The Economics Show

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 facing more expensive electronic devices. But what are the broader consequences of misalignment in this market? How will the chip squeeze end? And, as memory chips become a strategic commodity, how are the US and China looking to secure supply? Host Soumaya Keynes is joined by Dan Kim, chief strategy officer at semiconductor analysis firm TechInsights and former chief economist at the CHIPS Program Office at the US Department of Commerce.

Further reading:

Why memory chips are the new frontier of the AI revolution

Memory chip boom leaves PC and smartphone makers in the cold

Maybe the chips are down because memory’s too expensive

Presented by Soumaya Keynes. Produced by Mischa Frankl-Duval. Original music and sound design by Breen Turner. Manuela Saragosa is the executive producer. Flo Phillips is the FT’s head of audio.

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 matters worse. Soumaya speaks to Torsten Slok, chief economist at Apollo Global Management, to discuss what Warsh did (and didn’t say), the changing relationship between the Fed and the Treasury and how the central bank should fight America’s growing fiscal issues.

Subscribe to Soumaya's show on Apple, Spotify, Pocket Casts or wherever you listen.

Join Soumaya Keynes on Saturday September 5 at Kenwood House Gardens in London, or online as the FT Weekend paper comes to life. Register now at ft.com/festival and enjoy 10% off with code FTPODCAST.

Further reading:
Hawkish Kevin Warsh hints Fed will raise rates if inflation does not fall soon
Warsh settles some nerves at Jackson Hole
Scott Bessent’s bond intervention puts US Treasury on collision course with Fed

Presented by Soumaya Keynes. Produced by Mischa Frankl-Duval. Original music and sound design by Breen Turner. Manuela Saragosa is the executive producer. Flo Phillips is the FT’s head of audio.

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 speaks to Pulitzer Prize-winning author Liaquat Ahamed about how the resulting economic malaise fuelled social division and transformed old prejudices into antisemitic conspiracy. It gave birth to ideas that would resurface with catastrophic consequences decades later in the 20th century.

Further reading:

1873: The Rothschilds, the First Great Depression, and the Making of the Modern World (2026), by Liaquat Ahamed
Gold and Iron: Bismarck, Bleichröder, and the Building of the German Empire (1977), by Fritz Stern

Hosts: Gillian Tett and Robin Wigglesworth
Senior producers: Michela Tindera and Laurence Knight
Executive producer: Manuela Saragosa
Original music and sound design: Breen Turner
Broadcast engineers: Bianca Wakeman and Petros Gioumpasis
Podcast development: Laura Clarke
FT global head of audio: Flo Phillips
Video editors: Josh Divney and Kristen Kenyon at Podcast Discovery
Learn more at www.ft.com/tsom or get in touch at thestoryofmoney@ft.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 professor Jason Furman, a former economic adviser to President Barack Obama, and Bloomberg reporter Caitlin Reilly about wealth taxes, capital gains, inheritance and whether taxing America's richest is politically or constitutionally possible.

Hear more from Trumponomics: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/trumponomics/id1038108799
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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 US to climb down. That show of strength was a wake up call for the US. It has since spent huge sums backing mining companies, penned eye-catching deals and moved to collaborate with allies. But after a little more than a year, how much progress has it made in breaking China’s hold on the rare earths supply chain? Featuring: Abigail Hunter of the SAFE Center for Critical Minerals Strategy; Gracelin Baskaran of the Critical Minerals Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies; Cory Combs of Trivium China; and FT commodities correspondent Camilla Hodgson.

Subscribe to Soumaya's show on Apple, Spotify, Pocket Casts or wherever you listen.

Further reading:
China and the new era of critical minerals diplomacy
Hedge funds raise bets against US-backed critical minerals companies
China restricts trading with some US rare earth companies

Presented by Soumaya Keynes. Produced by Mischa Frankl-Duval. Original music by Breen Turner. Sound design by Breen Turner and Samantha Giovinco. Manuela Saragosa and Topher Forhecz are the executive producers. Flo Phillips is the FT’s head of audio.

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.