achieve. Economists Christine Richmond and Raphael Lam work on climate policy and the annual publications of the IMF Fiscal Monitor. In this podcast, they say governments now face a policy trilemma between achieving climate goals, fiscal sustainability, and political feasibility.

Climate Change / Environmental policy

Ian Parry: Carbon Pricing and the Power of a Good Idea

IAN PARRY November 21, 2023

Carbon pricing is steadily emerging as one of the most viable solutions to reducing global emissions, but shedding its contentious past to build a global consensus is still a work in progress. Ian Parry is the principal environmental fiscal policy expert in the IMF Fiscal Affairs Department and has made it his mission to present- on behalf of the institution, the benefits of incorporating climate risks into the cost of doing business through a carbon tax.

Climate Change

Nadia Fettah and Jihad Azour: Morocco Gives Voice to the Global South

Nadia Fettah May 26, 2023

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.

Climate Change / Fintech

Helping African Farmers from the Sky

Hamza Rkha Chaham May 9, 2023

Agricultural productivity in Africa has lagged behind for decades, and now climate change is making things worse. But for Hamza Rkha Chaham, the prospect of helping African farmers increase crop yields prompted him to launch a startup that is transforming lives.

F&D Magazine

F&D Magazine / Technology

Daniel Susskind: AI’s Transformation of Labor

Daniel Susskind November 30, 2023

There’s no question that Artificial Intelligence will increase productivity- but at what cost? What happens when systems out-perform not only factory workers but society’s most esteemed professions? Daniel Susskind is a research professor at King's College London and a senior research associate at the Institute for Ethics in AI at Oxford University. In this podcast, he speaks with journalist Rhoda Metcalfe about how encouraging technologies that complement rather than substitute human work would place fewer livelihoods at risk.

F&D Magazine / Migrant labor

Dilip Ratha on the Power of Remittances

Dilip Ratha October 19, 2023

Millions of families around the world- even some countries, rely on workers living abroad to keep their economies afloat. In fact, global remittances reached a record $647 billion in 2022—three times that of official development assistance. Dilip Ratha is lead economist for migration and remittances at the World Bank. In this podcast, Ratha says remittances are timely, large, stable, and best of all, they are countercyclical.

F&D Magazine / Trade policy

Noah Kaufman on Green Trade Tensions

NOAH KAUFMAN June 15, 2023

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?

F&D Magazine / Trade policy

Michele Ruta on Discriminatory Regionalism

MICHELE RUTA June 1, 2023

As rising geopolitical tensions chip away at globalization, will a more fragmented world mean stronger regional pacts? Economist Michele Ruta says the trend toward strengthening ties with friends and loosening them with non-friends is making regional trade less about integration and more about discrimination.

FINANCIAL MARKETS

Financial Stability

Jamaica’s Nigel Clarke: Stability First then Growth

November 2, 2023

Jamaica's Finance Minister, Nigel Clarke, discusses the country's strong track record of investing in institutions and prioritizing macroeconomic stability with IMF Western Hemisphere Department head, Rodrigo Valdés. The conversation took place as part of the Governor Talks series held during the Annual Meetings in Marrakech.

Financial Stability / Financial markets

Fabio Natalucci on Financial Stability: Soft Landing or Abrupt Awakening

FABIO NATALUCCI October 10, 2023

Most economies have shown resilience through the steepest series of rate hikes in decades. But inflation remains stubbornly high in some countries, which is proving a challenge for global monetary policy going forward.

Financial Stability / Financial markets

Oral Williams: How Technical Assistance Translates into Better Lives

Oral Williams July 15, 2021

Strong institutions are key to a country's long-term development, and a third of the IMF's operating budget goes toward helping governments build the institutional capacity they need to fulfill their development goals.

Development

Trevor Manuel Reflects on South Africa's Lost Decade

Trevor Manuel June 10, 2021

When the apartheid regime ceded power following South Africa’s first democratic elections in 1994, the economy was in shambles. Debt service costs as a share of GDP were crippling.

