Macro Bytes

As the US Election race enters its final week before the big day in November, there could only really be one topic of conversation: who is in the lead, and what do the different possible outcomes mean for the markets and for investors? Our Senior Global Economist, James McCann , joins us from Boston, Mass. to discuss the state of the race with Senior Political Economist, Stephanie Kelly .  What wo...

What lessons can economists learn from how a virus spreads, and what pitfalls should they avoid? Our guest, the distinguished economist Paul Ormerod , suggests that the macro-modellers of the Covid-19 virus might have missed a trick; put simply, they didn’t properly take into account the fact that people faced with a situation – any situation – are highly likely to change their behaviour as a resu...

Brexit and Covid-19 are still the topics on everyone's lips, like it or not. But taking a longer view, where does this leave UK politics - and what does sustained political volatility mean for investors? Stephanie Kelly's guests this week are James McBride , from Hanbury Strategies, and Luke Bartholomew , a regular Macro Matters guest and a senior economist at the ASI Research Institute....

We're talking to Senior Monetary Economist, Luke Bartholomew, on whether furlough worked and discussing the outlook for the UK and broader European labour market, as some of the support schemes start to roll off.   Then it's a chat with Research Economist, Abigail Watt, on the rise of big data, which economists are using to track the economy in real time during this crisis. 

In the wake of a spectacularly ill-tempered U.S. Presidential election TV debate, who is leading the race, and what does this mean for our economic forecasting? We welcome our guest, American political strategist, Robby Mook .  Robby has run multiple major election campaigns for the Democratic Party and most notably was the campaign manager for Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign. St...

This week, we grade Abenomics and look ahead to the next era of Japanese politics, and we assess the impact of the passing of Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the US Presidential race. Paul Diggle  is joined by three socially-distanced guests to discuss the fallout from the resignation of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan.   Together they grade the three arrows of Abenomics (spoiler: nobody gets an "A...

Our lead topic is the cheery prospect of a cold, Covid winter - are further lockdowns on the horizon, and how much more can the economy can take? We leaven this with a lively discussion on inflation, and ask whether the crisis will have inflationary or disinflationary consequences. Clue: we think worries about inflation rising out of control are overblown - but you'll have to listen in to hea...

This week’s lead topic is the Federal Reserve’s new mandate.  Our guests are James McCann , Senior Economist, based in Boston, Massachusetts, and Luke Bartholomew , Senior Monetary Economist.  Then we’ll be picking up where we all left off on Brexit, and assessing the latest dramatic moves from the UK Government and the EU.