Archive

AI’s Real Risk to Wages: Andrew Berg and Maryam Vaziri

MARYAM VAZIRI, ANDREW BERG December 7, 2023

The pace at which artificial intelligence is transforming jobs is astounding, but while it boasts higher productivity AI is also increasing wage inequality. When workers are replaced by machines, real wages decline, and the owners of capital prosper. So who owns AI and how should its benefits be distributed? The IMFs Andrew Berg and Maryam Vaziri discuss AI’s inequality problem.

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.

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.

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.

Global / Central banks

RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das on the New Frontier for Central Banks

Shaktikanta Das November 9, 2023

The world of money is changing fast and central banks are at the very center of that change. Shaktikanta Das is the Governor of the Reserve Bank of India, which is responsible for regulating currency and securing monetary stability for the world’s 5th largest economy. In this podcast, Das sits down with IMF Asia and Pacific Department head, Krishna Srinivasan, to discuss RBI’s strategy for today and for the future.

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.

Fragility / Poverty

Building Resilience in Uncertain Times: Per Jacobsson Lecture

LESETJA KGANYAGO, Masood Ahmed, Guillermo Ortiz October 24, 2023

With the years of access to cheap money behind them and the effects of climate change and geopolitical tensions only getting worse, what does resilience look like for emerging market economies? This year’s Per Jacobbson lecture brings together three influential thinkers to discuss how countries can work towards economic resilience in an era of greater uncertainty.

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.

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.

Global / Development

Kristalina Georgieva: Building Bridges to Strong Future Growth

KRISTALINA GEORGIEVA October 6, 2023

IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva kicked off the 2023 Annual Meetings in Marrakech with her customary curtain raiser speech from Cote d’Ivoire. It’s the first time since 1973 that the Annual Meetings are held in Africa and Georgieva says it’s an opportunity to pave the way to the next 50 years.

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.