Shows / Stephanomics
Stephanomics
Stephanomics is for people who want to understand what’s really driving the global economy in a world of disruption. Each week, Bloomberg’s Stephanie Flanders connects the dots between geopolitics, trade, technology, policy and markets—to make sense of what’s happening now and what might happen next.
Episodes
- Stephanomics
Why Brazil's Lula May Tack Toward the Center
Voters in Brazil just took a leftward turn in electing former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, ousting the far-right populist incumbent. Next week, polls…
- Stephanomics
Biden's Pro-Union Presidency Isn't Good Enough for Union Members
Ahead of next month's crucial US midterm elections, Democrats would usually be counting on the support of labor unions, historically a key constituency for the…
- Stephanomics
In China, Five More Years of Xi Means Security Above All Else
As Xi Jinping embarks on his third term as China's president, the world's most populous nation has lost some of the zeal for growth, experimentation and global…
- Stephanomics
Bad Policies are Greasing the Wheels for a Global Recession
If the combination of inflation, Russia’s war on Ukraine and a surging dollar don’t send the world into recession, disastrous policy mistakes surely could…
- Stephanomics
Liz Truss' Tax Fiasco Shows How UK Guardrails Have Fallen Away
The UK's politics and policies have always been a bit quirky. But international investors have long trusted that the country would, in the words of prominent…
- Stephanomics
The Housing Slowdown Could Become a Global Meltdown
Young people unable to buy homes because of stratospheric price increases are cheering the downturn in some housing markets around the world. But they'd better…
- Stephanomics
Covid's Supply Chain Chaos Is Just a Dress Rehearsal for What's Coming
Despite all the highfalutin advances in automation and just-in-time inventory, Covid-19 has still managed to upend the world's supply chains. But all this…
- Stephanomics
Beijing Wants Young Chinese Workers to Love Capitalism Again
Dispirited by pandemic lockdowns and a massive real estate crisis, today’s young Chinese workers are dreaming less about becoming super-rich entrepreneurs and…
- Stephanomics
Why Italy’s Workforce Crisis Is Likely to Get Worse
The global appeal of Italy’s fashion, food and sports cars long ago proved that the country’s businesses have few equals when it comes to marketing abroad. But…
- Stephanomics
Abortion Ruling Is Part of a Global Reversal of Women’s Rights
The US Supreme Court’s decision last week to overturn the federal right to an abortion will have profound effects on American women. And while prime ministers…
- Stephanomics
How Sri Lanka’s Financial Crisis Could Become the World’s
As the US, UK and other wealthy nations grouse about the prospect of stagflation and risk of recession, people in some emerging nations are facing more…
- Stephanomics
Why Inflation's Fallout Is Becoming Increasingly Global
US inflation is at a 40-year high and the UK is effectively in recession as demand slows for Chinese-made goods. Prime Minister Boris Johnson, though…
- Stephanomics
Silencing the ‘Noise’ Behind Bad Corporate Decisionmaking
Much of the appeal of McDonald’s comes from the chain’s consistency. A cheeseburger in the US or a McSpicy Chicken in India should taste the same…
- Stephanomics
Why This Coming American Summit May Blow Up for Biden
It seems like things could hardly get worse for President Joe Biden, who faces 8.3% inflation, a baby formula shortage and, according to the latest Gallup…
- Stephanomics
How the Home of America's Worst Inflation Got That Way
While the world's multimillionaires and billionaires (and multibillionaires) ponder inflation and supply shortages in the Swiss Alps, they might get a better…
- Stephanomics
Rishi Sunak's Path Back From High Inflation and a Tax Scandal
Touted as a potential prime minister not long ago, Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak's star has been falling fast of late. Some of the blame can be…
- Stephanomics
Will Ferdinand Marcos Jr. Revive the Sins of His Father?
