EBRD podcasts

Is demographic change a bigger global challenge than climate change? And is population ageing, in fact, one of humanity’s greatest successes? In this episode, listen back to the launch of the EBRD’s Transition Report 2025-26: Brave Old World. Moderated by Richard Porter, EBRD Managing Director of Communications, the discussion brings together a distinguished panel: Professor Sarah Harper CBE – Clo...

In the context of escalating geopolitical tensions, environmental challenges and rapid technological change, industrial policies – state-led strategic interventions designed to reshape an economy’s production structure – have made a comeback in both advanced economies and emerging markets. These policies seek to address global market failures such as climate change, foster economic growth, boost i...

Listen back to the launch of the latest EBRD’s Regional Economic Prospects launched in May 2025 during the 34th EBRD Annual Meeting and Business Forum in London. The discussion covered the latest economic forecasts for the regions where the EBRD invests. The EBRD’s Chief Economist, Beata Javorcik, and leading regional experts discussed the challenges confronting policymakers amidst rising geo-poli...

Listen to the discussion on the industrial policy at the launch of the EBRD Transition Report, moderated by Richard Porter, EBRD Managing Director of Communications. It featured:   Joseph Stiglitz, Nobel laureate in economics and Professor at Columbia University  Rana Foroohar, global business columnist and associate editor at the Financial Times Jeromin Zettelmeyer, Director of Bruegel, the Europ...

Listen to the live launch of the EBRD Transition Report launch. The global shift to net zero will require major structural changes in economies, as well as extensive change in daily lives. The scale of the transition is unprecedented: from the rush to source critical raw materials to the reconfiguration of global supply chains; from the rise of green skills in the workforce to the development of e...

Policymakers and investors need to be aware of the short and long-term challenges Ukraine faces during the war and those that the country will have to deal with in the post-war period. This panel takes a broad look at the historical experience of war and peace and examines the impact that armed conflicts have had on economic performance and political, social and population trends, both during the...

The much-anticipated EBRD Regional Economic Prospects were back in the new panel discussion format for a special EBRD Annual Meeting 2023 edition. The interactive discussion covered the latest economic forecasts for the regions where the EBRD invests. EBRD Chief Economist Beata Javorcik discussed with outstanding regional experts the extraordinary challenges that policymakers are confronted with i...

Nearly nine months after the Russian invasion, the war has seriously affected Ukraine’s economy, which is facing daunting tasks. These tasks require collective efforts and coordination among the country’s policymakers, businesses and international community, including the EBRD. The main objective of this discussion is to bring together representatives of key stakeholders to discuss optimal policie...

Nearly nine months after the Russian invasion, the war has seriously affected Ukraine’s economy, which is facing daunting tasks. Macroeconomic and financial sector stability are essential for the continued functioning of the economy and maintaining the war effort. Supporting and stimulating the real economy are the key elements of its economic sustainability. Participants: Odile Renaud-Basso, Pres...

Launch Of the EBRD Transition Report 2022 - 23 Business Unusual by European Bank for Reconstruction and Development

This special episode in Fearonomics series looks at the economic risks of recent geopolitical turmoil. Ths live event, where the EBRD launched their economic forecasts, analysed the impact of recent turbulence on the economic outlook, including fallout from Russia’s war on Ukraine, the energy crisis and rising inflation. Participants: Beata Javorcik - Chief Economist, EBRD Sergei Guriev – Professo...

Rate, review and subscribe to our podcast At a time when we’re living through the highest inflation in decades, a cost of living crisis and dramatically falling rates of growth, the new Fearonomics episode looks at the cost of discrimination to the global economy. Despite the recent advancement in the equality of rights and inclusion, 45 per cent of American workers have experienced discrimination...

Rate, review and subscribe to our podcast The new episode of the EBRD’s Fearonomics podcast looks at the most common fears around migration. The rate of growth of displaced people in the world is alarming. A 100 million is the latest UNHCR estimate -which equals to 1 per cent of the global population. This stark anti-record reflects the precarious state of the world we are in. The War on Ukraine,...

