Our most recent episodes are shown first.
“I think it is critical that we teach basic economics to kids and then build on it year after year, just like we would with any other discipline,” says Mary Suiter, assistant vice president and economic education officer at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
Podcast | Released Feb. 10, 2021
Paulina Restrepo-Echavarria, senior economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, discusses what firms consider when weighing the decision to post wages for open positions or negotiate with prospective employees instead.
Podcast | Released Jan. 28, 2021
“We have a perspective, and we need to bring that to the table,” says Susan Pozo, director of the Global and International Studies program and professor of economics at Western Michigan University. She discusses her work in Uruguay, Spain and the United States and her research on immigration.
Podcast | Released Jan. 20, 2020 | Escucha en Español
“I didn’t see #MeToo coming, but it came, and it’s taking a while still to come for economics, but it is,” says Betsey Stevenson, professor of public policy and economics at the University of Michigan’s Ford School. She talks about her research on women’s labor market experiences and how her teaching style has changed in 2020.
Podcast | Released Dec. 9, 2020
Four senior executives at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis talk about their careers, challenges they have faced as Black Americans and what organizations and allies can do to promote diversity, equity and inclusion.
Podcast | Released Dec. 2, 2020
“Don’t be shy about giving an opinion,” says Veronique de Rugy, senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, and syndicated columnist. She talks about her research on the federal budget, taxation and financial privacy, and using data visualization to educate the public.
Podcast | Released Nov. 18, 2020
YiLi Chien, economist and research officer at the St. Louis Fed, discusses the role investing in the stock market can play in wealth inequality. He also explains why some people may choose to not invest in stocks, despite their higher returns historically.
Podcast | Released Nov. 4, 2020
“The COVID outbreak has had very differential effects for different geographies and different parts of the country, different metro areas, as well as for different cohorts of people in the economy,” says Beverly Hirtle, executive vice president and director of research at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
Podcast | Released Oct. 28, 2020
The St. Louis Fed’s Community Development team discusses its work to promote a more inclusive, equitable economy, “one in which everyone can derive benefit regardless of their background, the color of their skin, their gender, or the ZIP code where they reside.”
Podcast | Released Oct. 21, 2020
Researchers at the St. Louis Fed’s Center for Household Financial Stability discuss how demographic variables—such as birth year, race and education—play into the state of wealth and equity in the United States.
Podcast | Released Sept. 30, 2020
“I really saw how economics can be useful in your everyday life and how much those basic principles kind of run the world in some ways,” says Zena Pare, an intern with the St. Louis Fed. She joins fellow intern Ella Needler as they discuss studying and working in economics.
Podcast | Released Sept. 28, 2020
Alexander Monge-Naranjo, research officer and economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, briefly talks about both the challenges and opportunities presented to the U.S. as the rest of the world becomes better educated.
Podcast | Released Aug. 31, 2020
“What my students learned that day besides economics and things that were discussed at the symposium, is that … you may feel small and insignificant at times, and maybe even invisible, but your actions do matter,” says Natallia Gray, associate professor at Southeast Missouri State University. Gray and her students inspired our first Women in Economics Symposium.
Podcast | Released Aug. 27, 2020
“This profession is what we make it … and, therefore, it's going to take all of us to be responsible to make it a better profession,” says Rhonda Vonshay Sharpe, founder and president of the Women’s Institute for Science, Equity and Race, or WISER.
Podcast | Released July 30, 2020
David Andolfatto, senior vice president and economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, talks about how a hot money credit program could help kick-start the stalled economy as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Podcast | Released July 15, 2020
“There’s really a lot that you can do in a field with a background in econometrics in forecasting,” says Kathleen Navin, an economist and director at IHS Markit. She talks about the challenges of economic forecasting during unprecedented times, like the COVID-19 pandemic.
Podcast | Released June 29, 2020
Ana Kent, policy analyst at the St. Louis Fed’s Center for Household Financial Stability, talks about how COVID-19 could cause devastating financial setbacks for millennials, a generation still reeling from the Great Recession, with little to no financial buffer and facing sizable job losses.
Podcast | Released June 16, 2020
Charles Gascon, St. Louis Fed regional economist, discusses his research on COVID-19 schools closings and how they may impact worker productivity, children’s education and even existing gender gaps.
