IMF Podcasts

Migration is on the front burner these days. We hear a lot about people moving from one country to the next, fleeing conflict or seeking a better life. But what about the movement of people within a country? Economist Tamim Bayoumi says a well-functioning economy has people moving around to maximize their own welfare and in turn maximize the system; a basic tenant of market economics. Bayoumi is c...

July was the hottest month on record according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Scientific research now indicates more clearly than ever that our growing carbon footprint is warming the planet at an alarming rate and threatening our ecosystems. In this podcast, economist Ralph Chami, and whale conservationist Michael Fishbach, explain the carbon capture potential of whales a...

Being diagnosed with a serious illness is a shock to the system, and treatment and recovery can mean major disruptions in a person's life. But illness also takes millions of people out of the labor force every year and the quality of the care they receive can determine the extent to which this is a shock to the economy. IMF economist Nicola Pierri, with coauthors Anne-Line Koch Helsø and Adelina Y...

In his latest book, Raghuram Rajan takes a close look at the relationship between the state, markets and communities, and argues localism is the answer to globalization. Rajan is a distinguished professor of finance at the University of Chicago, former head of India's central bank and former Chief Economist at the IMF, where he was invited to talk about The Third Pillar: How Markets and the State...

The use of digital technologies is transforming how tax administrations operate, helping to improve efficiency and service delivery. A striking example has been Peru's adoption of electronic invoicing, which allows the automatic transfer of billing information between firms and the tax authority. Drawn by its potential to strengthen tax compliance and reduce costs, Peru is among more than 50 count...

Technological innovation like automation using robots to produce goods and provide services creates tremendous opportunities for businesses. But as the cost of producing robots goes down, is this technology widening the income gap? Economist Arnaud Costinot has been studying technological change and its impact on inequality, and in this podcast, he discusses how a robot tax might help better distr...

International corporate tax avoidance is a growing concern for both advanced economies and low-income countries. The changing nature of the global economy–notably increasing digitalization, in some cases, is making it easier for firms to shift profits to low-tax countries. Michael Keen is a Deputy Director in the IMF's Fiscal Affairs Department, and in this podcast he says the international tax sy...

When it comes to environmental policies, Ian Parry argues none are more effective than carbon taxes. Parry, an expert on fiscal policy and climate change at the IMF, says carbon taxes promote a full range of responses for reducing emissions–like switching from coal to clean generation fuels, reducing the demand for electricity, transportation fuels, and so on and can be administratively straightfo...

Global value chains break up the production process so that different steps can be carried out in different countries. In the past, a country had to master the production of a whole manufactured product to export it, which rarely happened. With value chains, a country can specialize in one or several activities in which it has a comparative advantage. In this podcast, David Dollar says he's seen A...

Debt is at record levels around the world. 40 percent of low-income countries are wrestling with debt distress or high-risk debt levels and for a few countries in sub-Saharan Africa the debt crisis has already materialized. Fanwell Kenala Bokosi is the Executive Director for the African Forum and Network for Debt and Development, or AFRODAD . In this podcast, Bokosi says the nature of Africa's deb...

The main objective of the Paris agreement signed by 190 countries in 2015, is to reduce carbon emissions and ensure a transition to low emissions economies. A new IMF paper looks at the role of fiscal policies in helping countries implement their climate strategies. Andrew Steer , President and CEO of the World Resources Institute joined a panel to discuss the paper at the Center for Global Develo...

In 2018, African Union members established the African Continental Free Trade Area in an effort to boost regional trade. They agreed to eliminate tariffs on most goods, liberalize the trade of services and address obstacles to trade between African countries. The African free trade agreement has since been ratified by 22 countries and is likely to take effect later this year. The IMF's latest Regi...

Nature and economic progress often have a conflicting relationship. In this podcast, lifelong champion of the natural world Sir David Attenborough joins IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde for a tête à tête on how economic growth and the economies of nature can work together to preserve life on earth. While the world's natural resources make life and industry possible, the demands of a growing...

There is a strong link between the ups and downs of home prices around the world and the global economy. The latest Global Financial Stability Report takes a deep look into what the latest trends in the housing sector might tell us about vulnerabilities within in the financial system. Claudio Raddatz leads the IMF's Global Financial Stability Analysis team, and in this podcast, he says a high shar...

Achieving inclusive growth is one of the critical challenges of our time. In this podcast, IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde opens a public discussion between IMF Chief Economist, Gita Gopinath , World Bank Chief Economist, Pinelopi Koujianou Goldberg and OECD Chief Economist, Laurence Boone , about how to ensure economic growth benefits the many and not only the few. In her introduction, La...

Corruption leeches money from citizens and taxpayers and corrodes trust in government. In this podcast, Transparency International's Chairperson in Jordan, Sawsan Gharaibeh , talks about how governance weaknesses in some countries in the Middle East have undermined economic growth and kept the region on the lower end of the Corruption Perception Index. Gharaibeh was invited to join a panel on curb...

A third of countries in sub-Saharan Africa are currently involved in conflict or experiencing post-conflict tension, forcing an estimated 18 million people away from their homes and livelihoods. The IMF's latest Regional Economic Outlook for sub-Saharan Africa provides an in-depth analysis of conflict trends and the socio-economic challenges faced by countries in the region. Economists, Siddharth...

A key objective of the IMF is to pick up on trends that could potentially compromise economic stability, and the Global Financial Stability Report is designed to help do just that. Fabio Natalucci heads the team of economists who write the biannual publication known as the GFSR. In this podcast, Natalucci says the latest report shows financial stability risks are higher than they were six months a...

The notion of citizenship is relatively recent in our history. It was only in the 19th century with the birth of the nation-state that came the need to establish a legal distinction between those who belonged to the state and those who didn't. But being a national or a foreigner influences one's financial decisions, which can have a significant impact on a country's economic development. In this p...

Risk analysis is an important element in growth forecasting, and detecting vulnerabilities within the global financial system helps policymakers mitigate risks. In an effort to broaden the scope of its risk analysis, the IMF developed a new open-source tool that looks at the entire distribution of future GDP growth rather than the traditional point forecasts. The tool is now shared on GitHub, one...

Immigration can put extra pressure on governments to fund social programs, especially in times of slow economic growth. In this podcast, Political Scientist Charlotte Cavaille , says rising populism in some countries is fueling a debate about who should have access to government funded programs. Cavaille studies immigration and public opinion toward the welfare state, and was invited by the IMF's...

The effects of copyright and patent laws on artistic creativity and technological innovation are gaining more and more significance in today's economy driven to a large part by content. Economic historian Petra Moser uses data from 19th century Italian operas and world fairs to examine the economic implications of basic copyright and patent protection for innovators. In this podcast, Moser describ...

While sub-Saharan Africa has lagged behind the rest of the world in access to finance, some countries in the region are bucking the trend thanks to advancements in financial technology known as Fintech. Mobile technology has made sub-Saharan Africa the global leader in mobile money transfer services, helping provide financial services to millions previously off the formal financial grid. A new IMF...

For many countries, broadening access to basic services like education and healthcare is fiscally daunting. Economies in developing countries are often informal for the most part, making it difficult for governments to collect the taxes that ultimately fund these programs. In this podcast, IMF economist David Coady says good policy decisions will help countries find the resources they need to stre...

There's been a huge surge in data usage across all sectors of the economy of late. And in the financial sector, recent research by MIT's Maryam Farboodi shows that while data resolves some risk for investors, it also creates risk. In this podcast, Farboodi talks about how big data is disproportionally benefiting the larger firms and how the distributional aspects of data may be exacerbating inequa...