The IMF's latest regional economic outlook for Sub-Saharan Africa shows growth has fallen to its lowest level in twenty years. In this podcast, co-author Céline Allard, says while some countries like Senegal and Kenya continue to experience growth rates higher than 6 percent, growth has slowed for two thirds of countries in the region bringing down average growth in 2016 to 1.4 percent.

Contributors: Céline Allard, Head of the Regional Studies Division in the IMF’s African Department

La dernière édition des Perspectives économiques régionales, indique que la croissance en Afrique subsaharienne est tombée à son plus bas niveau depuis plus de 20 ans. Dans ce podcast, coauteur Céline Allard, explique si certains pays continuent d’enregistrer une croissance supérieure à 6 %, l’expansion a ralenti dans deux tiers des pays de la région, ce qui a réduit la croissance moyenne à 1,4 % en 2016.

Contributors: Céline Allard, chef de la division des études régionales au Département Afrique du FMI

The labor force 30 years from now will look very different as working-age populations in advanced economies start to shrink. While some today worry they’ll lose their jobs to robots, economists like Google’s Hal Varian, wonder if technology will boost productivity enough to compensate for the shifting demographics. Varian, and Harvard’s David Canning, discussed the topic during an IMF World-Bank Spring Meetings seminar earlier this month.

Hal Varian, Google’s Chief Economist and an Emeritus Professor at UC Berkeley.

David Canning, Professor of Population Sciences, Economics and Intl Health, Harvard University, Department of Global Health and Population.

The IMF’s latest World Economic Outlook projects global growth at 3.5 percent in 2017 and 3.6 percent in 2018. In this podcast, IMF Chief Economist Maurice Obstfeld says global growth is gaining momentum.

Contributors:

Maurice Obstfeld, IMF Economic Counselor

The 2008 global financial crisis exposed the vulnerability of banks that do not hold enough capital. The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision has since revised capital requirements for banks. In this podcast, we ask IMF economist Lev Ratnovski, how much capital banks need to hold to avert another crisis.

Contributors:

Lev Ratnovski, Senior Economist in the IMF’s Research Department.

Muna AbuSulayman, is founder and co-host of the most popular social issues program on Arab television. Kalam Nawaem tackles controversial topics and has been pushing social boundaries in the region for 15 years. In this podcast, AbuSulayman says Arab women should be free to achieve their goals without cultural or economic barriers.

Contributors:

Muna AbuSulayman, Co-founder of Meedan.com, a news hub for Arab youth and women.

Labor unions around the world are having to adapt to a fast changing labor market. John Evans heads the Trade Union Advisory Committee to the OECD, and represents some 65 million organized workers worldwide. In this podcast, Evans says workers are caught in the middle of rapid technological change and slow global growth.

Contributors:

John Evans, General Secretary of the Trade Union Advisory Committee to the OECD.

As the Group of Twenty finance ministers and central bank governors meet in Germany this week, policymakers are looking at ways to increase investment in Africa. ONE Campaign’s Jamie Drummond says investing into the education, employment and empowerment of this generation of Africans will help create jobs and curb migration into Europe.

Contributors:

Jamie Drummond, Co-Founder and Executive Director of The ONE Campaign

Global trade union leaders gathered at the IMF in February to discuss how workers are being impacted by the changing global economy. In this podcast, Hilma Mote, of the African Region’s International Trade Union Confederation talks about the challenges African youth, especially women are facing with the continent’s rapidly growing labor force.  

Contributors:

Hilma Mote, Executive Director of the Africa Labor research and education Institute, ITUC-Africa.

There is a strong connection between human capital and economic growth, and in this podcast, Eric Hanushek says societies that invest a lot in the cognitive skills of their people grow significantly faster. Hanushek studies the relationship between education policy and economic outcomes at Stanford University.

Contributors:

Eric Hanushek, Paul and Jean Hanna Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution of Stanford University. http://hanushek.stanford.edu/

In this podcast we speak with author Alec Ross about his new book The Industries of the Future. Ross says 90 percent of the world’s data has been produced in the last two years, so those businesses that own or harvest a meaning from all this data will be leading the pack. Ross has served as Senior Advisor for Innovation to the US Secretary of State.

Contributors:

Alec Ross, Distinguished Senior Fellow at Johns Hopkins University.

Every two years, the IMF and World-Bank invites global labor union leaders to discuss the global economy and the implications for the labor force. In this podcast, Sharan Burrow, head of the world’s largest trade union federation, says collective action is needed to help better distribute the benefits of growth, if institutions are to regain trust from working people.

Contributors:

Sharan Burrow, General Secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation.

With Asia’s recent growth comes a growing responsibility within the global economy. In this podcast, Barry Eichengreen, Professor of Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley, breaks down the weight of that responsibility and how Asia can rise to fulfill it.

Contributors:

Barry Eichengreen, George C. Pardee and Helen N. Pardee Professor of Economics and Professor of Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley.

