Money Talks from The Economist

By The Economist

News & Politics Business News

What's Money Talks from The Economist about?

Take a seat at the table and learn about the biggest stories in financial markets, the economy and business. Each week our editors and correspondents explore how economics influences the world we live in and share their insights across a range of topics. From inflation and recession risk to all things crypto and even the commercial success of K-pop, we have you covered. Published every Thursday. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Money Talks: The great debt...

06.01.2023

Decades of cheap money has left businesses in America and Europe addicted to debt. Some companies have been borrowing cash just to dole it out to shareholders. But with interest rates now reaching levels not seen in 15 years, those ...

Money Talks from The Economist episodes:

06.01.2023 Money Talks: The great debt hangover Decades of cheap money has left businesses in America and Europe addicted to debt. Some companies have been borrowing cash just to dole it out to shareholders. But with interest rates now reaching levels not seen in 15 years, those ...
05.25.2023 Money Talks: Another way, another dollar? From Alipay’s QR codes to PayPal, it’s never been easier to move money around. Central banks are even considering their own digital currencies. And all that cross-border cashlessness has some wondering about the dollar’s international dominance. On this week’s podcast, ...
05.18.2023 Money Talks: Why house prices are so stubbornly high Housing in America has never been this unaffordable. The pandemic set off skyrocketing prices; then the Fed began to rapidly increase interest rates, pushing up borrowing costs. Many predicted this might result in a crash. But after dropping 10% from ...
05.11.2023 Money Talks: Is the car industry running out of gas? Buying a car used to be about two things: style and performance. But as motorists trade in their petrol or diesel cars for electric vehicles, manufacturers are increasingly focusing on experience by adding features like karaoke machines and mood lighting. ...
05.04.2023 Money Talks: A business podcast on the business of podcasts Around a third of Americans now listen to at least one podcast a week. That fact has not escaped the attention of advertisers, who spent nearly $2bn on podcast ads last year. But with more than 4m podcasts for listeners ...
04.27.2023 Money Talks: Last dance for TikTok? Time may be running short for TikTok. In the US, both Democrats and Republicans view the Chinese-owned app as a national security threat and would like to ban it. It’s practically the only policy issue that the two parties agree ...
04.20.2023 Money Talks: Why oh why EY? The professional services firm EY reportedly spent hundreds of millions of dollars preparing to split itself into separate audit and advisory companies. Then earlier this month it abruptly called the divorce off. EY is not unique. All of the "big ...
04.13.2023 Money Talks: Succession Asia Fans of the popular television show “Succession” have been gripped by the family battle to take control of the fictional patriarch Logan Roy’s sprawling media empire. But across Asia family businesses are worried about their own, very real, succession battles ...
04.06.2023 Money Talks: Will video games eat Hollywood? Video game makers used to look to Hollywood for their inspiration. But in recent years, the market for games has grown to nearly $200bn, five times more than people spend at the box office and more, even, than they spend ...
03.30.2023 Money Talks: The A to Z of economics Hosts Alice Fulwood, Mike Bird and Tom Lee Devlin take to the road this week with a single aim: bring economics to life. The mission takes them to some unexpected corners of the world and forces them to don some ...
03.23.2023 Money Talks: Discredit Suisse Few would have predicted that the demise of Silicon Valley Bank, a niche Californian lender, would be followed by the failure of Credit Suisse. But on March 19 the banking crisis reached Zurich, where regulators brokered a fire sale that ...
03.16.2023 Money Talks: What went wrong at SVB? Until last week, most people beyond California and the tech world probably hadn’t heard of Silicon Valley Bank, but its swift collapse made headlines across the globe. On this week’s podcast, hosts Alice Fulwood, Tom Lee-Devlin and Mike Bird examine ...
03.09.2023 Money Talks: The rise of the robots Robots are getting better and cheaper—and that means they will play a much larger role in our lives. They are already reaching beyond the car plants and warehouses, where they have become commonplace, to turn their mechanised hands to making ...
03.02.2023 Money Talks: Not made in China China was the source of $1trn-worth of electronic goods and components in 2021, roughly a third of the global total. And it’s not just consumer electronics that begin their life in China. The country is the source of everything from ...
02.23.2023 Money Talks: Could K-pop become a monopoly? The rise of Korea’s musicians from local celebrities to international superstars is credited to Lee Soo-man, the godfather of K-pop. The industry he developed gave rise to groups like BTS, which has been the biggest-selling band in the world for ...