Podcast | Released May 26, 2020
“FRED really is a public service,” says Yvetta Fortova, manager of the economic data tool FRED. She and Maria Arias, FRED data engineer, both of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, discuss their personal stories about moving to the U.S., studying economics and working in the field.
Podcast | Released May 20, 2020
Senior Economist Ana Maria Santacreu and Economist Fernando Leibovici, both of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, discuss their recent research on essential medical equipment imports and how the U.S. is facing a massive shortage of these supplies during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Podcast | Released May 13, 2020
Ray Boshara, an assistant vice president, and Lowell Ricketts, lead analyst, both at the St. Louis Fed’s Center for Household Financial Stability, talk about which families are the most vulnerable to income shock like COVID-19.
Podcast | Released May 4, 2020
Ana Maria Santacreu, a senior economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, talks about her research in international trade and economic growth, her background studying economics in Europe and the United States, and how she teaches her daughter about economics.
Podcast | Released April 15, 2020
Juan Sanchez, an assistant vice president and economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, discusses COVID-19 related economic shocks and his research on financially distressed Americans. He talks about income declines, social distancing, disease spread and more.
Podcast | Released April 14, 2020
Mary Suiter, an assistant vice president and the economic education officer at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, discusses April as Financial Literacy Month and offers tips for how parents can teach decision-making skills to their children.
Podcast | Released April 8, 2020
Marie Mora, associate provost for Academic Affairs at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, and Lea-Rachel Kosnik, UMSL economics professor, talk about their experiences in the field of economics and their roles at the university. Also, UMSL students discuss why they study economics.
Podcast | Released March 31, 2020
Alexander Monge-Naranjo, an economist and officer in the Research department at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, discusses the role of human capital as a determinant of a country’s income.
Podcast | Released March 18, 2020
“On one hand it’s nice to be the first of something … but on the other hand, it's, like, wow, it’s 2019. How has this happened?” says Mackenzie Alston, who discusses her experience as the first African American to receive a Ph.D. in economics from Texas A&M University.
Podcast | Released Feb. 26, 2020
Christopher Neely, a vice president in the research department at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, discusses why central banks around the world adopted the practice of setting explicit inflation targets.
Podcast | Released Feb. 19, 2020
Paula Tkac, senior vice president and associate research director at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, talks about her experience as a student, teacher and mentor—and how having a mother who worked outside the home inspired her to become a “rule-breaking” economist.
Podcast | Released Feb. 5, 2020
Daria Sevastianova, associate professor of economics at the University of Southern Indiana, talks about being raised in Eastern Europe, her graduate studies in the economics of conflict and how she mentors the next generation of economists. Also, students in USI’s Women in Economics Club discuss why they study economics.
Podcast | Released Jan. 29, 2020
Julian Kozlowski, economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, discusses his research on the Great Recession and how it changed people’s perceptions. He also explains why listeners should be interested in liquidity and its effects on interest rates.
Podcast | Released Jan. 15, 2020
Don Schlagenhauf, economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, discusses his research on the rise in house prices and home ownership rates from 1940 to 1960. He explains the role of changes in government policy, mortgage financing, productivity and the purchasers’ income, age and education.
Podcast | Released Dec. 20, 2019
Oksana Leukhina, a senior economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, talks about her passion for producing high-quality macroeconomic research that can inform policies, such as those around college education. She also discusses growing up at a time when the Soviet Union was dissolving.
Podcast | Released Dec. 18, 2019
Zanny Minton Beddoes, editor-in-chief at The Economist, talks about her career as the first female to lead the international news and business publication. She also discusses working at the IMF, her grad student experience surveying Ukrainian collectivized agriculture, and how she’s encouraging women to aim higher so they can position themselves for leadership roles.
Podcast | Released Nov. 20, 2019
Sungki Hong, an economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, talks about increasingly complex production networks: When a “hub” industry like construction contracts, it can hit other industries hard. He discusses how this unfolded amid the Great Recession and why he’s curious about the technology industry today.
Podcast | Released Nov. 6, 2019
Tisha Emerson, professor of economics at Baylor University, talks about her co-authored article, “The Gender Gap in Economics Degrees: An Investigation of the Role Model and Quantitative Requirements Hypotheses.” She discusses how active learning techniques may lessen that gap.
