EconoFact Chats

With the delinking of the dollar from gold in 1971 -- the so called 'Nixon shock' -- there were widespread doubts about how long the dollar could retain its international dominance. More than half a century later, the dollar remains the world's dominant currency. But for how long will it continue to reign supreme? Barry Eichengreen draws on his new book, 'Money Beyond Borders: From Croesus to Crypto,' to discuss what history reveals about the preconditions for global currency status, why dominant currencies can lose that status, and whether the forces that have sustained the dollar's role -- inertia, network effects, and the absence of a clear alternative -- are weakening in an era of digital payment systems, blockchain, and central bank digital currencies.

Barry is Distinguished Professor of Economics and Professor of Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley. His previous book, 'Exorbitant Privilege: The Rise and Fall of the Dollar,' was shortlisted for the Financial Times Book of the Year Award.

As the use of AI in finance becomes more pervasive -- in trading algorithms and credit underwriting, to insurance claims processing -- what benefits and risks do these systems pose? Gary Gensler joins EconoFact Chats to discuss how AI is lowering costs and broadening access to financial services, but also creating new challenges around explainability, bias, and accuracy.

Gary is Professor of the Practice of Global Economics and Management as well as of Finance at the MIT Sloan School of Management. He served as Chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission. Along with Simon Johnson, he hosts the podcast Power and Consequences.

Some of the key economic challenges facing the U.S. include its large federal debt and the possibility of a fiscal crisis, as well as the disruptions (and perhaps promises) of the widespread adoption of Artificial Intelligence. Greg Mankiw discussed these challenges in an EconoFact Ask Me Anything webinar held on October 15, 2025. This EconoFact Chats episode is an abridged recording of that webinar.

Greg is the Robert M. Beren Professor of Economics at Harvard University. He served as the Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers in the George W. Bush administration. He is the author of the bestselling Principles of Economics and Macroeconomics textbooks.

EconoFact’s monthly Ask Me Anything Webinars are exclusively available to our Premium Subscribers. The modest $50 annual fee for becoming a Premium Subscriber supports EconoFact and its efforts to bring timely, accessible, unbiased, and nonpartisan analyses on important economic and social policy issues to the public. You can sign-up for a Premium Subscription here: https://secure.touchnet.net/C21525_ustores/web/store_main.jsp?STOREID=157

Note: This podcast was first published on 16th November, 2025.

This week, EconoFact Chats features an abridged version of an Ask Me Anything webinar with John Cassidy of The New Yorker focusing on his new book, 'Capitalism and Its Critics: A History from the Industrial Revolution to AI.' Cassidy discusses why capitalism has proved resilient, mutating in times of crisis rather than collapsing, what challenges AI could pose over the coming years, and how the system might adapt.

John is a staff writer at The New Yorker. His previous book, 'How Markets Fail: The Logic of Economic Calamities,' was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.

EconoFact’s monthly Ask Me Anything Webinars are exclusively available to Premium Subscribers. The $50 annual fee for becoming a Premium Subscriber helps EconoFact bring timely, accessible, unbiased, and nonpartisan analyses on important economic and social policy issues to the public. You can sign-up for a Premium Subscription here: https://secure.touchnet.net/C21525_ustores/web/store_main.jsp?STOREID=157

In his new book, 'The Doom Loop: Why the World Economic Order Is Spiraling into Disorder,' Eswar Prasad writes that "economic, political, and geopolitical factors are fuelling a doom loop, breeding turmoil rather than stability, disarray rather than order." Prasad joins EconoFact Chats to discuss why forces once expected to foster shared prosperity -- globalization, multilateral institutions and competition -- are instead driving instability, and why the erosion of domestic institutions makes this moment more dangerous than previous periods of volatility.

Eswar is a Professor at Cornell University and a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution. He previously served as head of the International Monetary Fund's China division.

