Trumponomics

The pandemic has upended the way the world shops, worships and especially how often we wash our hands. With the virus waning in many parts of the globe (while still raging in some places, like India and Brazil), economists and policymakers are debating whether our societal quarantine workarounds will persist -- or be jettisoned by summer's end.  On this week's podcast, host Stephanie Flanders take...

It’s been a long time since anyone in America or Europe had to think seriously about inflation. But the highest U.S. numbers since 2009 have rattled financial markets and critics of President Joe Biden are warning that his big spending could trigger a full-blown 70s-style price spiral. Bloomberg Senior Asia Economy Correspondent Enda Curran reports from Hong Kong on the price pressures facing Asia...

The world’s biggest businesses are massive, spanning countries and continents. Now they're getting even larger, and that may not be a good thing. In the past few decades alone, the largest 50 firms have tripled their profit. Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Microsoft and Google together make more money in a week than McDonald's makes in an entire year. On this week’s podcast, host Stephanie Flanders talks...

U.S. President Biden marked his 100th day in office this week with another massive spending package -- this one squarely aimed at taxing the rich to give money to everyone else. He’s proposed nearly $6 trillion dollars in new spending since taking office, much of which is to be paid for with higher tax revenues. Meanwhile, Federal Reserve policy makers are looking at this ocean of government spend...

For many, the pandemic has altered where we work, how we work and when we work. But will that change be forever? Or will we wake up in a year and find we’re back to normal? It’s a vital question, because if work changes, the shape of the economy will change, too. Bloomberg’s Spanish Economy reporter Jeannette Neumann visited a quiet corner of northeast Spain to meet those who escaped the city and...

More than 50 years ago, the public and private sectors united to bring men to the moon and back. As the world begins to look at how it can recover from the Covid-19, what lessons can the original moonshot have for the modern challenges facing governments and industry today? In this week’s episode, host Stephanie Flanders talks with Mariana Mazzucato, author and professor in Economics of Innovation...

Recent weeks have seen an outpouring of optimism about the economic recovery, especially in the U.S. The International Monetary Fund has added its voice to the chorus, predicting developed economies could not only enjoy rapid growth in the coming years but see little or no permanent damage from the sudden collapse in 2020. But is that rebound going to be felt everywhere? Stephanie Flanders talks w...

As the world enters a second year of Covid-19, we begin our new season of Stephanomics with perspectives on the pandemic’s fallout from Bloomberg correspondents all over the world. From cross-border jealousy and government spending battles to desolate beaches and unexpected theater companions, Andrew Rosati in Brazil, Shelly Hagan in Canada, Kamlesh Bhuckory in Mauritius and Anya Andrianova in Rus...

A few decades ago, nobody really questioned vaccines. They were viewed as a standard part of staying healthy and safe. Today, the number of people questioning vaccines risks prolonging a pandemic that has already killed hundreds of thousands of Americans. How we got to this moment didn’t start with the rollout of vaccines or in March 2020, or even with the election of Donald Trump. Our confidence...

More than 150 years after the end of slavery in the U.S., the net worth of a typical white family is nearly six times greater than that of the average Black family. Season 3 of The Pay Check digs into into how we got to where we are today and what can be done to narrow the yawning racial wealth gap in the U.S. Jackie Simmons and Rebecca Greenfield co-host the season, which kicks off with a persona...

Governments spent trillions of dollars in 2020 tackling the pandemic while propping up businesses and households. But the unprecedented expenditure has awakened real concern about such high levels of borrowing. World Bank Chief Economist Carmen Reinhart says we should worry about winning the war first and how to pay for it later. She joins host Stephanie Flanders to discuss why policymakers should...

The U.S. doesn’t just have a new president this week. The world’s largest economy is also getting a new Treasury Secretary, albeit a familiar face, in Janet Yellen. Host Stephanie Flanders talks with Bloomberg’s U.S. Treasury reporter Chris Condon, who listened in to Yellen’s confirmation hearing for a sneak preview of what her reign at 1500 Pennsylvania Avenue might look like. Across the Pacific...

