Beating Sisyphus: How Emerging Markets Overcome the Impossible

In this episode of Beating Sisyphus, hosts Anastasiia Ryshytiuk, Lourdes Casanova, and Konrad Hartung sit down with Roland Siller, CEO of DEG (Deutsche Investitions- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft), one of Europe’s leading development finance institutions. With over three decades of experience, Roland dives into the core objective of development finance: maximizing "human returns" over fin...

Former President of Costa Rica, Laura Chinchilla, sits down with Konrad Hartung, Thomas Riveros, and Professor Lourdes Casanova from the EMC2 to discuss the defining choices that shaped Costa Rica’s unique development model. From her early days backpacking through war-torn Central America to her executive decisions navigating the 2008 financial crisis, combating organized crime, and pushing Costa...

In 2001, he coined the term "BRIC" to predict the massive economic shift toward Brazil, Russia, India, and China. 25 years later, Lord Jim O'Neill sits down with Thomas Riveros and Lourdes Casanova to grade his predictions and explore what's next for the global economy. In this episode of Beating Sisyphus, Lord Jim O'Neill (former Head of Global Economics Research at Goldman...

Has the global economy entered a destructive feedback loop? In this episode of Beating Sisyphus, we sit down with Eswar Prasad, Tolani Senior Professor of International Trade Policy at  @Cornell  and Senior Fellow at the  @BrookingsInstitution  .We dive into his latest book, Doom Loop, to explore how the forces once thought to bring global stability—globalization, international organizations, and...

What does it really take to break a poverty trap? In this episode of Beating Sisyphus, Cornell development economist Professor Christopher Barrett joins Thomas Riveros and Lourdes Casanova to explore one of the world's most pressing challenges: why extreme poverty persists in some places even as others — like China and Vietnam — have achieved miraculous growth. We go deep on the economics of p...

How does extortionate corruption fundamentally restructure an economy? Why do voters frequently tolerate "rational hypocrisy" from their political leaders? In this episode of Beating Sisyphus, co-hosts Thomas Riveros and Lourdes Casanova sit down with Nicolás Cachanosky (UTEP) and J.P. Bastos (University of Austin) to dissect the institutional and economic challenges facing Latin America...

When we talk about Artificial Intelligence in healthcare, the conversation in the U.S. often revolves around optimizing administrative tasks and shaving seconds off billing processes. But in emerging markets, AI isn’t just an efficiency play—it’s a critical force multiplier for human capital and a bridge to life-saving access. Live from Ithaca, NY, Beating Sisyphus host Melissa Linares sits down w...

In this special crossover episode of Beating Sisyphus and Tres Respuestas, we sit down with Iván Duque, President of Colombia (2018–2022), to explore the realities of governing a highly volatile emerging market. President Duque discusses how his faith and principles of Stoicism and "radical centrism" helped him navigate a historic convergence of exogenous shocks—from the COVID-19 pandemi...

In this episode of the Frontier Minute, we break down the most critical business and macroeconomic developments across the Global South. Topics Covered This Week:Latin America: Banco do Brasil launches cross-border Pix instant payments in Argentina. Middle East & Asia: Despite regional conflicts and drone strikes on data centers, Big Tech (Amazon, Microsoft, Oracle, and Google) is doubling dow...

When we look at informal labor markets in the Global South, it is easy to attribute inefficiencies to a lack of financial literacy or unavoidable cultural norms. But what if these behaviors are actually highly rational responses to broken economic systems? In this episode of Beating Sisyphus, hosts Thomas Riveros and Lourdes Casanova sit down with Dr. Nicholas Swanson, Assistant Professor of Econo...

In this special episode of Beating Sisyphus, Thomas Riveros sits down with Lourdes and Anne to discuss their incredible careers tracking the massive shift in global economic power. From the early days of studying developing nations at the UN and INSEAD, to tracking the explosive rise of Chinese and Latin American multinationals, they share the personal stories behind the macroeconomic data. They d...

In this episode of Beating Sisyphus, hosts Thomas Riveros and Lourdes Casanova welcome Salim Furth Senior Research Fellow and Director of the Urbanity Project at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. Together, they explore the economic foundations of housing markets, comparing the rigid zoning laws of the United States with the sprawling informality of emerging markets like Nigeria and I...

Is the era of US Dollar dominance truly over? And why does the math on government debt rarely add up? In this episode of Beating Sisyphus, hosts Thomas Riveros and Lourdes Casanova sit down with Jon Hartley (Hoover Institution, Stanford PhD candidate, and host of the Capitalism and Freedom in the 21st Century podcast).They dive deep into Jon’s 2023 paper on the International Public Debt Valuation...

In this lightning round we ask: Is the "China Model" broken? In this episode of Beating Sisyphus, hosts Thomas Riveros and Lourdes Casanova sit down with Alicia García-Herrero (Chief Economist for Asia Pacific at Natixis and Senior Fellow at Bruegel) to analyze the economic realities behind China's rise—and its current state. From the "implicit social contract" that allowed...

In this special episode of Beating Sisyphus, we host the launch of the 2025 Emerging Market Multinationals Report, titled "New Rules, New Opportunities."Celebrating the 10th anniversary of this flagship publication from the Cañizares Center for Emerging Markets at Cornell University, hosts Lourdes Casanova and Thomas Riveros are joined by co-author Anne Miroux and a panel of global exper...

Former Director of International Finance at the Federal Reserve, Dr. Steven Kamin, breaks down the transmission of US monetary policy to the rest of the world. We discuss his research on why emerging markets (EMs) have become more resilient to Fed tightening, the impact of Chinese subsidies, and the potential risks to the US dollar's safe-haven status. Plus, a deep dive into Javier Milei’s sta...

#markmobius #crypto #cbdc #emergingmarkets #bitcoin #finance #cornell #digitalcurrency #investing In this episode of Beating Sisyphus, legendary investor Mark Mobius joins Lourdes Casanova, John Ninia, and Sharwari Pandit to discuss their new book, "The Digital Currency Revolution." We also speak with Rafaela Baldeon, head of the Cornell Bitcoin Club. The panel explores the seismic shift in global...

In this episode of Beating Sisyphus, we sit down with Lourdes Casanova, Director of the Cañizares Center for Emerging Markets at Cornell University, to explore how developing nations are breaking the cycle of economic instability. From "digital leapfrogging" in finance to the shifting dynamics of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), Lourdes explains why countries like Brazil and India are bypassing tr...

EM’s now represent a larger portion of the market than they ever have. How should investors think about these opportunities? In this episode of Beating Sisyphus, we sit down with Adrian Leon, CFA, Vice President at Insigneo ($35B AUM) and former Guggenheim Partners LatAm to discuss global diversification. With the US market outperforming for the last 15 years, many assume the trend will last forev...

#africa  #africandevelopment  #emergingmarkets  #economicgrowth  #mobilemoney #africantech  #innovationinafrica  Africa is entering a historic turning point. In this inaugural episode of Beating Sisyphus, we sit down with Brian Frantz, former USAID Senior Foreign Service Officer, and Abubakar Idris, African business journalist and Cornell MBA candidate, to explore the forces shaping Africa’s econo...