While many African countries have enjoyed significant revenues from the mining industry in recent years, a new study published by the Natural Resource Governance Institute suggests tax revenues from mining could be much higher if transfer pricing rules were enforced. In this podcast, we speak with the report’s author Alexandra Readhead.

Contributors:

Alexandra Readhead, author of Preventing Tax Base Erosion in Africa

Corruption, in its many forms, affects people from every walk of life, in every country. While it does not discriminate based on age, young people are affected by corruption in ways that can follow them throughout their careers. In this podcast, anti-corruption leader Sergejus Muravjovas, talks about the ways in which youth are fighting back.

Contributors:

Sergejus Muravjovas, Executive Director at Transparency International
Lithuania and founder of TransparencySchool.org

New York Times columnist and best-selling author Thomas Friedman, says our lives are being transformed in so many realms at once- it’s dizzying. In this podcast, Friedman talks about his new book, Thank You for Being Late, An Optimist’s Guide to Thriving in the Age of Accelerations.

Contributors:

Thomas Friedman, New York Times columnist and best-selling author.

Julie Delahanty has done extensive work on the disenfranchisement of women due to the lack of equal opportunity. Delahanty is the Executive Director of Oxfam Canada, and joined a panel discussion during the IMF conference on Reducing the Gender Gap. In this podcast, Delahanty says vulnerable women are the most negatively affected by rising inequality.

Contributors:

Julie Delahanty, Executive Director of Oxfam Canada

Who benefits from free trade and who doesn’t? The realities don’t always match people’s perceptions. In this podcast, economist and free trade expert Douglas Irwin addresses some of the controversies. Irwin participated in a seminar entitled Making Trade an Engine of Growth for All at this year’s IMF/World Bank Annual Meetings.

Contributors:

Douglas Irwin, John Sloan Dickey Third Century Professor in Social Sciences in the Department of Economics at Dartmouth College

Ravi Kanbur says statistics are fundamentally political in nature and in import. Kanbur is Professor of Economics at Cornell University and gave the keynote speech at the Fourth IMF Statistical forum on Statistics for Inclusive Growth, held in November 2016. In this podcast, Kanbur says data doesn’t always reflect reality when it comes to poverty and inequality.

Contributors:

Ravi Kanbur: T. H. Lee Professor of World Affairs and Professor of Economics at Cornell University.

Globalization is a recent term, but the internationalization of markets, people, ideas, and cultures is nothing new. In this podcast, IMF historian Harold James, talks about how the past might help guide us into the future. James is Professor of History and International Affairs at Princeton University, and author of New Concept Old Reality published in the December 2016 edition of Finance and Development magazine.

Contributors:

Harold James, Professor of History and International Affairs at Princeton University and IMF Historian

Esther Duflo, Professor of Development Economics at MIT, co-founded The Poverty Lab to find innovative approaches to poverty alleviation. In this podcast, Duflo says all economic and social dimensions of poverty must be considered in order to effectively address the problem. Duflo presented the 2016 Richard Goode lecture at the IMF earlier this month.

Contributors:

Esther Duflo: Abdul Latif Jameel Professor of Poverty Alleviation and Development Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The IMF’s latest Regional Economic Outlook for Sub-Saharan Africa dedicates an entire chapter on what a drought, an earthquake or a pandemic can do to a country’s economy. In this podcast, lead authors Marshall Mills and Vimal Thakoor say natural disasters have a much bigger impact in sub-Saharan Africa than any other region.

Contributors:

Marshall Mills: Economist and Mission Chief for Madagascar, IMF African Department.

Vimal Thakoor: Economist, IMF African Department.

While the benefits of expanding women’s participation in the economy are clear, women around the globe continue to face barriers. In this podcast, Action Aid’s Nyaradzayi Gumbonzvanda says women bear a disproportionate responsibility for unpaid care work, and ill-thought-out policies often add to that burden. Gumbonzvanda joined a panel on Making Macroeconomics Work for Women at the IMF World-Bank Annual Meetings.   

Contributors:

Nyaradzayi Gumbonzvanda, International Board Chair for Action Aid

In this podcast, IMF Managing Director, Christine Lagarde, and best-selling author Michael Lewis (The Big Short), reflect on lessons learned from the financial crisis and other issues facing the world economy. The discussion took place before a live audience during the IMF World-Bank Annual meetings last month.

Contributors:

Christine Lagarde: IMF Managing Director.

Michael Lewis: Author, columnist and financial journalist.

In this podcast, inventor and futurist Ray Kurzweil talks about how artificial intelligence is helping overcome human limitations and creating better-paying jobs. Kurzweil participated in a panel discussion entitled Technology, Innovation, and Inclusive Growth, during the 2016 IMF World-Bank Annual Meetings.

Contributors:

Ray Kurzweil: Inventor, futurist, and author.