Podcasts by Timely Topics

Timely Topics: How Broken Supply Chains Affect Inflation from 2022-01-12T14:33:09

“Over the past few decades, production has become more global … and as a result, the production process today is more fragmented and is more complex than what it was several decades ago,” says A...

Timely Topics Economic Equity: What is Your Professional Experience as a Black CEO? from 2021-12-17T18:35:28

“The impact that everyday people can have on policy and procedures,” surprised Alice K. Houston when she first became a member of the board of directors at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis....

Timely Topics Economic Equity: COVID-19’s Impact on Employment from 2021-12-01T14:37:17

“The initial effects of the pandemic on employment were actually uneven across occupations,” says Serdar Birinci, economist at the St. Louis Fed, adding that service industries saw the largest e...

Timely Topics Economic Equity: Millennials and the Racial Divide from 2021-11-10T14:57:43

“There are a couple of differences between Black and white millennials that may help explain these [wealth] disparities,” says Lowell Ricketts, data scientist at the Institute for Economic Equit...

Timely Topics: Intellectual Property Rights from 2021-11-08T15:23:15

“As countries have become more integrated, not only in terms of trading goods and services but also in terms of trading ideas, protecting intellectual property has become more important,” says A...

Timely Topics Economic Equity: Rural Prosperity in Focus from 2021-10-13T13:41:01

“We believe rural communities will achieve longer-term, more durable success if they look inside their boundaries for opportunities to invest in and focus on,” says Daniel Paul Davis, vice presi...

Timely Topics Economic Equity: The Institute for Economic Equity from 2021-09-29T19:23:59

William M. Rodgers III, vice president and director of the Institute for Economic Equity at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, discusses how the St. Louis Fed works to promote a more inclusi...

How Lessons from 1944 Bretton Woods Apply to Pandemic Recovery from 2021-09-01T13:21:24

Paulina Restrepo-Echavarria, senior economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, discusses how the post-World War II Bretton Woods agreement applies to life in 2021—a time when America an...

Teaching about New Monetary Policy Tools from 2021-08-04T14:08:59

“We really needed to help move the needle on educational materials, and so, we’re working to provide educators with up-to-date information and quality teaching resources,” says Federal Reserve E...

Consumer Debt Trends during the Pandemic from 2021-07-15T14:43:21

Juan Sanchez, assistant vice president and economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, talks about trends in credit card debt, mortgage debt and foreclosures during the pandemic and how ...

Meritocracy in College Admissions from 2021-06-30T13:39:28

“Access to college types can be used as an effective tool for the purpose of fighting inequality,” says Oksana Leukhina, economist and research officer at the St. Louis Fed. She talks about how ...

The Pandemic Worsened Inequities for Working Women. What Now? from 2021-04-14T16:01:59

Meredith Covington, Supervisory Policy and Risk Analysis manager, and Ana Hernández Kent, Institute for Economic Equity senior researcher, discuss how the “she-cession” is disproportionately aff...

Student Sorting in the College Selection Process from 2021-02-26T15:09:41

Oksana Leukhina, economist and research officer at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, talks about the importance of students understanding the college selection process in the U.S. to tip th...

Wage Posting and Job Searching from 2021-01-28T14:34:28

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 wit...

Economic Equity: St. Louis Fed Leaders from 2020-12-02T13:27:14

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 divers...

Timely Topics Economic Equity: Inequality and Stock Market Participation from 2020-11-04T16:14:43

YiLi Chien, economist and research officer at the St. Louis Fed, discusses how investing in the stock market can play a role in wealth inequality. He also explains why some people may choose to ...

Timely Topics Economic Equity: Community Development from 2020-10-21T13:25:59

The St. Louis Fed’s Community Development team discusses their work to promote a more inclusive, equitable economy, “one in which everyone can derive benefit regardless of their background, the ...

Timely Topics Equity: Demographics from 2020-09-30T14:14:45

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 t...

Educated Workers and America’s Competitiveness from 2020-08-31T14:23:42

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 t...

COVID-19 and Hot Money Credits from 2020-07-15T14:03:56

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 o...

COVID-19 and Financial Setbacks for Millennials from 2020-06-16T14:31:39

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 ...

COVID-19 and School Closures from 2020-05-26T14:20:27

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 g...

COVID-19 and U.S. Reliance on Medical Equipment Imports from 2020-05-13T13:40:10

Senior Economist Ana Maria Santacreu and Economist Fernando Leibovici, both of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, discuss their research on essential medical equipment imports and how the U....

Families Most Vulnerable to Income Shock and COVID-19 from 2020-05-04T15:44:58

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 vulnerab...

Financial Distress and COVID-19 from 2020-04-14T14:50:49

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....

The Role of Decision-Making in Financial Literacy from 2020-04-08T13:50:03

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 ...