Podcast | Released Oct. 30, 2019
Beatrice Weder di Mauro, president of the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR), talks about her experiences studying and working in the field of economics, including her work at the International Monetary Fund. She also discusses CEPR’s Women in Economics Initiative, a new video series.
Podcast | Released Oct. 16, 2019
Paulina Restrepo-Echavarria, an economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, talks about the Bretton Woods agreement, the establishment of an international monetary system, European reconstruction, and winners and losers from Bretton Woods.
Podcast | Released Oct. 2, 2019
Anna Opoku-Agyeman and Fanta Traore talk about their experiences as young black women in the field of economics, why they co-created the Sadie Collective, and plans for their second conference in February 2020.
Podcast | Released Sept. 18, 2019
Sungki Hong, an economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, talks about which occupations may be more affected by automation than others; what motivates firms to automate jobs; and the many forms automation may take, including machines, programs and self-driving cars.
Podcast | Released Sept. 5, 2019
Lucia Foster, chief economist at the U.S. Census Bureau and chief of the Center for Economic Studies, talks about why she was drawn to the field of economics and how a 5K race inspired her. She also shares her experience working at the Census and the Congressional Budget Office.
Podcast | Released Aug. 21, 2019
The Federal Reserve is currently undertaking a review of its monetary policy framework. Why is the Fed doing this review? What does it entail? What will policymakers do with the information gathered? St. Louis Fed President James Bullard addresses these and related questions.
Podcast | Released Aug. 14, 2019
Ray Boshara—senior adviser and the director of the Center for Household Financial Stability at the St. Louis Fed—talks about the Center’s first five years, its purpose and its future. He discusses lessons learned when looking from a balance sheet perspective at the recovery following the Great Recession.
Podcast | Released Aug. 7, 2019
Martha Olney, a Berkeley professor, talks about her success teaching large econ classes, mentoring and the importance of women studying economics. She also discusses changing demographics in the field of economic studies and how former Berkeley undergrad Alice Wu’s thesis took the profession by storm.
Podcast | Released July 31, 2019
B. Ravikumar, senior vice president at the St. Louis Fed, talks about the role international trade plays in cross-country income differences. He discusses the study of economic development, who wins and who loses in trade, barriers to trade and more.
Podcast | Released July 19, 2019
Carmen Reinhart, a Harvard professor, talks about her childhood move to the U.S. from Cuba and her decision to study international economics. She also discusses being a woman in the male-dominated field of finance and how she likes to approach economics as a detective shining a light on puzzles.
Podcast | Released July 17, 2019
Esther George, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, talks about growing up in rural Missouri, her work in banking and how she expanded the role of women at the Jackson Hole Symposium.
Podcast | Released June 26, 2019
Jane Ihrig, associate director of the monetary affairs division at the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, talks about her economics education, her work in the field and her unique experience on the Council of Economic Advisers during the 2008 financial crisis.
Podcast | Released May 29, 2019
Bloomberg financial journalist Kathleen Hays talks about economics education and the role it plays in her position as the global, economics and policy editor for Bloomberg Television and Radio. She also discusses business and journalism changes over her three decades reporting—and whom she’d like to interview next.
Podcast | Released May 15, 2019
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.
Podcast | Released May 8, 2019
Flowers talks about her experience as a nontraditional student and her role as an economic education coordinator at the St. Louis Fed. In her role, she created resources for Girl Scouts to earn economics and personal finance badges. Flowers also talks about why she is passionate about creating economics curriculum for minority students.
Podcast | Released April 24, 2019
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.
Podcast | Released April 19, 2019
Keith Taylor, senior coordinator for the St. Louis Fed’s Research Datadesk, demonstrates the functionality that is available with FRED, which is a set of free tools that allows users to find, visualize, download and understand economic data. He also takes questions from webinar participants.
Webinar | Recorded April 16, 2019
The 2017 federal tax overhaul reduced the corporate income tax rate from 35% to 21%. In this podcast, Economist Don Schlagenhauf discusses a 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.
Podcast | Released April 15, 2019
Amanda Bayer, professor of economics at Swarthmore College, talks about her research on diversity in the field of economics. She explains the importance of drawing from a broader range of the population so that peoples’ different life experiences can inform the questions economists ask and the answers they construct.
Podcast | Released March 27, 2019
Economist Wilcox talks about his research on the unequal distribution of economic education, the need for change in economics classrooms and how it is the responsibility of every member of the economics profession to work toward diversifying the field.
