The Economics Show with Soumaya Keynes is a new weekly podcast from the Financial Times packed full of smart, digestible analysis and incisive conversation. Soumaya Keynes digs deep into the hottest topics in economics along with a cast of FT colleagues and special guests. Come for the big ideas, stay for the nerdery.
Soumaya Keynes is an economics columnist for the Financial Times. Prior to joining the FT she worked at The Economist for eight years as a staff writer, where as well as covering trade, the US economy and the UK economy she co-hosted the Money Talks podcast. She also co-founded the Trade Talks podcast.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The Economics Show with Soumaya Keynes is a new weekly podcast from the Financial Times packed full of smart, digestible analysis and incisive conversation. Soumaya Keynes digs deep into the hottest topics in economics along with a cast of FT colleagues and special guests. Come for the big ideas, stay for the nerdery.
Soumaya Keynes is an economics columnist for the Financial Times. Prior to joining the FT she worked at The Economist for eight years as a staff writer, where as well as covering trade, the US economy and the UK economy she co-hosted the Money Talks podcast. She also co-founded the Trade Talks podcast.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Austan Goolsbee, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago and a voter on the Fed’s interest rate-setting committee, speaks to the FT’s economics commentator Chris Giles about the outlook for the US economy amid a boom in AI investment, sluggish hiring, President Donald Trump’s tariffs and continued attacks by the White House on central bank independence.
Chris Giles is the FT’s economics commentator. You can sign up to his newsletter here.
Chris’ FT interview with Austan Goolsbee is here: ‘Top Federal Reserve Official warns against a quick series of rate cuts’
Join top FT journalists Chris Giles, Katie Martin, Claire Jones and special guest Lael Brainard on October 23, 1200 GMT for an exclusive subscriber webinar, Markets on edge: central banks, bonds and the risks ahead. Register now and put your questions directly to our panel. Visit ft.com/edge
Subscribe to The Economics Show on Apple, Spotify, Pocket Casts or wherever you listen. This episode was produced by Lulu Smyth and Persis Love with original music from Breen Turner. Sound design and mix by Jean-Marc Eck. Andrew Giorgiadis is our broadcast engineer. Our executive producer is Manuela Saragosa.
Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
When it comes to women controlling their own economic destinies, perhaps nothing has had a more profound impact than the contraceptive pill. But the US may be on the cusp of change. Earlier this year, the Trump administration froze some federal funding for subsidised access to contraceptive services and more changes are on the horizon. That has made understanding the economic impact of contraception all the more pressing. In this week’s episode, the FT’s Sarah O’Connor speaks to Martha Bailey, economics professor and the director of the California Center for Population Research at UCLA.
Sarah O’Connor is employment columnist at the FT. You can read her articles here.
Join top FT journalists Chris Giles, Katie Martin, Claire Jones and special guest Lael Brainard on October 23 1200 GMT for an exclusive subscriber webinar, Markets on edge: central banks, bonds and the risks ahead. Register now and put your questions directly to our panel. Visit ft.com/edge
Subscribe to The Economics Show on Apple, Spotify, Pocket Casts or wherever you listen.
Presented by Sarah O’Connor. Produced by Josh Gabert-Doyon and Lulu Smyth. Manuela Saragosa is the executive producer. Original music and sound design by Breen Turner.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Many argue immigration is key to America’s economic success. So as President Trump clamps down on it, what might he be getting wrong and what does the optimal skilled immigration landscape look like for the US and elsewhere? John Burn-Murdoch, the FT’s chief data columnist, speaks to Dr Adam Ozimek, chief economist at the Economic Innovation Group, who co-authored a recent paper on high-skilled immigration, Exceptional By Design.
Find details of the EIG report here.
John’s article, co-authored by Stephen Bush: ‘The truth about immigration’. Plus his column on the dangers posed to liberal democracy by failing to address imperfections in immigration policy.
John Burn-Murdoch is the FT’s chief data columnist and writer. You can read his column Data Points here.
Join top FT journalists Chris Giles, Katie Martin, Claire Jones and special guest Lael Brainard on October 23, 1200 GMT for an exclusive subscriber webinar, Markets on edge: central banks, bonds and the risks ahead. Register now and put your questions directly to our panel. Visit ft.com/edge
Subscribe to The Economics Show on Apple, Spotify, Pocket Casts or wherever you listen. This episode was produced by Lulu Smyth with original music from Breen Turner. Sound design and mix by Simon Panayi. Our executive producer is Manuela Saragosa. Andrew Giorgiadis is our broadcast engineer.
Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
US President Donald Trump has railed against his country’s trade deficit with China. But as Chinese surpluses continue to flow into other countries, it’s worth asking how China got to where it is today, and whether Chinese growth can lift all boats. In this week’s episode, Martin Sandbu, the FT’s European economics commentator, speaks to Michael Pettis, senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment. He’s the author of several books, including most recently co-author of Trade Wars Are Class Wars: How Rising Inequality Distorts the Global Economy and Threatens International Peace.
Listen to bands signed to the record label Maybe Mars, formerly owned by Michael Pettis, here, including Carsick Cars, Yang Fan, PK14 and White+
Find details of Michael Pettis’ book choice, Martin Daunton’s The Economic Government of the World, here
Martin Sandbu is the FT’s European economics commentator and writer of the Free Lunch newsletter. You can sign up for his newsletter here and read his articles here.
Subscribe to The Economics Show on Apple, Spotify, Pocket Casts or wherever you listen.
This episode was produced by Josh Gabert-Doyon with original music and sound design from Breen Turner and Sam Giovinco. Our executive producer is Manuela Saragosa. Andrew Giorgiadis is our broadcast engineer.
Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Customs duties on imported goods used to be a crucial part of US government funding – in fact, the customs service was among the first federal agencies set up after the constitution. Now, Trump is hoping that – among other things – tariffs could transform the US budget. But do the revenues they raise for government coffers help outweigh their negative economic impacts? Martha Gimbel, executive director of the Budget Lab at Yale and former adviser at the White House Council of Economic Advisers, speaks to Claire Jones, the FT’s US economics editor.
Claire Jones is US economics editor. You can read her articles here.
Subscribe to The Economics Show on Apple, Spotify, Pocket Casts or wherever you listen.
Presented by Claire Jones. Produced by Josh Gabert-Doyon. Manuela Saragosa is the executive producer. Original music and sound design by Samantha Giovinco and Breen Turner.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
China has become a superpower because of its ability to build bridges, cars and electronics at an astonishing pace. But breakneck growth comes with problems. The country is grappling with overproduction and deflation, and policymakers in Beijing are attempting to jumpstart consumer demand. How can China keep building without jeopardising its economic future? Dan Wang, research fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover History Lab and author of 'Breakneck: China’s Quest to Engineer the Future' speaks to the FT’s financial reporter Aiden Reiter.
Aiden Reiter co-writes the Unhedged newsletter. You can read his articles here.
Subscribe to The Economics Show on Apple, Spotify, Pocket Casts or wherever you listen.
Presented by Aiden Reiter. Produced by Mischa Frankl-Duval and Josh Gabert-Doyon. Manuela Saragosa is the executive producer. Original music and sound design by Samantha Giovinco and Breen Turner.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
President Donald Trump's attempt to fire Lisa Cook, a member of the Federal Reserve’s interest rate-setting board, is not the first time in the Fed’s history that there has been an attempt to politicise central banking. But Peter Conti-Brown, associate professor of financial regulation at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, tells the FT’s Chris Giles why Trump’s intervention is different and why there are now reasons to fear for the survival of a key pillar of US and global economic stability.
Going to the FT Weekend festival at Kenwood House Gardens in London on Saturday September 6? FT Live has a 10% discount for all FT podcast listeners with promo code FTPodcasts. Find a registration link with discount here
Subscribe to The Economics Show on Apple, Spotify, Pocket Casts or wherever you listen.
Presented by Chris Giles. Produced by Josh Gabert-Doyon and Mischa Frankl-Duval. Manuela Saragosa is the executive producer. Original music and sound design by Breen Turner and Samantha Giovinco.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
It’s a widely held assumption that US President Donald Trump has put globalisation into reverse. But Neil Shearing, group chief economist at Capital Economics and author of The Fractured Age: How the Return of Geopolitics Will Splinter the Global Economy, tells the FT’s world trade editor Peter Foster that Trump’s policies are a symptom and not the cause of the global trading system unravelling. They discuss how economic rivalry between the US and China is reshaping world trade – and where it might lead.
Peter Foster is the FT’s world trade editor. You can read his articles here
Book your FT Weekend Festival tickets here
Subscribe to The Economics Show on Apple, Spotify, Pocket Casts or wherever you listen.
Presented by Peter Foster. Produced by Josh Gabert-Doyon. Manuela Saragosa is the executive producer. Original music and sound design by Samantha Giovinco and Breen Turner.
Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
President Donald Trump thinks that Asia's goods exports are automatically America's loss and as part of his ‘reciprocal’ tariff policy, he has imposed some of the highest import taxes on goods from south-east Asia. So what does this mean for the region? And are Trump's policies pushing those countries further into China's orbit? Alan Beattie, the FT’s senior trade writer, discusses these questions and more with Mari Pangestu, Indonesia's former trade minister and a former managing director at the World Bank.