Women in Economics

Women In Economics / Natural resources

Women in Economics: Catherine Kling on Nature’s Real Worth

Catherine Kling November 16, 2023

Having access to nature can improve lives. But nature is a resource that is undervalued in our economies, and all too often left off the balance sheet. Catherine Kling is an environmental economist at Cornell University in the Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management and has focused much of her career on creating the kind of data that encourages governments to include the value of nature in their economic decision-making. In this special episode of our Women in Economics series, Kling and Journalist Rhoda Metcalfe discuss why putting a price tag on nature will help save it.

Women In Economics / Cross-sector

Women in Economics: Eliana La Ferrara on Social Norms and Development

Eliana La Ferrara September 27, 2023

A functioning economy provides people with access to credit, insurance, and, among other things, investment opportunities. But what happens in poor communities where they are landless and have no wealth? Eliana La Ferrara says the social structure within those communities offers the collateral they need to make the economy work. La Ferrara is an award-winning economist and a professor of public policy at Harvard Kennedy School.

Women In Economics / International trade

Nina Pavcnik on Trade and Development

Nina Pavcnik August 16, 2023

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 first-hand the effects of open markets on the lives of people across the border in Italy. Pavcnik is now Professor of Economics at Dartmouth College and has become an authority on how international trade affects the poor. Journalist Rhoda Metcalfe sits down with Pavcnik to talk about her research as part of our series on extraordinary Women in Economics.

Women In Economics / Inclusion and gender

Women in Economics: Claudia Goldin on Family Economics

Claudia Goldin June 9, 2023

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.

ECONOMIC OUTLOOK

Outlooks / Inflation

Euro Area Inflation and how Import Prices, Profits, and Wages fit in

Frederik Toscani August 3, 2023

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 says corporate profits account for 45 percent of price rises since the start of 2022.

Outlooks / Political economy

Gillian Tett on Anthropology for the Modern Economist

GILLIAN TETT April 21, 2023

Author and Financial Times journalist, Gillian Tett says anthropology offers insights into public policy challenges and helps economists better understand socioeconomic problems.

Outlooks / Economic growth

Abebe Aemro Selassie and Ken Opalo on Making Reforms Stick in Africa

Abe Selassie March 30, 2023

As global economic uncertainty surges, Sub-Saharan Africa faces a host of challenges that will require effective policy responses if it is to regain the ground it lost during the pandemic.

Outlooks / Economic growth

China: Reopening, Rebound, and Challenges

Sonali Jain-Chandra February 3, 2023

China’s severe covid lockdowns since the start of the pandemic undoubtedly contributed to an economic downturn last year not seen in decades.

Fintech Forward

Fintech Forward / Technology

Ruud De Mooij on Taxing Crypto

RUUD DE MOOIJ July 6, 2023

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?

Fintech Forward / Fintech

May Khamis on Financial Stability Assessment Programs

May Khamis, Tara Iyer August 30, 2022

MCM's May Khamis talks about how the IMF's Financial Stability Assessment Programs, which started in the early 2000s, are adapting to the rapid rise of FinTech.

Fintech Forward / Fintech

Aditya Narain and Marina Moretti on Regulating Fintech

MARINA MORETTI August 23, 2022

MCM's Aditya Narain and Marina Moretti say regulation of financial technology aims to protect consumers and markets, not stifle innovation.

Fintech Forward / Fintech

Fabio Natalucci on Financial Stability

FABIO NATALUCCI August 10, 2022

The growing correlation between crypto and equity markets and what that means for financial stability.

BEHIND THE MIC

Bruce Edwards

International Monetary Fund

Bruce Edwards produces the IMF podcast program. He's an award-winning audio producer and journalist who's covered armed conflicts, social unrest, and natural disasters from all corners of the world. He believes economists have an important role in solving the world's problems and aspires to showcase their research in every IMF podcast.

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