Editor's Note: At the time of this recording, Wilcox was the director of the research and statistics division of the Federal Reserve System Board of Governors. He retired at the end of 2018.
Podcast | Released March 27, 2019
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.
Podcast | Released March 25, 2019
Cook, associate professor of economics and international relations at Michigan State University, talks about discovering economics while climbing Mount Kilimanjaro. She also discusses how she overcame biases she faced as a woman and as an African-American; her research showing GDP could be higher if more women and African-Americans were involved at the beginning of the innovative process; and why she uses social media as a way to mentor students.
Podcast | Released Feb. 20, 2019
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.
Podcast | Released Feb. 11, 2019
Warne, principal and investment strategist at Edward Jones, talks about being raised in a family of economists, how she believes education ties into confidence, and why we need women in finance, policy and economics.
Podcast | Released Jan. 16, 2019
Sheiner, an economist at the Brookings Institution, talks how she stumbled into economics after studying biology, her work in health economics and why she thinks high school debate could spark girls’ interest in econ.
Podcast | Released Dec. 12, 2018
St. Louis Fed economist Paulina Restrepo-Echavarria discusses her research on “search and matching,” particularly as it relates to the marriage market. She notes that studying the marriage market is important because it has implications for income inequality and taxation.
Podcast | Released Nov. 28, 2018
Brainard, a member of the Federal Reserve System Board of Governors, talks about women in economics at the international level, her time as the U.S. representative to the G20, her focus on financial stability and why encouraging more women and minorities to study economics remains an important challenge.
Podcast | Released Nov. 14, 2018
Osili, associate dean and professor at the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, talks about growing up in Nigeria, the state of women in the economics profession internationally and the intersection of economics and philanthropy.
Podcast | Released Oct. 24, 2018
Douglas Scarboro, a St. Louis Fed senior vice president who is also the regional executive of our Memphis Branch, talks about how the Branch has changed over the past 100 years—from cotton receipts to cash services to the King himself: Elvis Presley.
Podcast | Released Oct. 15, 2018
St. Louis Fed economist Paulina Restrepo-Echavarria explains why governments borrow, what happens when a country defaults on its debt and how a country gets out of a debt crisis.
Podcast | Released Oct. 4, 2018
Hafer, an economics professor at St. Louis Community College-Meramec and author of children’s books about economics, talks about how teaching economics has evolved over the past 30 years.
Podcast | Released Sept. 19, 2018
St. Louis Fed economist Miguel Faria-e-Castro talks about rising inequality in both income and wealth in the United States and how we compare to other countries.
Podcast | Released Sept. 13, 2018
Swonk, chief economist and managing director at Grant Thornton, talks about her struggles with dyslexia and growing up in Detroit during the city’s economic “demise” of the 1970s and 1980s.
Podcast | Released Aug. 29, 2018
By now, just about everyone has heard of bitcoin, but what’s beyond that? Listen as St. Louis Fed economist David Andolfatto talks about the details of cryptocurrency, blockchain and regulation and how they differ (or don’t) from banking systems past and present.
Podcast | Released Aug. 27, 2018
Visiting scholar Addo talks about finding her voice as the only black woman in most of her economics courses on her way to her bachelor’s and graduate degrees. But she highlights an evolving culture in the field: “There are a growing number of communities within economics for young women who may feel isolated or questioning whether this is a path that they want to pursue.”
Podcast | Released July 19, 2018
Cleveland Fed President Mester talks about being a leader in the male-dominated field, how she “lucked” into economics, the “publish or perish” mentality, and her adjunct teaching experience at the Wharton School.
Podcast | Released June 19, 2018
St. Louis Fed economist Ana Maria Santacreu talks about the rise in innovation around the globe. She also explains three ways to measure innovation.
Podcast | Released June 7, 2018
St. Louis Fed Economist Restrepo-Echavarria is back in our studios to discuss the need for more women in macroeconomics and how to encourage girls to pursue economics and other fields involving math.
Podcast | Released May 15, 2018
Why should you care about the debt of oil-producing countries in the developing world? Economist Paulina Restrepo-Echavarria addresses this question as she discusses her research on debt default by these countries.