This week, EconoFact Chats features an abridged version of an Ask Me Anything webinar co-hosted with The Journalist's Resource on the economic consequences of the war in Iran. Panelists Binyamin Applebaum (New York Times), Nicholas Bloom (Stanford), Michael Klein (EconoFact) and David Victor (UC San Diego) discussed the energy market disruptions stemming from the war, how increased uncertainty has slowed hiring and investment, the bind facing the Federal Reserve as it confronts simultaneous supply and demand shocks, and the divergent energy policy responses emerging in the United States and Europe.

Ask Me Anything Webinars are open to EconoFact Premium Subscribers. You can sign-up for a Premium Subscription at https://secure.touchnet.net/C21525_ustores/web/store_main.jsp?STOREID=157. The $50 annual fee supports EconoFact in its efforts to bring timely, accessible, unbiased, and nonpartisan analyses on important economic and social policy issues to the public.

The COVID pandemic and the war with Iran highlight the vulnerabilities associated with international supply chains. But sourcing from low-cost producers and from countries that have an advantage in providing key inputs also contributes to greater productivity and a wider range of available goods. Chris Miller joins EconoFact Chats to discuss the economic security challenges associated with a dependence on vital inputs like microchips and how to address vulnerabilities while maintaining the global linkages that foster innovation and prosperity.

Chris is a Professor at The Fletcher School at Tufts University and the author of Chip War, which won the 2022 Financial Times Business Book of the Year Award.

Much has changed since the EconoFact Chats panel of journalists last met in late 2025; the bombing of Iran and its effects on oil prices and shipping through the vital Strait of Hormuz, the Supreme Court’s decision on the illegality of tariffs enacted by IEEPA and the possibility that the government may have to repay tariff revenues, and the nomination of a new Chair for the Federal Reserve, and the arguments made before the Supreme Court on the attempted firing of Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook.

This week, EconoFact Chats welcomes back Binyamin Appelbaum of The New York Times, Larry Edelman of The Boston Globe, Scott Horsley of NPR, and Claire Jones of The Financial Times for a wide-ranging discussion on these, and other, pressing issues.

The United States has about 2 million people behind bars at any given time -- an incarceration rate more than twice that of any other economically advanced country. There are significant costs to this -- in terms of the resources needed to run prisons and jails, the losses associated with having so many people not participating in the economy, and the price paid by individuals themselves when they are removed from society. Jennifer Doleac joins EconoFact Chats to discuss how rigorous economic research is reshaping our understanding of crime, punishment, and rehabilitation. She draws on her new book 'The Science of Second Chances: A Revolution in Criminal Justice' to highlight policies and programs that are effective in crime prevention, reducing recidivism, and helping the incarcerated re-enter society.

Jennifer is Executive Vice President of Criminal Justice at Arnold Ventures, and the host of Probable Causation.

This week, EconoFact Chats features an abridged version of an Ask Me Anything Webinar held on January 16th, 2026, featuring Heather Long of the Navy Federal Credit Union (formerly at The Washington Post), and John Hilsenrath of Serpa Pinto Advisory (formerly at The Wall Street Journal). The webinar touched on a wide range of issues including the uneven economic recovery since COVID, America's transition from an economy driven by manufacturing and services, to one driven by tech and information, and the effects of tariffs on prices and American manufacturing jobs.

The next EconoFact Ask Me Anything Webinar on Tuesday, February 24th, 2026, at noon Eastern Time, which is open to all, will be with John Cassidy (The New Yorker) who will answer questions on, among other topics, his new book Capitalism and Its Critics. Subsequent monthly AMA webinars, such as the one with Mark Zandi, Chief Economist of Moody’s Analytics, will be exclusively available to Premium Subscribers. You can sign-up for a Premium Subscription at https://secure.touchnet.net/C21525_ustores/web/store_main.jsp?STOREID=157. The $50 annual fee helps support EconoFact in its efforts to bring timely, accessible, and unbiased analyses on important economic and social policy issues.