02.16.2023 Money Talks: The king of quants Quantitative investors are known for their cool, mathematical approach to investing. They build models which search for patterns across huge data sets to discern where they should invest. The frenzied “bubble in everything” wrongfooted many quants in 2020–but the stock ...
02.09.2023 Money Talks: Adani’s short story Just weeks ago, Gautam Adani was the third richest person in the world. But he was caught short when Hindenburg Research, a small American short-seller, issued a report that spooked investors, wiping $100bn from the value of Adani firms. On ...
02.02.2023 Money Talks: Goldman Sags Goldman once dominated Wall Street. In 2009, after the financial crisis, when most financial institutions were left reeling, Goldman had its best year ever. It appeared an apex-predator, one that could outsmart its rivals in even the toughest environments. But ...
01.26.2023 Money Talks: Can Disney rekindle the magic? The Walt Disney Company turns 100 years old this week. But the silver screen success that helped it become the world’s biggest entertainment company will not be enough to keep it on top for another century. As households swap cable ...
01.19.2023 Money Talks: How globalisation gave way America has changed the way it views the rest of the world. Rather than pushing for a more globalised economy with fewer trade barriers, the US is now seeking a more protected system of international trade. President Biden’s Inflation Reduction ...
01.12.2023 Money Talks: The new power in the North Sea For decades, the North Sea’s fierce gales have created a challenge for those extracting the oil and gas buried beneath its swells. But the region’s poor weather is also the key to its future: offshore wind. And the plans are ...
01.05.2023 Money Talks: The economics of thinness Across the rich world there is a negative relationship between incomes and weight, as measured by body mass index. The richer people are, the thinner they tend to be. But separate the data by gender and a startling gap appears. ...
12.28.2022 Money Talks: TikTok’s ticking time bomb—an episode from our archive It’s the fastest growing app in the world, filled with dance trends, cats misbehaving, and questionable financial advice. Teenagers love it; Western politicians are less convinced. Could TikTok’s popularity be its downfall? In one of our favourite episodes of 2022, ...
12.21.2022 Money Talks: Is Christmas becoming more efficient? Economists are a gloomy lot, and no less so at Christmas. Whereas most people see gift-giving as a source of joy, economists fret about the potential for misallocated resources. One Scrooge-ish study found that, on average, $100 spent on gifts ...
12.14.2022 Money Talks: The changing ideology of Silicon Valley Startup founders in Silicon Valley are often motivated by an almost religious idealism: young tech workers, looking to move fast and break things, want to use technology to make the world a better place. But 2022 has brought about a ...
12.07.2022 Money Talks: China reopens China’s draconian zero-covid policies have required repeated and lengthy lockdowns, enormous make-shift quarantine facilities, and endless testing for the population. They have also done real damage to its economy. After rare outbreaks of protest against the policy in several cities, ...
11.30.2022 Money Talks: The new rules of investment High inflation, amid warnings of a global recession, is forcing investors to tear up the rule book. Since the financial crisis, bonds have been seen as a safe bet—even if they did not promise much of a return. Equity markets, ...
11.23.2022 Money Talks: Why it’s time to talk about Indonesia Indonesia is the world’s third-largest producer of coal. Not only does it power the country, it powers the economy. But the country’s president, Joko Widodo, wants to change that. Indonesia is garnering global attention due to its stock of nickel ...
11.16.2022 Money Talks: The cryptocalypse Until last week, Sam Bankman-Fried - or SBF as he’s become known - was crypto’s poster-child. He was a regular in Washington, DC where he schmoozed journalists, regulators and lawmakers alike. He funded political campaigns and sponsored sports teams ranging ...
11.09.2022 Money Talks: Is pay transparency good? On November 1st, New York City’s workers woke up to a new reality: every job listing for work that could be done in one of the five boroughs now had a stated salary band. Gossips rejoiced. But who does the ...
11.02.2022 Money Talks: The tech reckoning Most of America’s biggest technology firms are having a bad time - and not just the ones who have been recently acquired by a mercurial billionaire. More than $1tn has been wiped from their market value in recent weeks. Is ...
10.26.2022 Money Talks: Wall Street's top cop Gary Gensler has spent just a little over a year and a half as the head of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), America’s top markets regulator. In that time, he’s proposed 40 separate filings for rules, given 60 speeches, ...
