IMF Podcasts

The changing nature of work is turning traditional employment on its head. More and more people are working in the gig economy or in jobs without formal employment contracts, and the payroll-based industrial-era social insurance policies are no longer providing the safety net for which they were designed. Michal Rutkowski oversees the World Bank's work in developing systems that protect the most v...

Technology is quickly changing the nature of work. Full-time employment with health care and a pension is being replaced with short-term contracts with no benefits, leaving workers exposed. Sharan Burrow has been General Secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation since 2010, and a champion of workers rights in the age of technology. Burrow joined a panel on social protection and the...

Advances in technology are already shaking up the landscape for jobs in many regions around the world. But with its rapidly growing population, sub-Saharan Africa stands to be particularly impacted by the wave of technological innovation known as the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The latest Regional Economic Outlook for sub-Saharan Africa looks at how technology and other factors like climate chan...

The human instinct to trade goes back thousands of years, and Sir Barry Cunliffe has been digging up evidence of those first steps toward today's globalized world throughout his long career as one of Europe's most highly respected archaeologists. Sir Cunliffe is an Emeritus professor at Oxford University and a Commissioner of English Heritage. He was invited to speak to economists as part of the I...

As the world becomes more interconnected and economies more integrated, the role of communications and journalism is increasingly important. But cutting through all the noise is not always easy. In this podcast, legendary Financial Times journalist, Martin Wolf , sits down with the head of IMF communications, Gerry Rice , to talk about the state of global cooperation and the corrosion of trust. Wo...

In the wake of the global financial crisis and with low interest rates lingering in most advanced economies, investors have increasingly been looking at Africa for investment opportunities. The IMF's latest Regional Economic Outlook for sub-Saharan Africa examines what this spectacular increase in capital flows means for the region. In this podcast, economist Mahvash Saeed Qureshi says the recent...

There is a growing body of research that shows that more women in the labor force means higher economic growth, and for longer periods. And while some sectors have made progress in breaking down gender barriers, the rise of technology in others presents new challenges for women. Vera Songwe is the first woman to head the U.N.'s Economic Commission for Africa, and in this podcast, Songwe says Afric...

While countries around the world scramble to find new revenue streams, it turns out most are sitting on wealth they don't even know they own. The IMF's Fiscal Monitor launched in October, analyses public wealth in 31 countries to find their assets worth $101 trillion or 219 percent of GDP. Dag Detter is a specialist in public commercial assets, and works as an adviser to local and national governm...

Not everyone benefits equally from strong economic growth. And while most economists focus on optimizing policies to produce higher growth, economist Jonathan Ostry argues that it is how the benefits from that growth are distributed that will ultimately determine whether the growth will last. Ostry is deputy director of the IMF's Research Department, and says the supply-side policies­ commonly pre...

The IMF-World Bank Annual meetings bring together people from around the world to discuss issues that affect the global economy. This year's meetings were held in Bali, Indonesia, and one issue at the top of the agenda was the rising backlash to globalization by workers who feel they're losing jobs to trade and immigration. Roberto Azevêdo, Director General of the World Trade Organization dispels...

Le dernier rapport du FMI sur les perspectives économiques régionales indique que la croissance s'accélère, grâce en partie, à la hausse du cours des produits de base. » En fin, la raison pour laquelle la croissance augmente c'est par ce que les pays exportateurs de pétrole se remettent peu à peu de ce choc avec le bénéfice des prix plus élevés du pétrole. » Papa N'Diaye, dirige la division des ét...

Oil prices have bounced back somewhat but the IMF's latest Regional Economic Outlook for Sub-Saharan Africa shows why energy exporters shouldn't get too comfortable. " The level of oil prices that we see currently don't imply growth rates in the future that are high enough, and that are anywhere near what we had seen before the oil slump ." Papa N'Diaye is head of research in the IMF's African Dep...

The IMF's Global Financial Stability Report is a weather vane of sorts. It's main objective is to spot shifting trends that could pose risks to the global financial system. Ten years ago, a volatile market and the subsequent collapse of a Wall Street investment firm led to a financial crisis that affected economies around the world. In this podcast, Fabio Natalucci says while that crisis is now we...

