Money Talks from The Economist

Across the rich world there’s been a backlash against immigration. Donald Trump's presidential campaign promises mass deportations of illegal immigrants from the US, while in Europe the hard-right anti-immigration AfD has made historic gains in Germany's state elections. But look past the political rhetoric and the empirical economic data points in favour of inward migration to developed countries. So why do economists love immigration, even though voters don’t?Hosts: Alice Fulwood, Tom Lee-Devlin and Mike Bird. Guests: Michael Clemens of George Mason University and the Peterson Institute of International Economics; and Brian Turmail of the Associated General Contractors of America.Transcripts of our podcasts are available via economist.com/podcasts.Listen to what matters most, from global politics and business to science and technology—subscribe to Economist Podcasts+.For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page or watch our video explaining how to link your account.

A dispute with her old record label could have derailed Taylor Swift's career—but instead, she used it to propel herself to superstardom. In the second of two special episodes, we get the inside story of the battle to acquire the rights to Swift’s first six albums. We then take an MBA class assessing their value and hear how the singer used the story of the dispute to remake the music industry to her advantage.Hosts: Alice Fulwood, Tom Lee-Devlin and Mike Bird. Guests: Tim Ingham, the founder of Music Business Worldwide; Kristelia García of the Georgetown University Law Center; Michael Schill of the Darden School of Business; and Bill Werde, former editorial director of Billboard magazine, current director of the Bandier Program at Syracuse University and author of the “Full Rate No Cap” newsletter.Transcripts of our podcasts are available via economist.com/podcasts.Listen to what matters most, from global politics and business to science and technology—subscribe to Economist Podcasts+.For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page or watch our video explaining how to link your account.

Taylor Swift is reportedly worth $1.3bn. In the music industry, amassing that kind of fortune requires more than talent alone. It requires a shrewd business sense and an ability to be ruthless. In the first of two special episodes, we explore how Taylor Swift built the biggest brand in music.Hosts: Alice Fulwood, Tom Lee-Devlin and Mike Bird. Guests: Bob Reeves, a manager who was at one of Swift’s first gigs; Clay Myers, former Warner Music Group exec who helped facilitate one of Swift’s early hits; and Bill Werde, former editorial director of Billboard magazine, current director of the Bandier Program at Syracuse University and author of the “Full Rate No Cap” newsletter.Transcripts of our podcasts are available via economist.com/podcasts.Listen to what matters most, from global politics and business to science and technology—subscribe to Economist Podcasts+.For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page or watch our video explaining how to link your account.

For decades, “the world’s factory” has been churning out goods for export. But many of those products were made not by Chinese companies, but by American, European or Japanese ones looking to take advantage of China’s cheap labour. But as the country’s economy slows, domestic firms are increasingly looking abroad for growth and, as a trade war rages with the West, they have set their sights on the global south.Hosts: Tom Lee-Devlin, Alice Fulwood and Mike Bird. Guests: Lourdes Casanova of Cornell University and Ong Kian Ming, a Malaysian former deputy minister.Transcripts of our podcasts are available via economist.com/podcasts.Listen to what matters most, from global politics and business to science and technology—subscribe to Economist Podcasts+.For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page or watch our video explaining how to link your account.

Three seemingly unrelated events conspired to trigger the worst day for Japan’s benchmark Topix index in more than 35 years, and caused stocks around the world to plunge. Markets have started to recover but there could be more chaos around the corner. Jumpy investors remain primed to sell at even the first hint of bad news, and the strength of the American economy is now in question.Hosts: Mike Bird, Alice Fulwood and Tom Lee-Devlin. Guests: research analyst Travis Lundy and Dan Ivascyn, group chief investment officer at PIMCO.Transcripts of our podcasts are available via economist.com/podcasts.Listen to what matters most, from global politics and business to science and technology—subscribe to Economist Podcasts+.For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page or watch our video explaining how to link your account.

At the Bitcoin conference over the weekend, Donald Trump promised that if he returns to office, he will fire the chair of the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Gary Gensler. The assembled crypto community cheered. We speak to Mr Gensler about how his term as SEC chair is panning out, from oversight of equity and Treasury markets, to becoming the villain of the crypto world. Also, would Mr Trump really get to fire Mr Gensler? Probably not—but what about the heads of America’s other major regulatory institutions, like the Fed? Hosts: Alice Fulwood, Tom Lee-Devlin and Mike Bird. Guests: Gary Gensler, chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission; Peter Conti-Brown, professor of financial regulation at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.Transcripts of our podcasts are available via economist.com/podcasts.Listen to what matters most, from global politics and business to science and technology—subscribe to Economist Podcasts+.For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page or watch our video explaining how to link your account.

This week we sit down with the woman who is second-in-command of a large North American country, is heir apparent to take over as party leader and whose party faces a daunting upcoming election. Chrystia Freeland, the deputy prime minister of Canada, joins Money Talks to discuss housing shortages, immigration policy and shifting attitudes to global trade. What lessons are there from Canada for the rest of the world?Hosts: Alice Fulwood, Tom Lee-Devlin and Mike Bird. Guests: Chrystia Freeland, deputy prime minister of Canada; and The Economist’s Simon Rabinovitch.Transcripts of our podcasts are available via economist.com/podcasts.Listen to what matters most, from global politics and business to science and technology—subscribe to Economist Podcasts+.For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page or watch our video explaining how to link your account.

The gender pay gap stubbornly persists across the rich world—in the OECD women earn around 12% less than men. The academic consensus has largely blamed the “motherhood penalty”—the fact that women still tend to bear the brunt of child-rearing responsibilities. But new research is challenging that view.Hosts: Alice Fulwood, Tom Lee-Devlin and Mike Bird. Guests: Marianne Bertrand, professor of economics at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business; Erik Plug, professor of economics at the University of Amsterdam; and The Economist’s Christian Odendahl.Transcripts of our podcasts are available via economist.com/podcasts.Listen to what matters most, from global politics and business to science and technology—subscribe to Economist Podcasts+.For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page or watch our video explaining how to link your account.

Last month Mistral AI, a tech start-up based in Paris, raised €600m in funding, valuing it at nearly €6bn. The deal was emblematic of the French capital’s astonishing commercial revival since the pro-business Emmanuel Macron became president seven years ago. But on Sunday that revival was thrown into doubt as snap elections produced a hung parliament, robbing Mr Macron’s party of control. Could the resulting political turmoil, and rising support for the far right, undermine business confidence and snuff out Paris’s renaissance?Hosts: Tom Lee-Devlin, Alice Fulwood, and Mike Bird. Guests: Ludovic Subran, chief economist at insurance company Allianz; Cedric O, co-founder of Mistral AI; and The Economist’s Paris bureau chief, Sophie Pedder.Transcripts of our podcasts are available via economist.com/podcasts.Listen to what matters most, from global politics and business to science and technology—subscribe to Economist Podcasts+. For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page or watch our video explaining how to link your account.