10.19.2022 Money Talks: How to rebuild Ukraine Ukraine’s economy is both hurting and defying expectations. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimates that GDP will shrink by 35% this year and inflation is running at 24%. Yet slowly and grimly the country’s economy has adapted to war—and seems ...
10.12.2022 Money Talks: Panic economics This year’s Nobel prize in economics was awarded to Ben Bernanke, Philip Dybvig, and Douglas Diamond for their pioneering research into the role that banks play in financial crises. On this week’s episode, hosts Soumaya Keynes, Mike Bird and Alice ...
10.05.2022 Money Talks: Managing the consultants The image of management consultants has taken a pounding in recent years, giving the industry a reputation for unscrupulousness on par with investment bankers. And a recent difficulties and controversies at the three most prestigious firms - McKinsey, Bain and ...
09.28.2022 Money Talks: The rate shock The world’s financial markets are going through their most painful adjustment since the global financial crisis. Global stock markets have sold off sharply and bond markets are on course for their worst year since 1949. The British pound briefly fell ...
09.21.2022 Money Talks: Beyond seasonable doubt Lawsuits aimed at green-house gas emissions are a growing trend, and better science is making them more precise. As ESG comes under attack, could these suits represent a different front in pressuring companies to act on climate change? On this ...
09.14.2022 Money talks: India's moment India’s economy recently overtook Britain’s to be the world’s fifth largest, and it’s on track to be the fastest growing big economy this year. Part of what’s powering that growth is renewed domestic investment by the country’s big conglomerates. Could ...
09.07.2022 Money Talks: Running on empty Europe is facing a catastrophic energy crisis. Prices for the natural gas needed to power many of its electricity plants have increased ten-fold since last summer. Most recently, Russia has choked off gas supplies to the Nord Stream 1 pipeline ...
08.31.2022 Money Talks: Will the electric vehicle boom go bust? This month, California banned the sale of petrol cars by 2035. It could prompt a third of American states to embrace electric vehicles more quickly. But America is a laggard when it comes to the EV revolution. The European Parliament ...
08.24.2022 Money Talks: Who is winning the sanctions war? At the outset of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the West united to impose unprecedented sanctions on Vladimir Putin’s regime. Six months on, a furious debate has erupted about the true state of Russia’s economy, which has so far defied the ...
08.17.2022 Money Talks: Land, locked Mortgage boycotts that began in Jiangxi, China have spread to nearly 100 cities across the country, threatening over 320 real estate projects. They add more trouble to a property market that was already in turmoil and portend future pain in ...
08.10.2022 Money Talks: Fragile economies From Sri Lanka to Pakistan, El Salvador to Ghana, Egypt to Tunisia, some emerging economies are feeling the pain of rising commodity prices, higher interest rates and a strong dollar. Is a wave of historic debt defaults coming for emerging ...
08.03.2022 Money Talks: Top dollar This year, the dollar is up by 15% against the yen, 10% against the pound and 5% against the yuan. In July, it briefly hit parity against the Euro, something that last happened two decades ago. What’s behind the greenback’s ...
07.27.2022 Money Talks: How should crypto be regulated? The crypto winter has left many investors out in the cold. People have lost money as lending platforms have gone bust and complex stablecoin systems have unravelled. The push for better guardrails to be put in place has accelerated. But ...
07.20.2022 Money Talks: The backlash against ESG One of the hottest areas of investing in recent years has been ESG: using environmental, social, and governance metrics as ways to assess potential investments. But the idea that you can make profits with purpose has recently come under pressure. ...
07.13.2022 Money Talks: Britain's growth crisis Britain’s Conservative party may be changing leadership, but it will take a lot more than that to change the country's gloomy economic situation. Prices are rising at their fastest pace in 40 years–at one of the highest rates in the ...
07.06.2022 Money Talks: TikTok’s ticking time bomb It’s the fastest growing app in the world, filled with dance trends, cats misbehaving, and questionable financial advice. Teenagers love it; Western politicians are less convinced. Could TikTok’s popularity be its downfall? This week, hosts Mike Bird, Alice Fulwood and ...
06.29.2022 Money Talks: Crypto winter is here In much of the northern hemisphere, it is summer. But in the world of crypto, winter has arrived. The price of bitcoin, which has been hovering around $20,000, is 70% below its peak of last year. In fact, the entire ...
06.22.2022 Money Talks: House arrest House prices across the rich world have dramatically increased since 2020. But that rapid rise could soon be coming to a sputtering halt, as central banks raise interest rates in an effort to rein in prices. Is another housing crash ...

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