In the early 20th century Argentina was one of the world’s richest countries. For most of the past 50 years, it has been an economic disaster. But after nine debt defaults, 23 IMF programmes and two years of triple-digit annual inflation, the country’s radical libertarian president, Javier Milei, has steadied the ship. How has Milei revitalised the economy? Can he persuade investors to trust Argentina again? And, most crucially, can his transformation last? The FT’s Latin America editor, Michael Stott, discusses with Alejandro Werner, former head of the IMF’s western hemisphere department, founding director of the Georgetown Americas Institute, and fellow of the Peterson Institute for International Economics

Clips: Sky Australia, Javier Milei via Storyful/ELPELUCAMILEI, Global News, Poder360

Want more? Free links:

Javier Milei’s risky bet on a potent peso

Tory leader Kemi Badenoch says she is Britain’s Javier Milei

Javier Milei lowers Argentina’s monthly inflation below 2% for first time since 2020

Michael Stott is the FT’s Latin America editor. You can find his articles here: https://www.ft.com/michael-stott 

Subscribe to The Economics Show on Apple, Spotify, Pocket Casts or wherever you listen. 

Presented by Michael Stott. Produced by Mischa Frankl-Duval. Flo Phillips is the executive producer. Manuela Saragosa is the FT’s acting co-head of audio. Original music and sound design by Breen Turner.

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

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European countries have committed to higher defence spending to face down Russian aggression. But preparing for war isn’t cheap – and in many countries, budgets are already stretched. How will European members of Nato hit their defence targets, a hefty 5% of GDP? Will EU states look beyond their own national champions, and commit to greater co-operation on defence funding and purchases? And what kind of new institutions would be necessary to make that happen? To find out, Sam Fleming speaks to Jeromin Zettelmeyer. He is the director of the Brussels-based think tank, Bruegel, and has previously held senior roles at the IMF, the Peterson Institute, and in the German Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy. 

Clips: BBC, Bloomberg Television, European Commission, French Armed Forces

Sam Fleming is the FT’s economics editor. You can find his articles here: https://www.ft.com/sam-fleming

Subscribe to The Economics Show on Apple, Spotify, Pocket Casts or wherever you listen. 

Presented by Sam Fleming. Produced by Mischa Frankl-Duval. Flo Phillips is the executive producer. Manuela Saragosa is the FT’s acting co-head of audio. Original music from Breen Turner, and sound design by Breen Turner & Sam Giovinco.

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

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July 9 marked the end of President Trump’s 90-day pause on his so-called reciprocal tariffs. Now that deadline has passed … what has actually changed? The FT’s senior trade writer Alan Beattie discusses with former trade negotiator Dmitry Grozoubinski, author of ‘Why Politicians Lie About Trade’. Dmitry explains why Trump’s tariff threats are as ineffective as they are unusual, how countries are approaching his ‘vibes-based’ trade policy, and what Dmitry would advise if he was negotiating with the US now.

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Alan Beattie is the FT's senior trade writer. He writes the Trade Secrets newsletter every Monday. 

Read Alan’s columns here: https://www.ft.com/alan-beattie

Sign up to the Trade Secrets newsletter here. 

Subscribe to The Economics Show on Apple, Spotify, Pocket Casts or wherever you listen. 

Presented by Alan Beattie. Produced by Mischa Frankl-Duval. Flo Phillips is the executive producer. Manuela Saragosa is the FT’s acting co-head of audio. Original music and sound design by Breen Turner. Mix by Sam Giovinco.

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

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In the sixth of this six-part series of The Economics Show, Martin Wolf, the FT’s chief economics commentator, and Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman tackle a selection of questions, and even some criticisms, sent in by their audience. 

Listen to Paul Krugman’s cultural coda, Carole King’s It's too late, here 

Listen to Martin Wolf’s cultural coda, Va Pensiero from Verdi’s Nabucco, here

Subscribe and listen to this series on The Economics Show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pocket Casts or wherever you listen to podcasts. Episodes are also available on the FT’s YouTube channel.

Read Martin’s FT column here

Subscribe to Paul’s substack here

The Wolf-Krugman Exchange was produced by Sandra Kanthal and Mischa Frankl-Duval, and the broadcast engineer was Andrew Georgiades. The sound engineer was Breen Turner. Manuela Saragosa is the FT’s acting co-head of audio.

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

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In the fifth of this six-part series of The Economics Show, Martin Wolf, the FT’s chief economics commentator, and Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman discuss the way American politics is crashing against both the guardrails of a stable, democratic system and the rules and norms of the postwar economic order and how this could jeopardise the importance of the US on the world stage.

Paul Krugman’s Cultural Coda: 

Stephen Sondheim: "We had a good thing going"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTbrbiM-slg&list=RDNTbrbiM-slg&start_radio=1

Martin Wolf’s Cultural Coda:

Jonas Kaufmann: Freiheit from Beethoven’s Fidelio

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvfhmGsFMEo

Subscribe and listen to this series on The Economics Show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pocket Casts or wherever you listen to podcasts. Episodes are also available on the FT’s YouTube channel.

