Speaking of the Economy

Speaking of the Economy is the podcast of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. In each episode, we'll hear from the Richmond Fed's economists and other experts at the Bank and in the communities we serve about the economic issues they are exploring.

Bringing Abandoned Property to Life in West Virginia 05/15/2024

Bringing Abandoned Property to Life in West Virginia Taylor Bennett and Kim Reed describe how community development organizations in West Virginia use land banks to bring new economic activity to abandoned property. Bennett is executive director of the West Virginia Land Stewardship Corporation and Reed is executive director of the Nitro Land Reuse Authority. Full transcript and related links: /episode/index/show/speakingoftheeconomy/id/31231652

Measuring Cyber Risks in the Financial Sector 05/08/2024

Measuring Cyber Risks in the Financial Sector Daniel Weitzner, an information security expert at MIT, discusses the cyber threats to the financial services industry and the challenges of measuring and modeling those risks. He also shares learnings from a recent conference co-hosted by MIT, the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, and the Federal Reserve System Board of Governors. Full transcript and related links: /episode/index/show/speakingoftheeconomy/id/31055683

Figuring Out Maryland's Out-Migration 04/17/2024

Figuring Out Maryland's Out-Migration Adam Scavette, a regional economist at the Baltimore branch of the Richmond Fed, and Keith Waters of George Mason University discuss their analysis of migration patterns in Maryland and how they might help explain a significant reduction in the state's workforce since the COVID-19 pandemic. Full transcript and related links: /episode/index/show/speakingoftheeconomy/id/30826928

Is There a Place for Place-Based Policies? 04/10/2024

Is There a Place for Place-Based Policies? Richmond Fed economist Santiago Pinto discusses what economists have learned about policies intended to promote economic development in specific communities. He also outlines the intended and unintended spillover effects beyond the targeted communities. Full transcript and related links: /episode/index/show/speakingoftheeconomy/id/30751198

Immigration Policy and the Development of the Tech Sector in the U.S. and India 04/03/2024

Immigration Policy and the Development of the Tech Sector in the U.S. and India Richmond Fed economist Nicolas Morales shares his research on immigration policy and how the regulation of the flow of information technology workers from India to the United States during the 1990s benefited both countries' IT sectors. Full transcript and related links: /episode/index/show/speakingoftheeconomy/id/30644213

Dual Enrollment: An Alternative Path to College For High Schoolers 03/20/2024

Dual Enrollment: An Alternative Path to College For High Schoolers Laura Ullrich and Jacob Walker review data they have gathered from the Richmond Fed Survey of Community College Outcomes about high school students who take dual enrollment classes. They also discuss difference in how these classes are funded. Full transcript and related links: /episode/index/show/speakingoftheeconomy/id/30439068

Does National Market Concentration Equal Local Market Power? 03/13/2024

Does National Market Concentration Equal Local Market Power? Richmond Fed economist Nicholas Trachter shares his research on the market concentration and power of firms and whether the increased concentration in national markets has reduced competition in local markets. Full transcript and related links: /episode/index/show/speakingoftheeconomy/id/30321728

How Inflation Expectations Feed Into Price Setting at Firms 03/06/2024

How Inflation Expectations Feed Into Price Setting at Firms Felipe Schwartzman and Sonya Waddell discuss their research on the relationship between inflation and firms' expectations for their costs and prices, informed by the responses to special questions added to the Richmond Fed's business surveys since 2021. Full transcript and related links: /episode/index/show/speakingoftheeconomy/id/30178008

Economics in Action 02/21/2024

Economics in Action Yaa Opoku-Agyeman of the Bureau of Labor Statistics and Rachel Lee of Uber Eats talk about their careers as economists and how they have applied their research and analysis skills to address everyday issues. Full transcript and related links: /episode/index/show/speakingoftheeconomy/id/30036553

Marriage Matters When Saving During Retirement 02/14/2024

Marriage Matters When Saving During Retirement Richmond Fed economist John Bailey Jones shares what he has learned about the savings decisions of people when they're single compared to when they're married, particularly during retirement. Full transcript and related links: /episode/index/show/speakingoftheeconomy/id/29907413