Covid-19 isn't just a deadly threat to human life; it's also a mental health catastrophe with economic consequences. Fear of illness, strict lockdowns, isolation from friends and family, rising unemployment and collapsing businesses weigh on the hearts and minds of people all across the globe.  But poor mental health isn’t just a symptom of economic malaise: It can also be a cause. Bloomberg econo...

An economy is its people. Alongside the almost 360,000 killed by the coronavirus in the U.S., there are millions more whose lives have been upended by the pandemic’s economic shock. Bloomberg senior reporter Shawn Donnan introduces one of those people as he investigates the widening inequalities across America, and host Stephanie Flanders talks with Bloomberg reporter Michael Sasso about what the...

The events of 2020 caught most people off guard. The global economy was upended, prompting unprecedented responses by governments and central banks while shaking up supply chains. It was also a year that made many of us rethink the way we live.  On this podcast, host Stephanie Flanders leads a roundtable discussion about the year’s most memorable moments, and what 2021 may hold in store for us. Sh...

As a tumultuous year for the global economy comes to a close, host Stephanie Flanders speaks with someone on the front line of the policy response. Bank of England Chief Economist Andy Haldane discusses the outlook for recovery now that vaccinations have begun, how central bankers view inflation and whether the pandemic is really the answer to the productivity puzzle. See omnystudio.com/listener f...

Adding robots to factories, retail stores or mines was historically seen as a job killer by workers and the unions that support them. But this year, automation has allowed sectors of the economy to continue producing with fewer people, minimizing the coronavirus risk for workers. U.S. economy reporter Olivia Rockeman explains what that might mean in the long term and what needs to happen to help t...

Internet companies have long been the target of complaints that they don’t pay their fair share of taxes. The system wasn’t built for a digital global economy, but how do you now impose rules on multinational tech giants? Bloomberg Economy reporter William Horobin reports from Paris on the battle to find common ground among almost 140 countries and avoid a new transatlantic trade conflict. Host St...

In Washington, personnel is policy. The people President-elect Joe Biden has picked to run economic policy can tell us a lot about what we might expect from the next administration. Bloomberg Businessweek Economics Editor Peter Coy introduces us to the key players and explains what Bidenomics could look like.  Then host Stephanie Flanders speaks with Harvard University Professor Jason Furman, form...

The hard reality of the Covid-19 pandemic is that while those at greatest risk of dying are retirement age or older, the economic disaster and its consequences fall disproportionately on the shoulders of the young. How does it feel to be one of these people, knowing you're on the hook for years of lost economic opportunity while others dictate the terms of any recovery? Bloomberg London news appre...

This week’s episode of Stephanomics comes to you from the third annual Bloomberg New Economy Forum, where global leaders have gathered for a virtual discussion of how to solve the world’s biggest challenges, not least of which is the coronavirus pandemic. Stephanie Flanders brings together former Fed Chair Janet Yellen, ex-Bank of England Governor Mervyn King, former Reserve Bank of India Governor...

For decades, Asia’s fast-growing economies have offered millions of young people the chance to do better than their parents. Thanks to Covid-19, that tradition may soon end as youth unemployment soars in a region home to most of the world’s young adults. So what happens when your economic opportunities dry up? Bloomberg’s Chief Asia Economics Correspondent Enda Curran reports from Hong Kong on the...

Who the U.S. president will be for the next four years is dominating the headlines right now, but what of the previous four? In the wake of the Nov. 3 election, host Stephanie Flanders discusses with some of the nation’s leading economists just how Donald Trump’s administration has changed America’s economy and how it interacts with the rest of the world.  Flanders is joined by University of Chica...

Alongside the financial destruction wrought by Covid-19 there comes new opportunities. European officials have seized on one in particular—mending battered economies in a way that also tackles global warming, or “building back greener.” But how to turn those words into action? Bloomberg renewables reporter Jess Shankleman reports from London on the policies that may bring that dream to fruition, a...

Amid its terrible death toll and economic devastation, the coronavirus pandemic has prompted people, businesses and governments to rethink the way they live and operate. Now, as countries seek to take their first steps back toward normality, many are wondering what changes forced upon us by Covid-19 may be worth keeping when the crisis has passed. For Thailand’s national parks, the pandemic has me...