IMF Podcasts

As geopolitical tensions rise, countries like to flex their economic muscle. But as appealing as they might be, sanctions, tariffs, and export bans come at a price. Jeffry Frieden is a professor of international and public affairs and political science at Columbia University. In this podcast, he says when economic and geopolitical relations become tightly connected, bad things can happen. Transcript: https://bit.ly/4vxZmfU Read the article in Finance & Development: IMF.org/FANDD

State-owned enterprises have long been viewed by economists as a bad idea due to proven inefficiencies and mismanagement. But is handing over key resources and industries to the private sector really the answer? Economic historian Nicholas Mulder says, with all the geopolitical risks in the world of late, governments are looking for ways to keep essential resources under their control. Mulder is a professor of history at Cornell University. His article The New Wave of Nationalization was published in the June issue of Finance & Development magazine. In this podcast, Rhoda Metcalfe and Nicholas Mulder discuss the potential and risks of rising government ownership. Transcript: https://bit.ly/4wYy0R0 Read the article in Finance & Development magazine: IMF.org/fandd

As global powers face rising geopolitical tensions, sanctions, export controls, and tariffs are once again tools of leverage, marking the resurgence of geoeconomics, where economic policy and national security converge. This approach to business was largely abandoned by the West after the Cold War, though for most other countries, geopolitics and economics have always been closely linked. Josh Lipsky is the founding director of the GeoEconomics Center at the Atlantic Council, and Matteo Maggiori is a professor of finance at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. In this podcast, they discuss the new face of geoeconomics and its seemingly vengeful comeback. Transcript: https://bit.ly/4fe0G2a Read the articles in Finance & Development magazine: IMF.org/fandd

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

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. Transcript: https://bit.ly/3WcTvfM Read the article in Finance & Development magazine IMF.org/fandd

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 & Development magazine: IMF.org/fandd

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