Did Unemployment Benefits Discourage Returning to Work During COVID-19? 02/07/2024

Did Unemployment Benefits Discourage Returning to Work During COVID-19? Richmond Fed economists Andreas Hornstein and Marios Karabarbounis discuss their research on unemployment insurance (UI), most recently on the disincentive effects of the substantial expansion of UI benefits during the COVID-19 pandemic. Full transcript and related links: /episode/index/show/speakingoftheeconomy/id/29814008

Workforce Development in South Carolina 01/24/2024

Workforce Development in South Carolina Workforce development was a major topic of conversation when Matt Martin and Erika Bell recently met with business and community leaders in Pickens County and Oconee County, South Carolina. In this episode, Martin and Bell discussed what they learned during their visit. Two local workforce development leaders — Jeromy Arnett and Ray Farley of Alliance Pickens — also shared their stories. Full transcript and related links: /episode/index/show/speakingoftheeconomy/id/29601923

Measuring Inflation 01/17/2024

Measuring Inflation John O'Trakoun reviews different ways of tracking inflation that are intended to screen out noise and provide a more accurate forecast of price levels. He also discusses his unique approach to capturing this key economic indicator. O'Trakoun is a senior policy economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. Full transcript and related links: /episode/index/show/speakingoftheeconomy/id/29510158

Charting the Path of Interest Rates 01/10/2024

Charting the Path of Interest Rates Thomas Lubik and Christian Matthes discuss how economists wrestle with measuring the natural rate of interest or r-star, why this measure is important for monetary policymakers, and how their model has evolved to better chart the path of interest rates. Lubik is a senior advisor at the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond and Matthes is a professor of economics at Indiana University. Full transcript and related links: /episode/index/show/speakingoftheeconomy/id/29406953

Ask the Richmond Fed 12/20/2023

Ask the Richmond Fed Kartik Athreya, the Richmond Fed's research director, answers questions submitted by listeners about housing, the Fed's bond purchases, interest rate targeting, and artificial intelligence. Full transcript and related links: /episode/index/show/speakingoftheeconomy/id/29100378

What We Have Learned About Remote Work 12/13/2023

What We Have Learned About Remote Work Claudia Macaluso discusses the surge in workers doing their jobs at home during the COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing effects of the remote work option on labor markets and the economy as a whole. Macaluso is an economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. Full transcript and related links: /episode/index/show/speakingoftheeconomy/id/28995533

Greatest Hits of 2023 12/06/2023

Greatest Hits of 2023 Tim Sablik, host of the Speaking of the Economy podcast, reviews the five most popular episodes of 2023 that explored topics beyond inflation and monetary policy. Full transcript and related links: /episode/index/show/speakingoftheeconomy/id/28865413

What Community Colleges Are Telling Us 11/29/2023

What Community Colleges Are Telling Us Laura Ullrich provides an update on the Richmond Fed Survey of Community College Outcomes, which aims to provide more accurate and detailed data on the performance of community colleges and their students. Ullrich is a senior regional economist at the Charlotte branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. Full transcript and related links: /episode/index/show/speakingoftheeconomy/id/28748663

Economic Spillovers Across Borders 11/15/2023

Economic Spillovers Across Borders Paul Ho talks about how countries are connected to each other through international trade and how these connections help spread economic shocks across the globe. Ho is an economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. Full transcript and related links: /episode/index/show/speakingoftheeconomy/id/28545737

Financing Rural Development 11/08/2023

Financing Rural Development Jarrod Elwell and Jason Smith share what the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond has learned about the financing needs of rural parts of the Fifth District and how the Bank's Rural Investment Collaborative and other programs help community leaders address those needs. Elwell is a community development manager and Smith is a senior community development advisor at the Richmond Fed. Full transcript and related links: /episode/index/show/speakingoftheeconomy/id/28500518