Rate, review and subscribe to our podcast The new episode of the EBRD’s Fearonomics podcast explores the risks of future pandemics. With new cases of monkeypox globally detected, the looming risks of growing anti-microbial resistance and the impact of climate crisis, is the next pandemic just around the corner? The IMF has recently forecasted the global cost of the Covid-19 pandemic will rise beyo...

Rate, review, download our podcast In the new episode of the EBRD’s Fearonomics podcast Jonathan Charles, the EBRD’s Managing Director of Communications, Sergei Guriev, former EBRD Chief Economist and now Professor of Economics at Science Po, and Beata Javorcik, the EBRD’s current Chief Economist, examine the threat to our economies from inflation and whether we risk an era of stagflation. Policym...

Rate, review and subscribe to our podcast The new episode of the EBRD’s Fearonomics podcast explores the risks of rolling back globalisation. Globalisation connected the world’s economies as never before. Cross-border trade in goods and services became a routine. The financial crisis of 15 years ago highlighted how fast contagion can spread around the globe. The Covid pandemic exposed how fragile...

Fearonomics: will global energy crisis end the shift to green? Rate, review and subscribe to our podcast In its second episode the EBRD’s new Fearonomics podcast is exploring what are the risks and solutions to the global energy crisis. Listen to Jonathan Charles, EBRD’s Managing Director, Communications, Sergei Guriev, EBRD former Chief Economist and professor of economics at Science Po and Beata...

In its first episode Fearonomics: can we fix the looming food crisis? Jonathan Charles, EBRD’s Managing Director, Communications, will be discussing the most pressing issues with Sergei Guriev, EBRD former Chief Economist and professor of economics at Science Po and Beata Javorcik, EBRD’s Chief Economist (current) and also professor of Economics at Oxford University. They will explore a wide range...

System upgrade: Delivering the digital dividend Our report explores how advanced digitalisation has affected the economies where we invest. The digitalisation process is destined to continue and will remain one of the key forces shaping developments around the world – including in the EBRD regions. It is therefore quite fitting that this year’s Transition Report is devoted to that subject. It expl...

Listen, download and rate our podcast COP26, or the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, will bring international stakeholders together to accelerate action towards the goals of the Paris Agreement and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. It takes place next month in Glasgow. The stake are very high, as the climate emergency, highlighted in the IPCC report from earlier this yea...

Robots v Covid-19: the future of work? Rate, review and download our podcast “Telecommuting”, “quaranteams”, “doomscrolling”, “upperwear” and curating one’s Zoom background have all become a part of our new remote working reality. If we were unnerved by the way digital technology was transforming our world before the pandemic, Covid-19 has only made the speed of change even faster, It is estimated...

Rate, review and download our podcast With the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP 26) scheduled for November, governments are under growing pressure to meet their national commitments to decarbonise. Green transition at scale will require a lot of collaboration and, in a global economy still in the throes of the coronavirus pandemic, finance will have a key role to play in ‘buil...

Rate, review and download our podcast On the 15 April 1991, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development opened its doors for business for the first time. It was conceived by its founders as ‘a new and unique structure of co‑operation’ for a continent still recovering from the shock of the collapse of communism. Its mission then, as now, was to further progress towards market-oriented econ...

Rate, review and download our podcast The Multilateral development banks were set up after the Second World War to be the original impact investors, fighting poverty, inequality or more currently climate change. “To demonstrate our impact is crucial at a time where multilateralism is often challenged, when there is a tendency to think that, we are more effective when we work at a country level tha...

Rate, review and download our podcast Inequality is emerging as the “biggest policy challenge” during and after the Covid-19 pandemic, with the World Bank estimating that extreme global poverty is to rise for the first time in over 20 years. “The coronavirus pandemic is possibly the first so-called ‘global event’”, said Professor Branko Milanovic in the latest EBRD Economics Talk. Sir Angus Deaton...