Alan Beattie is the FT's senior trade writer. He writes the Trade Secrets newsletter every Monday.
Read Alan’s columns here
Sign up to the Trade Secrets newsletter here
Book your FT Weekend Festival tickets here
Subscribe to The Economics Show on Apple, Spotify, Pocket Casts or wherever you listen.
Presented by Alan Beattie. Produced by Mischa Frankl-Duval and Persis Love. Manuela Saragosa is the executive producer. Original music and sound design by Breen Turner.
Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
When the EU and US hit Russia with fresh sanctions in 2022, many analysts expected the country’s economy to crack. Instead, Russia has shown strong GDP growth, powered in large part by a massive boost to war-related industries. Now, the effects of that boost appear to be fading. Have western sanctions finally started to bite? What would happen to Russia’s economy if the Ukraine war were to end? And how difficult might it be for the country’s economy to return to normal? To find out, the FT’s economics editor Sam Fleming speaks to Elina Ribakova. Elina is a non-resident senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, a non-resident fellow at Brussels think-tank Bruegel and vice-president for foreign policy at the Kyiv School of Economics.
Sam Fleming is the FT’s economics editor. You can find his articles here: https://www.ft.com/sam-fleming
Want more? Free links:
Russia moves to contain concern over banks’ bad loan exposure
Vladimir Putin’s war economy is cooling, but Russians still feel richer
Russia’s central bank speeds up rate cuts as war economy cools
There's no money to be made in Russia
The FT Weekend Festival returns for its 10th edition on Saturday, September 6 at Kenwood House Gardens in London. Get details and tickets here
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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This week on the Economics Show, we're bringing you an interview with Ray Dalio, from our foreign affairs podcast, the Rachman Review. It originally broadcast on July 3.
Gideon talks to Ray Dalio, founder of Bridgewater Associates, the world’s largest hedge fund and author of a new book: How Countries Go Broke. They discuss the size of the US debt and what history tells us about identifying warning signs.
Clip: CBS
Read more:
Is Donald Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’ a political curse for Republicans?
Fears over US debt load and inflation ignite exodus from long-term bonds
Donald Trump’s big, beautiful act of self-harm
The fall in the dollar is not scary
Presented by Gideon Rachman. Produced by Fiona Symon. Sound design is by Breen Turner and the executive producer is Flo Phillips.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
After the Bureau of Labor Statistics released a worse-than-expected US jobs report, President Trump fired the agency’s head, Erika McEntarfer, claiming her numbers were ‘wrong’ and manipulated. There’s no evidence this was the case but many agree gathering reliable data on the health of the economy is getting harder. The FT’s chief data reporter, John Burn-Murdoch, discusses why that’s happening and what to do about it with Erica Groshen, the former BLS commissioner.
Clip: NBC
Further Reading:
US labour data agency was teetering even before Donald Trump fired its chief
Trump’s war on data will do lasting harm
Donald Trump’s attack on US labour statistics agency spooks investors
John Burn-Murdoch is the FT’s chief data reporter. You can find his articles here
Subscribe to The Economics Show on Apple, Spotify, Pocket Casts or wherever you listen.
Presented by John Burn-Murdoch. Produced by Mischa Frankl-Duval. Manuela Saragosa is the executive producer. Original music from Breen Turner, and sound design by Jean-Marc Eck.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The first two decades of the 21st century were a golden age for global development. International co-operation and funding drove remarkable progress in the developing world. Now, that progress threatens to stall as wealthy nations, including the US and UK, withdraw their support. A global meeting held in Spain last month ended with a new international agreement, the Seville Commitment, on funding development – but will it succeed where others have failed? What role do rich countries, and organisations such as the World Bank, have to play? And will anyone be willing to relieve developing nations of their onerous debt obligations? Financial Times associate editor Pilita Clark speaks to Gates Foundation chief executive Mark Suzman.
Want more? Free links:
Trump shadow hangs over global development talks
Development funds dash for donor cash at World Bank and IMF meetings
Pilita Clark is an associate editor and business columnist at the FT. You can read her columns here: https://www.ft.com/pilita-clark
Follow Pilita on Bluesky or X: @pilitaclark.bsky.social or @pilitaclark
Subscribe to The Economics Show on Apple, Spotify, Pocket Casts or wherever you listen.
Presented by Pilita Clark. 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
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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.
Want more?
Trump’s tariff shambles is a helpful warning to the world
Donald Trump threatens new tariffs on Canada
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.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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 economics.show@ft.com
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 economics.show@ft.com
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.
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
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 economics.show@ft.com
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.
