The Big View

Pier Carlo Padoan, who has run Rome's Ministry of Economy and Finance for the past four years and under its last two prime ministers, says Italy must continue economic reforms no matter who wins elections in March. Padoan also predicts no "Italian surprise" at the polls.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Fresh from successfully gaining a seat on the board of Procter & Gamble, the biggest proxy fight in corporate American history, the founder and CEO of Trian Fund Management sat down for a discussion at Times Square on how investors can better engage with, and improve, the companies they own. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphon...

Hong Kong’s plan to welcome super-voting stock weakens corporate governance, but its appeal to Chinese tech companies also may be exaggerated. Officials from Credit Suisse, BlackRock, PCCW Media and Bain Capital debated the upcoming changes at a recent Breakingviews event. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The King’s College London professor explains how last year’s vote to leave the European Union became the UK’s defining political issue. He says longer-term political undercurrents helped tip the balance towards Leave – and will dictate the type of Brexit the country ends up with. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoic...

Will Amazon choose New Jersey's largest city as the location for its second headquarters? That's what hometown native Baraka is hoping - and he's lobbying hard to make it happen, even trying to cajole neighboring New York City to play a role in swaying the e-commerce juggernaut's decision.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone...

How bad will the Republican tax plan be for New York City? Alicia Glen, who looks after economic development for America's largest city, says it will hit 700,000 taxpayers and depress property values. But it won't make the Big Apple any less appetizing for the best and brightest.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoi...

The president of Yes California leads a campaign arguing that the Golden State should become an independent country – an idea increasingly referred to as Calexit. He explains why secession would be good for the state’s economy and how he’ll get the rest of the nation to buy in. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The longtime Asia bull and Quantum Fund co-founder thinks the worst bear market of his lifetime is coming. He swung by our Hong Kong bureau to discuss the risks, as well as Trump’s Asia tour and why America could become its own worst enemy if it lets China dominate the region. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From Goldman Sachs partner to Fortress founder and now bitcoin trader, the chief executive of Galaxy Investment Partners has something of a Midas touch. He swings by Times Square to talk about how he's making a killing with a new hedge fund betting on crypto-currencies.   See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The investor sued Kleiner Perkins for discrimination, becoming a canary in the coal mine for a raft of sexual-harassment and gender-bias allegations rocking Silicon Valley, Hollywood and beyond. She discusses if this is a turning point for what she describes as a systemic problem. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoi...

The congressman and chair of the Freedom Caucus thinks neither Republicans nor Democrats have had success in being the governing party. The Exchange went to his office to discuss what that means for tax reform and other issues, and why members of Congress could lose their jobs. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The NYU marketing guru swung by Times Square to discuss what's next for "The Four" tech behemoths - Google, Apple, Amazon and Facebook. Among his predictions: one of them will be hit with a $10 bln-plus antitrust fine and Amazon will choose New York for its second headquarters. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hartford is one of America's poorest cities in one of its richest states. And it's about to get worse for Connecticut's capital as Mayor Luke Bronin wrestles with a fiscal crisis that's likely to end in a bankruptcy filing. Rob Cox dropped in on the former naval officer and Rhodes Scholar to hear his vision for reviving Hartford. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn mor...

There is almost nothing that the Trump administration is doing right on tax, trade, immigration, infrastructure, energy or regulatory policy. At least that's the view of the economist who spent eight years working for the previous White House. Jason Furman swings by Times Square to offer his views on the American economy. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about...

U.S. Republicans are pursuing the holy grail of Washington policy: tax reform. The last comprehensive overhaul was in 1986 under Ronald Reagan. The Exchange met with Reagan adviser Art Laffer, known as the father of supply-side economics, to discuss the prospects for reform today. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoi...

Harvard Business School has trained world leaders, like President George W. Bush, and billion entrepreneurs, including Steve Schwarzman and Mike Bloomberg. It also churned out convicted felons like Enron's Jeff Skilling and former McKinsey boss Raj Gupta. Duff McDonald, author of “The Golden Passport,” discusses the seamier side of Harvard's teachings with Rob Cox. See acast.com/privacy for privac...

After half a century of strife, FARC guerillas are laying down their weapons and integrating into Colombia's political landscape, creating economic opportunities for the South American nation. The Exchange traveled to Bogota to discuss potential dividends from peace, infrastructure investment and the economy with Colombia's finance minister. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out informatio...

Why didn't any Wall Street bigwigs go to jail over the 2008 financial crisis? Unlike the failures of Enron, WorldCom and other corporate calamities, the collapses of Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns necessitated taxpayer bailouts, incinerated billions of dollars of retiree savings and torpedoed the global economy yet resulted in no criminal indictments. ProPublica reporter Jesse Eisinger argues th...

The system of political and economic openness built after World War Two is under threat, Bill Emmott argues in his new book "The Fate of the West." He joins us to discuss globalization, populism and why there's still cause for optimism about the future of liberal democracies. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The mayor of Milan celebrated his first year in office as authorities completed Italy's largest bank bailout. The Exchange visited Milan's city hall, the 16th century Palazzo Marino, to hear Mayor Sala's plans for making the city a post-Brexit financial capital. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

During the 2016 campaign, Donald Trump suggested the United States revisit the gold standard. So did his rivals Ted Cruz, Rand Paul and Ben Carson. Why are Americans so obsessed with the precious metal, both as a store of value and an investment? James Ledbetter swings by Times Square to discuss his new book, "One Nation Under Gold." See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn...

As co-founder and CEO of Ares, Tony Ressler oversees the management of $100 billion. During a recent conversation in Los Angeles, he talked about the bull market under President Trump, his firm's struggling investment in Neiman Marcus and the rising cost of higher education. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As chief economist at Salomon Brothers in the 1970s, Henry Kaufman was known as Dr. Doom for his gloomy prognostications about the economy and markets. Kaufman swung by Times Square to discuss the "Trump bump," the Fed, Wall Street culture and lessons learned at Salomon and beyond. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adcho...

The first episode of our "Summer Reading" series kicks off on a musical note. The Governors Ball co-founder discusses the economics of putting on a music festival, the business of live music and life as part of Live Nation, the world's largest concert-promotion company. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Support for Donald Trump's presidential campaign is thin on Wall Street. The financial industry has by and large cast its bet with his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton. Not Anthony Scaramucci. The founder of SkyBridge capital, who once backed fellow Harvard Law graduate Barack Obama, is now one of the New York real estate developer's economic advisors. Scaramucci swung by Times Square to discuss w...