AI and Banking Supervision 10/25/2023

AI and Banking Supervision Tom Bilston and Tony Murray discuss how banks use machine learning, chat bots and other forms of AI as well as what these technological innovations mean for bank examiners, both in terms of the risks they monitor and how they do their job. Bilston is Assistant Vice President and Horizontal Team Lead, LISCC Program, Capital Retail Credit; and Murray is SRC Strategy, Risk and Innovation Team Lead at the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. Full transcript and related links: /episode/index/show/speakingoftheeconomy/id/28408697

Housing Affordability in Rural Communities 10/18/2023

Housing Affordability in Rural Communities Andy Bauer and Danny Twilley discuss the research they are doing to better understand gaps in the housing markets of rural communities and small towns and the unique challenges they face in addressing these gaps. Bauer is vice president and regional executive for the Baltimore branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. Twilley is assistant vice president of economic, community and asset development for the Brad and Alys Smith Outdoor Economic Development Collaborative at West Virginia University. Full transcript and related links: /episode/index/show/speakingoftheeconomy/id/28354760

Learning Losses During the Pandemic 10/11/2023

Learning Losses During the Pandemic Santiago Pinto provides preliminary evidence of learning losses among K-12 students during the COVID-19 pandemic. He also discusses the causes, distribution and consequences of these losses. Pinto is a senior economist and policy advisor at the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. Full transcript and related links: /episode/index/show/speakingoftheeconomy/id/28286660

Where is the Credit Crunch? 09/27/2023

Where is the Credit Crunch? Sonya Waddell and Chen Yeh provide an update on credit market conditions, based on recent results of the CFO Survey and other surveys of borrowers and lenders. They also discuss the macroeconomic forces that shape the supply and demand sides of the market, including the current round of monetary policy tightening. Waddell is a vice president and economist and Yeh is an economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. Full transcript and related links: /episode/index/show/speakingoftheeconomy/id/28151018

The Importance of Social Capital 09/20/2023

The Importance of Social Capital Stephanie Norris explains the concept of social capital, its value in the economic development of communities and the challenges of measuring it. Norris is a senior research analyst at the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. Full transcript and related links: /episode/index/show/speakingoftheeconomy/id/28085273

Advancing Women in Economics 09/13/2023

Advancing Women in Economics Marina Azzimonti and Arantxa Jarque, director and associate director of the Center for Advancing Women in Economics, discuss the Center's recent launch at the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond and the need for such an organization within the economics profession. Azzimonti is a senior economist and research advisor and Jarque is a senior policy economist at the Richmond Fed. Full transcript and related links: /episode/index/show/speakingoftheeconomy/id/27999798

The Great Office Exodus and Commercial Real Estate 08/23/2023

The Great Office Exodus and Commercial Real Estate Borys Grochulski and John O'Trakoun share the latest data on the market for office buildings and commercial real estate in general. They also discuss the current state of lending to office developers and whether the rise in office vacancies poses risks to the broader economy. Grochulski is a senior economist and O'Trakoun is a senior policy economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. Full transcript and related links: /episode/index/show/speakingoftheeconomy/id/27773532

The Impact of Marriage on How Much Men Work 08/16/2023

The Impact of Marriage on How Much Men Work John Bailey Jones discusses his recent research on the relationship between marital status and the labor force participation of men. Jones is vice president of microeconomic analysis at the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. Full transcript and related links: /episode/index/show/speakingoftheeconomy/id/27712998

Uncertainty About the Effects of Monetary Policy 08/09/2023

Uncertainty About the Effects of Monetary Policy Paul Ho talks about how economists model the interactions between monetary policy and the economy and the challenges of determining the economic effects of policy with precision. Ho is an economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. Full transcript and related links: /episode/index/show/speakingoftheeconomy/id/27642171

Supply Chain Resilience 07/26/2023

Supply Chain Resilience Nicolas Morales discusses his research on supply chains and the factors that can help them resist and recover from economic shocks, like the COVID-19 pandemic. Morales is an economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. Full transcript and related links: /episode/index/show/speakingoftheeconomy/id/27510525

Speaking of the Economy

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