The Economics Show with Soumaya Keynes

The global economy is becoming increasingly hostile with tariffs, export controls and industrial policy being used as geopolitical weapons, while the world’s biggest powers compete for economic advantage. So where does...

Dads today are doing more childcare than previous generations, so why hasn’t the parenting gap between mothers and fathers disappeared? One reason: mums are doing more too. Host Soumaya Keynes talks to Corinne Low...

Building data centres and running the US government have something in common: they cost a lot of money. Tech companies are borrowing heavily to fund the AI build out, just as Washington is borrowing vast sums to fund...

In recent months, part of the chip market has been going bananas. Prices for memory chips – which AI data centres use in droves – have rocketed, as US tech companies lock in massive orders. That’s bad news for consumers...

Federal Reserve chair Kevin Warsh took to the stage at Jackson Hole under pressure. Inflation is sticky, bond markets have been wobbling and his insistence on minimal Fed communication has been seen by some to make...

The 1873 Gründerkrach, the spectacular stock market crash that followed Germany’s unification, is one of history’s great financial maelstroms. But its most enduring legacy isn’t about money. Host Robin Wigglesworth...

As wealth becomes increasingly concentrated — and artificial intelligence threatens to shift even more income from workers to investors — has the US tax system become outdated? Stephanie Flanders speaks with Harvard...

In the midst of the US-China trade conflict last year, Beijing unsheathed its fiercest weapon. By ramping up restrictions on exports of rare earth metals – crucial elements for high-tech manufacturing – China forced the...

Productivity has been a problem for the past 15 years. In developed countries, weak demand, a lack of competition and a paucity of new ideas have all been blamed. Could AI finally reverse that trend? Soumaya speaks to...

The US has long been the world’s undisputed leader in AI. Now, that lead looks under threat. Cutting-edge Chinese models such as Kimi K3 are proving almost as capable as leading American models; meanwhile, companies in...

When the US and Israel started bombing Iran earlier this year, market watchers eyed the oil markets nervously. But as the price of crude oil climbed, so did the price of another key commodity produced in the Gulf...

In the western world, richer people tend to be thinner – especially women. But does wealth make people thin, or does being thin make them wealthy? And could the rise of weight-loss drugs such as Mounjaro and Wegovy give...

When Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz, economists were panicked. Several warned that a prolonged closure of the chokepoint could trigger a recession. After all, that’s what oil shocks do. But no recession came – even...

When the US government banned a top AI lab from exporting its newest models, the world took notice. Export controls forbidding foreign access to Anthropic’s Mythos and Fable systems locked most of the world out of using...

For decades, China accelerated its industrial development through a straightforward bargain: foreign firms invested in China, often through joint ventures, gaining access to the enormous Chinese market, while Chinese...