Podcast | Released May 4, 2018
“I firmly believe that there is more ‘we’ and less ‘me’ among women, which leads to productive teamsmanship and the nurturing of each other and the next generation of economists, whether male or female,” says Feigenbaum, a curators’ distinguished teaching professor in the department of economics at the University of Missouri-St. Louis.
Podcast | Released April 25, 2018
Hear voices of past economic policymakers and learn about their sometimes bumpy relationships. The St. Louis Fed’s deputy director of research, David Wheelock, gives context, and our library director, Katrina Stierholz, describes resources in the digital library FRASER (Federal Reserve Archival System for Economic Research).
Podcast | Released April 18, 2018
On April 1, 2018, Bullard marked his 10th anniversary as president and CEO of the St. Louis Fed. In a series of conversations with his chief of staff, Cletus Coughlin, President Bullard reflected on his role as a policymaker, an academic and a CEO.
Podcast | Released April 13, 2018
“Maybe we can do better than we have,” on diversity in economics, says Sahm, the section chief for consumer and community development at the Federal Reserve Board of Governors. Despite groups and newsletters dedicated to women, minorities and the LGBT community, Sahm said there is room for improvement in the field.
Podcast | Released March 28, 2018
“I realized that keeping your head down and working hard was not going to get you that far, because you need to get recognized for that,” says Zentner, chief economist at Morgan Stanley. This “aha” moment led Zentner to actively manage her career, and the result was advancement and success.
Podcast | Released March 28, 2018
“There’s no way that I would have been able to find my way without some help,” says Daly. She shares her story of how she went from high school dropout to research director at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. Daly credits a counselor, a professor, and even former Fed chair Janet Yellen for aiding in her success.
Podcast | Released March 28, 2018
Who is FRED, or Federal Reserve Economic Data? Who uses FRED? And why should you learn more about the widely-used database of financial and economic data? Keith Taylor and Yvetta Fortova of the data desk at the St. Louis Fed address these questions and more.
Podcast | Released Jan. 24, 2018
What do economists track during the holiday season to determine if it will be good for the economy? St. Louis Fed economist Kevin Kliesen discusses retail sales (online and in-store), personal consumption, consumer sentiment, payment methods, debt and more.
Podcast | Released Dec. 20, 2017
When the Fed decides to begin shrinking its $4.5 trillion balance sheet, what will that mean? Why is reducing the size important? St. Louis Fed economist David Wheelock addresses these questions.
Podcast | Released Sept. 1, 2017
Nikki Jackson, the head of the St. Louis Fed’s Louisville, Ky., Branch, talks about her role, that of her staff and that of her board of directors. Listen to her describe the “aha moment” when people realize the variety of work that the Branch does.
Podcast | Released Aug. 17, 2017
In this three-part podcast, St. Louis Fed economist David Wheelock covers: 1) What monetary policy is and how it affects us all; 2) Key monetary policy variables (employment and inflation); and 3) How low interest rates affect borrowers and savers.
Podcast | Released June 2, 2017
Our economic education officer, Mary Suiter, talks about our mission to get people of all ages to learn about basic economics and how to handle personal finances.
Podcast | Released May 5, 2017
Economist Max Dvorkin talks about his research into the impact of Chinese imports on U.S. jobs during the period 2000-07, a time when those imports were surging.
Podcast | Released Jan. 18, 2017
Before introducing a regular podcast, the St. Louis Fed offered educational videos under the Timely Topics name.
Economist David Wiczer discusses a study he and a colleague undertook that shows the ideal disability insurance program would be not much more generous than what we already have.
Video | Released Nov. 24, 2015
Economist B. Ravikumar explains how he and other economists are looking at cross-country income differences and the economic effects of trade barriers.
Video | Released Nov. 24, 2015
Unlike central banks in most other countries, the Federal Reserve System has a regional structure. St. Louis Fed economist and economic historian David Wheelock explains the history and benefits of the unusual structure of our central bank.
Video | Released Oct. 20, 2014
At one time or another, many of the major countries around the world had monetary systems based on a gold standard—currency that could be redeemed, at least in part, for gold. Economist David Andolfatto explains the gold standard and discusses its pros and cons.
Video | Released Oct. 20, 2014
Economists and other experts from the St. Louis Fed talk about their research, economics-related topics in the news and issues specifically related to the Fed. Views expressed are not necessarily those of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis or of the Federal Reserve System.
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