Timely Topics

Julie Stackhouse, executive vice president at the St. Louis Fed, talks about the Federal Reserve's role in bank supervision. She discusses the critical nature of this function during and since the financial crisis, the changing landscape for community banks, the growth of fintech, and more.

“Economics is a good field of study for learning about how to manage your life,” says Barbara Flowers, economic education coordinator at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. She talks about her experience as a nontraditional student and why she is passionate about creating economics curriculum for minority students.

What is nominal GDP targeting, and how does it differ from inflation targeting? What would be some of the advantages and disadvantages of using nominal GDP targeting? Have any central banks used it? St. Louis Fed President James Bullard addresses these and related questions.

The 2017 federal tax overhaul reduced the corporate income tax rate from 35% to 21%. In this podcast, Economist Don Schlagenhauf discusses the paper he wrote with two co-authors, "Corporate Income Tax, Legal Form of Organization, and Employment" and what their models say the optimal rate is.

Amanda Bayer is hopeful and optimistic about increasing diversity in the field of economics. “There’s a lot of attention being given to these issues from various points within the profession now, including at the highest levels and the leadership of the AEA, the American Economic Association, but also coming from the Federal Reserve System,” Bayer says in this Women in Economics podcast. “There is enough action coming from enough quarters that we have the potential to change the culture of our profession.”

“Economics is relevant and it's important, and it's much too important to be left to one segment of the population. And historically, the segment has been white privileged males,” says David Wilcox, then-director of the research and statistics division of the Federal Reserve System Board of Governors. He talks about his research on the unequal distribution of economic education, the need to change economics classrooms and how it is the responsibility of every member of the economics profession to work toward diversifying the field.

In this Timely Topics podcast, Senior Vice President Robert Hopkins reflects on the Little Rock Branch's 100 years of history, from its start in payments to its focus on economic education and community development.

“People had a hard time taking me seriously, because I'm sure they didn't know any African-Americans who were economists,” says Lisa Cook, associate professor of economics and international relations at Michigan State University. She talks about discovering economics while climbing Mount Kilimanjaro, how she overcame biases she faced as a woman and as an African-American, and her research showing GDP could be higher if more women and African-Americans were involved at the beginning of the innovative process.

St. Louis Fed economist Don Schlagenhauf discusses his research about household debt levels and delinquency rates since the Great Recession. He talks about the metrics used to monitor debt levels in the Eighth District and said he doesn't see any problem areas.

“I come from a family of economists. So, of course, I didn’t want to go into economics,” says Kate Warne, a principal and investment strategist at Edward Jones. She talks about why we need women in finance, policy and other fields related to economics. She also discusses the role of education in building confidence: “One of the things education does for you is provide a set of skills that you can be confident in.”