If you’d like to get in touch and ask Martin and Paul a question, please email [email protected] 

Read Martin’s FT column here

Subscribe to Paul’s substack here

The Wolf-Krugman Exchange is produced by Sandra Kanthal. The broadcast engineer was Rod Fitzgerald. The sound engineer is Breen Turner. Manuela Saragosa is the FT’s acting co-head of audio.

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the fourth of this six-part series of The Economics Show, Martin Wolf, the FT’s chief economics commentator, and Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman ask if advances in artificial intelligence will reshape the working world as we know it. Or are we hearing an old familiar story that has been told many times before? 

Paul Krugman’s Cultural Coda:

Loretta Lynn - "Coal Miner's Daughter":  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9eHp7JJgq8&list=RDf9eHp7JJgq8&start_radio=1

Martin Wolf’s Cultural Coda:

Thomas Mann's The Magic Mountain, published in 1924.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Magic_Mountain

Read Martin Wolf's selection of the best economics summer reads for 2025 here

Read Martin’s FT column here

Subscribe to Paul’s substack here

If you’d like to get in touch and ask Martin and Paul a question, please email [email protected] 

Subscribe and listen to this series on The Economics Show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pocket Casts or wherever you listen to podcasts. Episodes are also available on the FT’s YouTube channel.

The Wolf-Krugman Exchange is produced by Sandra Kanthal and Mischa Frankl-Duval, and the broadcast engineer is Andrew Georgiades. The sound engineer is Jean-Marc Eck. Manuela Saragosa is the FT’s acting co-head of audio.

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the third of this six-part series of The Economics Show, Martin Wolf, the FT’s chief economics commentator, and Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman discuss the dangers facing the world economy and wonder what outcomes are possible at summits such as the G7 in times of political and economic risk.

Paul Krugman’s Cultural Coda:

Peter Gabriel: “Games Without Frontiers”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xZmlUV8muY&list=RD3xZmlUV8muY&start_radio=1

Martin Wolf’s Cultural Coda: 

"The Second Coming" - by William Butler Yeats, 1919

https://youtu.be/QI40j17EFbI

Subscribe and listen to this series on The Economics Show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pocket Casts or wherever you listen to podcasts. Episodes are also available on the FT’s YouTube channel.

If you’d like to get in touch and ask Martin and Paul a question, please email [email protected] 

Read Martin’s FT column here

Subscribe to Paul’s substack here

The Wolf-Krugman Exchange was produced by Sandra Kanthal and Mischa Frankl-Duval, and the broadcast engineer was Andrew Georgiades. The sound engineer was Breen Turner. Our executive producer is Flo Phillips. Manuela Saragosa is the FT’s acting co-head of audio.

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the second of this six-part series of The Economics Show, Martin Wolf, the FT’s chief economics commentator, and Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman discuss the way economic trends have fractured societies on both sides of the Atlantic and the jeopardy that poses to liberal democracies in Europe and America. 

Paul Krugman’s Cultural Coda: Let America Be America Again by Langston Hughes

https://poets.org/poem/let-america-be-america-again

Martin Wolf’s Cultural Coda: The Tariff Song by Dan Shore

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=eWtn6kWXAsQ&utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

Subscribe and listen to this series on The Economics Show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pocket Casts or wherever you listen to podcasts. Episodes are also available on the FT’s YouTube channel.

If you’d like to get in touch and ask Martin and Paul a question, please email [email protected] 

Read Martin’s FT column here

Subscribe to Paul’s substack here

The Wolf-Krugman Exchange was produced by Sandra Kanthal and Mischa Frankl-Duval, and the broadcast engineer was Andrew Georgiades. The sound engineer was Breen Turner. Manuela Saragosa is the FT’s acting co-head of audio.

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In part one of this six-part series of The Economics Show, Martin Wolf, the FT’s chief economics commentator, and Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman discuss how trust in the postwar world economic system is being lost and weigh the costs and consequences of that. 

Paul Krugman’s Cultural Coda: Quarterflash, ”Harden My Heart”- 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNFSED77-GM

Martin Wolf’s Cultural Coda:The Beatles, “For No One”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELlLIwhvknk

Subscribe and listen to this series on The Economics Show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pocket Casts or wherever you listen to podcasts. Episodes are also available on the FT’s YouTube channel.

If you’d like to get in touch and ask Martin and Paul a question, please email [email protected] 

Read Martin’s FT column here

Subscribe to Paul’s substack here

The Wolf-Krugman Exchange was produced by Sandra Kanthal and Mischa Frankl-Duval, and the broadcast engineer was Richard Topping. The sound engineer was Breen Turner. Manuela Saragosa is the FT’s acting co-head of audio.

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In a special six-part series of The Economics Show, Martin Wolf, the FT’s chief economics commentator, and Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman discuss the economic events reshaping the world in the wake of US President Donald Trump’s election. 

Subscribe and listen to this series on The Economics Show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pocket Casts or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Episodes will also be available on the FT’s YouTube channel.

If you’d like to get in touch and ask Martin and Paul a question, please email [email protected] 

Read Martin’s FT column here

Subscribe to Paul’s substack here

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.