Stephanomics

In Washington, personnel is policy. The people President-elect Joe Biden has picked to run economic policy can tell us a lot about what we might expect from the next administration. Bloomberg Businessweek Economics Editor Peter Coy introduces us to the key players and explains what Bidenomics could look like. 

Then host Stephanie Flanders speaks with Harvard University Professor Jason Furman, former chair of the Council of Economic Advisers under President Barack Obama. He says the U.S. should stop worrying about debt and rethink fiscal policy, explaining why members of the new administration, many of whom he considers friends, are the right people for the job.

Finally, with less than five weeks before the U.K. leaves the European Union, Flanders talks with Bloomberg finance reporter Viren Vaghela about the damage already done to London’s financial industry and what’s at stake if the trickle of jobs and money leaving Britain becomes a flood.

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The hard reality of the Covid-19 pandemic is that while those at greatest risk of dying are retirement age or older, the economic disaster and its consequences fall disproportionately on the shoulders of the young.

How does it feel to be one of these people, knowing you're on the hook for years of lost economic opportunity while others dictate the terms of any recovery? Bloomberg London news apprentice Eileen Gbagbo, age 21, reports on how the virus is inflaming intergenerational tensions. 

Then host Stephanie Flanders speaks with London School of Economics Professor and former Bank of England policy maker Charles Goodhart and Talking Heads Macroeconomics founder Manoj Pradhan about their book, "The Great Demographic Reversal." They give their thoughts on why inflation is going to return and how automation can--and can’t--help future generations handle the burdens ahead.

And finally, we’re back at the Bloomberg New Economy Forum to hear from United Nations Special Envoy for Climate and Finance and former BOE Governor Mark Carney about how the world of finance is going to help the planet get to zero carbon.

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This week’s episode of Stephanomics comes to you from the third annual Bloomberg New Economy Forum, where global leaders have gathered for a virtual discussion of how to solve the world’s biggest challenges, not least of which is the coronavirus pandemic.

Stephanie Flanders brings together former Fed Chair Janet Yellen, ex-Bank of England Governor Mervyn King, former Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan and former U.S. Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers to analyze the unprecedented economic response to Covid-19. They debate whether world leaders have done enough to help Main Street instead of just Wall Street, and whether global institutions are being too timid this time around. 

Flanders is then joined by Ireland’s Prime Minister Micheál Martin, who talks about the future of trade as Brexit approaches, and just where U.S. President-Elect Joe Biden’s Irish grandparents came from.

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For decades, Asia’s fast-growing economies have offered millions of young people the chance to do better than their parents. Thanks to Covid-19, that tradition may soon end as youth unemployment soars in a region home to most of the world’s young adults. So what happens when your economic opportunities dry up? Bloomberg’s Chief Asia Economics Correspondent Enda Curran reports from Hong Kong on the struggles and hopes of the “lockdown generation.” 

Then host Stephanie Flanders speaks with Bloomberg Economics’ Tom Orlik about what the world could look like in 2050, and who wins or loses if the trend toward deglobalization continues. Flanders also talks with Eurozone economist Maeva Cousin on the cost of climate change and why it may take farsighted policy makers to see the rewards of acting now.

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Who the U.S. president will be for the next four years is dominating the headlines right now, but what of the previous four? In the wake of the Nov. 3 election, host Stephanie Flanders discusses with some of the nation’s leading economists just how Donald Trump’s administration has changed America’s economy and how it interacts with the rest of the world. 

Flanders is joined by University of Chicago Professor Randall Kroszner, a former Fed Governor, and George Mason University Professor Tyler Cowen, a Bloomberg Opinion contributor, to talk trade, taxes and trillions of dollars in coronavirus rescue funding. She also speaks with New York University Professor Baruch Lev about how much of Trump’s vaunted stock market rally is built on intangible assets, and what that could mean for future policy makers. 

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Alongside the financial destruction wrought by Covid-19 there comes new opportunities. European officials have seized on one in particular—mending battered economies in a way that also tackles global warming, or “building back greener.” But how to turn those words into action? Bloomberg renewables reporter Jess Shankleman reports from London on the policies that may bring that dream to fruition, and the sobering realities of trying to do so during a pandemic.

Host Stephanie Flanders talks with economist and policymaker Lord Nicholas Stern about how he thinks addressing climate change can be a sustainable route to growth, and what the U.S. election could mean for the future of the planet. She also speaks with Bloomberg’s trade and supply chains editor Brendan Murray about why the world’s container ships might not have enough space for all your Christmas presents this year. 

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Amid its terrible death toll and economic devastation, the coronavirus pandemic has prompted people, businesses and governments to rethink the way they live and operate. Now, as countries seek to take their first steps back toward normality, many are wondering what changes forced upon us by Covid-19 may be worth keeping when the crisis has passed.

For Thailand’s national parks, the pandemic has meant a chance for nature to regenerate thanks to the absence of tourists. Senior Asia Economy Reporter Michelle Jamrisko reports on how a government plan to make that a regular occurrence faces pushback from local businesses desperate for foot-traffic again. 

Our guest host, Bloomberg Chief Economist Tom Orlik, talks with America’s former top career diplomat in China, Dave Rank, about relations between the world’s two biggest economic powers and what the U.S. election could mean for their future relations. He also catches up on the latest Brexit developments with Bloomberg Economics’ Dan Hanson.

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The pandemic has raised the specter of mass unemployment across many developed economies. In Europe, governments stepped in to help pay millions of workers, hoping the crisis would quickly pass and businesses reopen. But with normality nowhere in sight and fresh waves of infection prompting new restrictions, the question now is which jobs should we try to save?

On this week’s episode, Bloomberg economy reporter Jeannette Neumann reports from Cadiz, Spain, where old industries hold lessons for the present battle to save jobs. Stephanie Flanders also talks with leading economists Paul Collier and John Kay about their new book, “Greed Is Dead,” and why Gordon Gekko might have been wrong. Community, it turns out, plays a surprisingly large role in capitalism.

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Covid-19 has upended economies across the globe. In the fourth season of Stephanomics, we’ll be taking a closer look at the fragile path to recovery and which nations are doing better than others.

This first podcast of the new season is brought to you by the letter K, or more precisely the K-shaped recovery which sees parts of the U.S. economy bouncing back while others still suffer. We start in Cleveland, where Bloomberg senior reporter Shawn Donnan tells us about two houses that illustrate how the pandemic is both reinforcing and widening America’s inequalities. 

Host Stephanie Flanders also talks with Director of the London School of Economics Minouche Shafik about the unequal economic impact of the pandemic, and what policymakers should be doing to help. Flanders also speaks with Bloomberg economy editor James Mayger in China, where after months of staying home, almost half a billion people are displaying confidence in the country’s rebound and finally taking a vacation.

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Andy Browne, editorial director for the Bloomberg New Economy, talks to Jonathan Hillman, author of the book The Emperor’s New Road: China and the Project of the Century.

That project, of course, is the Belt and Road Initiative: the grand strategy of president Xi Jinping who has made it his foreign policy signature. But what is it exactly? An imperial effort, certainly. But according to Jonathan not a very organized one. And one that could repeat the mistakes of past empires.

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