The Role of Human Capital in Production from 2020-03-18T14:04:53

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....

Inflation and Central Banks from 2020-02-19T15:11:17

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 inf...

How the Great Recession Changed Perceptions and Increased Tail Risk from 2020-01-15T15:42:52

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...

Explaining the Midcentury Increase in Housing Prices, Ownership from 2019-12-20T20:41:16

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 chang...

The Interconnectivity of Production Networks from 2019-11-05T21:57:43

Sungki Hong, a St. Louis Fed economist, talks about complex production networks: When a “hub” industry like construction contracts, it can hit other industries hard. He discusses how this unfold...

A New Look at the Bretton Woods Agreement from 2019-10-02T19:05:17

Paulina Restrepo-Echavarria, an economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, talks about the Bretton Woods system, establishing an international monetary system, European reconstruction, ...

How Advancing Automation May Affect Occupations from 2019-09-05T15:55:42

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 m...

Bullard Discusses the Fed’s Monetary Policy Framework Review from 2019-08-14T14:21:05

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 gath...

Center for Household Financial Stability: The First Five Years from 2019-08-07T14:23:50

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 discuss...

The Role of Trade in Cross-Country Income Differences from 2019-07-19T17:50:48

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 ...

Supervising the Nation’s Banks from 2019-05-08T14:10:56

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 t...

James Bullard Discusses Nominal GDP Targeting from 2019-04-19T15:26:53

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...

What Is the Optimal Corporate Income Tax Rate? from 2019-04-15T17:56:25

The 2017 federal tax overhaul reduced the corporate income tax rate from 35% to 21%. In this podcast, Economist Don Schlagenhauf discusses the paper he wrote with two co-authors, “Corporate Inco...

Little Rock Branch Celebrates 100 Years of History from 2019-03-25T16:04:46

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 c...

Household Debt Up, Delinquencies Low Since Recession from 2019-02-11T15:41:27

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 level...

An Economist’s Perspective on the Marriage Market from 2018-11-28T17:36:31

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 marke...

Cotton, Cash and the King – 100 Years of the Memphis Branch from 2018-10-15T20:27:58

Our Memphis regional executive and senior vice president, Douglas Scarboro, talks about how the Memphis Branch of the St. Louis Fed has changed over the past 100 years—from cotton receipts to ca...

Some Basics on Sovereign Debt and Default from 2018-10-04T19:17:18

Why do governments borrow? What happens when a country defaults on its debt? How does a country get out of a debt crisis? St. Louis Fed economist Paulina Restrepo-Echavarria answers these and ot...

Fiscal Policy’s Link to Inequality from 2018-09-13T15:15:39

Rising inequality in both income and wealth are at levels comparable to the 1920s, before the Great Depression. St. Louis Fed economist Miguel Faria-e-Castro talks about the link between fiscal ...

Bitcoin: Beyond the Basics from 2018-08-27T18:29:03

By now, just about everyone has heard of bitcoin, but what’s beyond that? Listen to St. Louis Fed economist David Andolfatto talk about the details of cryptocurrency, blockchain and regulation a...

Innovation Is on the Rise from 2018-06-07T17:09:04

St. Louis Fed economist Ana Maria Santacreu talks about the rise in innovation around the globe. She also explains three ways to measure innovation.

Oil-Producing Countries and Debt from 2018-05-04T14:00

Why should you care about the debt oil-producing countries hold? St. Louis Fed economist Paulina Restrepo-Echavarria explains her research on oil-producing countries in the developing world—in p...

The Personalities behind Historic Policies from 2018-04-18T13:55:03

Hear voices of past economic policymakers and learn about their sometimes bumpy relationships. David Wheelock, St. Louis Fed deputy director of research, gives context, and library director Katr...

James Bullard: A Policymaker’s Reflections on Crisis to Recovery from 2018-04-12T16:31:49

On April 1, 2018, James 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 re...

Have You Met FRED? from 2018-01-24T20:32:50

Get to know FRED (Federal Reserve Economic Data), a database from the St. Louis Fed that is free to use. With more than 500,000 data series, you will find something you are curious about or need...

Holiday Spending: A Gift for the Economy from 2017-12-20T20:22:26

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 ...

Monetary Policy Minutes: Part 4, The Fed’s Balance Sheet from 2017-09-07T14:40

What Does a Fed Branch Do? from 2017-08-17T14:40

Monetary Policy Minutes: Part 1, What Is Monetary Policy? from 2017-06-02T16:10:12

Monetary Policy Minutes: Part 2, Employment and Inflation from 2017-06-02T14:10:12

Monetary Policy Minutes: Part 3, Savers and Borrowers from 2017-06-02T12:10:12

Economic Literacy for Life from 2017-05-05T13:10:12

Chinese Imports, U.S. Jobs from 2017-01-18T13:10:12