The old axiom about the sins of the father being visited upon their children got a shocking rebuttal this week, when Ferdinand Marcos Jr. won a landslide…
- Stephanomics
Higher Inflation, Rates Will Stick Around as Economies Go Green
Persistently higher inflation and interest rates are probably in the offing as the world transitions to a greener economy. That’s hardly a selling point…
- Stephanomics
The Looming Debt Crisis About to Make Everything Worse
It’s hard to imagine a more chaotic world than the one we’re in right now—what with Russia’s war on Ukraine, a Covid-19 pandemic that…
- Stephanomics
Central Banks Wrestle With the Crypto Conundrum
When visiting El Salvador, be sure to bring sunscreen, a long-lens camera to memorialize its bountiful biodiversity and … Bitcoin. But have some U.S…
- Stephanomics
Summers Predicts U.S. Recession More Likely Than a Soft Landing
Last year, Larry Summers famously shot down one of the Federal Reserve's favorite buzzwords, "transitory." This year, he's taking aim at "soft landing." The…
- Stephanomics
What's the Biggest Economic Peril? It Depends on Where You Live
We may live in a global economy, but beyond the war in Ukraine, what's front-of-mind for policymakers in the U.S., Europe and China is very different. For…
- Stephanomics
Are Price-Gouging Consumer Giants to Blame for High Inflation?
With his poll numbers falling, U.S. President Joe Biden is under pressure to do something—anything—to get inflation under control. That’s led his…
- Stephanomics
Why the Fed Must Move Fast to Tame Inflation
When facing an economic crisis, the Fed's playbook normally skews toward juicing the economy too much rather than too little. After all, in the last go-round…
- Stephanomics
Finance Minister Le Maire Explains the French Economic Comeback
Closed schools. Empty shelves. Workers out sick. Almost two years after Covid-19 overturned the U.S. economy, "it's like deja vu all over again,'' in the words…
- Stephanomics
Economies Have Adapted to a World Where Covid Calls the Shots
With shortages at the grocery store and not enough people willing to work, 2022 is starting to look a lot like 2020. But beneath the ugly exterior, the world's…
- Stephanomics
The Stephanomics Global Preview for 2022
While still recovering from a coronavirus-induced recession, the U.S. may be rushing into a new downturn, this time thanks to inflation. Its economy faces no…
- Stephanomics
Larry Summers Predicts the Future, and It Doesn't Look Good
Economically at least, this holiday season feels a bit more like it belongs to Ebenezer Scrooge than Santa Claus. Amid a resurgent pandemic, there are…
- Stephanomics
Chinese Workers Are Saying Enough Is Enough, and Xi Is Not Amused
The so-called great resignation that’s confounding businesses in the West has a counterpart in a most unlikely place: China. This week, we offer a double dose…
- Stephanomics
How Global Catastrophe Has Only Made Billionaires Richer
It seems nothing can hurt the world's billionaires, not the worst pandemic in a century or a global recession. On this week's podcast, New York-based reporter…
- Stephanomics
Inflation Poses a Growing Credibility Risk for Central Banks
Initially, Jerome Powell said the highest inflation in decades was going to be "transitory." This week, the world's most powerful central banker said the…
- Stephanomics
John Kerry Explains Why the Glasgow Climate Deal Matters
This week we unpack two very different challenges facing global leaders: the climate crisis and domestic violence. First, U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for…
- Stephanomics
Global Warming Is Pushing Humanity Toward Hunger. Can It Be Stopped?
As if rising sea levels and fiercer cyclones weren't enough to worry about, the climate crisis is already cutting crop yields and could lead to widespread food…
- Stephanomics
More Nations Bend to the Economic Cost of Covid Zero-Tolerance
One by one, countries that sought to stamp out Covid-19's spread with aggressive lockdowns are giving up zero-tolerance policies and learning to live with the…
- Stephanomics
What’s Really Causing the Labor Shortage
Robots may replace us eventually, but for now Covid-19 has revealed just how desperate businesses are for workers of the human variety, and the broader…
- Stephanomics
Should Central Banks Be Responsible for Saving the World?
As if controlling spiraling inflation wasn’t enough to worry about, the world’s central bankers are under increasing pressure to help solve climate change…
- Stephanomics
How China and Evergrande Are Trying to Avoid Disaster
More than a decade after the U.S. subprime crisis sparked the Great Recession, the threat of default at giant property developer Evergrande is raising the…
- Stephanomics
The Next Recession Could Come Courtesy of the Fed
Central bankers are in a precarious spot in this chaotic pandemic economy. U.S. and U.K. consumers are grousing about rising prices and want some relief. But…
- Stephanomics
How Europe’s Pandemic Labor Policies Have Bested the U.S.