In Japan, deaths outnumber births by 1,000 people per day on average. The population in some regions is now smaller than what it was in the 1950's. The combination of its rapidly declining labor force—expected to fall even faster than the overall population, and the limited influx of immigrants, creates a powerful incentive for robots and artificial intelligence. In this podcast, IMF economists To...

Jamaica's economic reform plan launched back in 2013, has shown promise. Employment is at historic highs and external borrowing costs are lower than they've ever been. But economic growth is still slow, and the recent depreciation of the Jamaican dollar has turned attention to a shift in the Bank of Jamaica's foreign exchange policy. In this podcast, economist Uma Ramakrishnan, says the central ba...

It's been ten years since Lehman Brothers—one of the largest firms on Wall street, was wiped out and closed its doors. Only two weeks before it filed for bankruptcy it held more than 600 billion dollars in assets. The fall of Lehman's turned a volatile financial market into a full-blown panic and is widely seen to be what triggered the global financial crisis in 2008. In this podcast, IMF Managing...

Few would argue that workers' remittances—the money migrants send to family in their home country—improve the lives of millions of people. Remittances amounted to over $400 billion last year. That's somewhere between official development assistance and foreign direct investment in terms of size. These massive financial flows have important consequences for the economies that receive them. But in t...

Chaque pays en Afrique subsaharienne a son propre ensemble de défis et de possibilités, La communauté internationale a beaucoup investi ces dernières années à savoir comment augmenter la croissance économique de la région, mais la majorité des Africains diraient que le développement de l'Afrique reste entre les mains de ses jeunes entrepreneurs. Mame Khary Diène est une de ces entrepreneurs du Sén...

Each country in sub-Saharan Africa has its own set of challenges and opportunities. And while the international community puts a lot of resources toward trying to figure out how best to keep the region's economies growing, most Africans would say that Africa's development lies in the hands of its own young entrepreneurs. Mame Khary Diène, is one such entrepreneur from Senegal, where she found her...

It's been almost 25 years since the end of apartheid, the system of institutionalized racial segregation that left most South Africans with limited access to basic services. The post-apartheid years saw remarkable progress in poverty reduction, access to education and healthcare and reducing unemployment. But some of those early achievements have unwound recently amid slow growth and political unc...

Illicit financial flows have been under the spotlight recently. Both the Panama and subsequent Paradise papers exposed large amounts of money held in tax havens—some under questionable circumstances, and the United Nations has included tackling illicit financial flows as a target within its Sustainable Development Goals. In this podcast, the Center for Global Development's Maya Forstater talks abo...

Le dernier rapport du FMI sur les perspectives économiques régionales de l'Afrique subsaharienne indique qu'avec l'adoption des bonnes politiques, la région pourrait globalement accroître ses recettes publiques de jusqu'à 5 % du PIB. Alex Segura est chef de mission pour le Gabon et il a dirigé l'équipe qui a écrit le chapitre sur la mobilisation des recettes fiscales en Afrique subsaharienne. Dans...

The latest Regional Economic Outlook for sub-Saharan Africa suggests better policy design could help countries increase tax revenues by as much as 5 percent of GDP. Alex Segura heads the IMF team for Gabon, and led the team of economists who wrote the chapter on raising revenues in the report. In this podcast, Segura says when people perceive that the tax system is fair, they're much more likely t...

Studying the market for salt in 19th century India and the effects on trade of a railroad built 150 years ago led economist Dave Donaldson to important new findings that are relevant today. Donaldson was the 2017 John Bates Clark Medalist, awarded for the most significant contributions by an economist under the age of 40. In this podcast, Donaldson talks about his work on trade and how it benefits...

As economic advisor to the government of India, Arvind Subramanian helped design the country's goods and services tax. In July of last year, the national GST replaced the patchwork of value-added, sales, and excise taxes levied by 29 states and the federal government. In this podcast, Subramanian discusses the benefits of the new tax with the IMF's Chris Wellisz. He says the tax helped create a si...