An old debate in economic circles is whether Europe’s strong safety net and worker protections are preferable to America’s more company-friendly labor rules…
- Stephanomics
Introducing: Breakthrough
On Breakthrough, a new series from the Prognosis podcast, we explore how the pandemic is changing our understanding of healthcare and medicine. We start with…
- Stephanomics
Why Global Supply Chains Have Become So Snarled
This week, more than 60 container ships sat anchored off the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, California, waiting for their chance to unload as makers of…
- Stephanomics
How Biden Can Keep Jerome Powell While Making Progressives Happy
The Federal Reserve is theoretically above the fray in Washington, but in these hyperpartisan times both Democrats and Republicans are keen to keep the chair's…
- Stephanomics
Your Privacy May Be at Stake as Central Banks Develop Digital Currencies
In the not-too-distant future, every time you buy a cup of coffee, someone somewhere might know about it. That’s an unnerving prospect as private companies and…
- Stephanomics
Why Cutting Unemployment Aid Isn't Filling America's 9.2 Million Open Jobs
Criticism from the right regarding U.S. government aid to unemployed workers has intensified of late, with governors in some Republican-leaning states putting…
- Stephanomics
Why China Surpassing America’s Economy Isn’t a Sure Thing
China’s climb to the top of world economic rankings is considered a foregone conclusion in many circles, especially those inside the Chinese Communist Party…
- Stephanomics
Ray Dalio and Lawrence Summers Keep Sounding the Inflation Alarm
The early days of the pandemic saw a scramble to unleash massive monetary and fiscal bailouts to counter the fallout of a global health crisis and the…
- Stephanomics
China ‘Banks’ Time for Its Elderly While U.S. Seniors Drown in Debt
After more than three decades enforcing its one-child policy, China finds itself with too many elders in need of care and too few caregivers to provide it…
- Stephanomics
Why Inflation May Be Here to Stay, Hurting Poor Nations Most
The wealthiest nations are emerging from the pandemic stronger than anyone thought, nervous about inflation but otherwise feeling they’ve dodged a bullet…
- Stephanomics
Japan’s Difficult Choice Between Economy and Pandemic
The Summer Olympics in Tokyo are little more than a month away, and workers are readying a rebuilt National Stadium for the opening ceremony. But what should…
- Stephanomics
Canada’s Rising Star Sticks to Her Guns On Stimulus
Canada has a well-earned reputation as the world’s “goody two shoes,” with a progressive record on civil liberties and a history of sticking to its principles…
- Stephanomics
America's Economic Recovery Isn't Roaring For Everyone
After more than a year of pandemic, the U.S. economy is roaring back and is now expected to grow by 9.4% in the second quarter. That's fueling a mad scramble…
- Stephanomics
Why "Living Local" and High Inflation May Not Outlast the Global Pandemic
The pandemic has upended the way the world shops, worships and especially how often we wash our hands. With the virus waning in many parts of the globe (while…
- Stephanomics
What’s Really Behind the Great 2021 Inflation Debate
It’s been a long time since anyone in America or Europe had to think seriously about inflation. But the highest U.S. numbers since 2009 have rattled financial…
- Stephanomics
Why the Rise of Mega-Companies May Damage the Global Economy
The world’s biggest businesses are massive, spanning countries and continents. Now they're getting even larger, and that may not be a good thing. In the past…
- Stephanomics
Biden-Powell Duo’s Macro Policy Revolution
U.S. President Biden marked his 100th day in office this week with another massive spending package -- this one squarely aimed at taxing the rich to give money…
- Stephanomics
Covid Changed Work, But Will That Change Last Forever?
For many, the pandemic has altered where we work, how we work and when we work. But will that change be forever? Or will we wake up in a year and find we’re…
- Stephanomics
Landing on the Moon Is a Great Lesson for Modern Miracles
More than 50 years ago, the public and private sectors united to bring men to the moon and back. As the world begins to look at how it can recover from the…
- Stephanomics
The Return of the V Shaped Recovery
Recent weeks have seen an outpouring of optimism about the economic recovery, especially in the U.S. The International Monetary Fund has added its voice to the…
- Stephanomics
Covid’s Long Year of Economic Destruction
As the world enters a second year of Covid-19, we begin our new season of Stephanomics with perspectives on the pandemic’s fallout from Bloomberg…
- Stephanomics
Introducing: Doubt
A few decades ago, nobody really questioned vaccines. They were viewed as a standard part of staying healthy and safe. Today, the number of people questioning…