Martin Wolf on the World
The podcast is an occasional series hosted by Martin Wolf, the chief economics commentator of the Financial Times. It features his analysis and commentary on the global economy and world affairs. Episodes are released from time to time rather than on a fixed schedule. The show is distributed via Acast.
Episodes
Martin Wolf on the US midterms: Is American democracy safe?
As Americans prepare to vote in the November 3 midterm elections, FT chief economics commentator Martin Wolf asks what the result will mean for Donald Trump, the future of US democracy and America's place in the world. In the first of a six-part series of interviews with leading historians and political analysts, Martin speaks to the scholar and former Republican adviser Robert Kagan, who has
Martin Wolf on saving democratic capitalism
In the first of this four-part series, the renowned FT columnist and economist Martin Wolf tells the FT’s executive opinion editor Jonathan Derbyshire why he fears the marriage of liberal economics and democracy may be facing its toughest test in decades. Drawing on arguments in his latest book, The Crisis of Democratic Capitalism, Martin explains how his own life story and career have shaped his
Why the Irish crisis is such a huge test for the eurozone
The fault lines in the currency union stand revealed. The promise was that the eurozone would deliver its members from currency crises. But, as I, and others, warned, be careful what you wish for: credit crises would replace currency crises – and these are likely to be even worse. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Assets matter just as much as debt
Borrowing is no sin, provided we use the funds to ensure that we bequeath a better infrastructure to the future, says Martin Wolf Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Ireland refutes the German perspective
Berlin’s emphasis on deflationary adjustment in weaker countries risks turning the eurozone as a whole into a gigantic Germany, dependent on importing demand from the rest of the world, says Martin Wolf Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
How to chart a course out of the Sino-American storm
They came; they saw; they lost. That is the reaction to what emerged on global rebalancing at the summit meeting of the Group of 20 leading countries in Seoul last week. Publicly, surplus countries persist in calling on those in deficit to deflate themselves into economic health. The consequences of this folly are now evident in the eurozone. At the world level, the US will never accept it. But, b
The IMF is giving some good fiscal advice
The International Monetary Fund does not normally respond to mere journalists. But its staff have explicitly rejected my arguments on the pace of fiscal consolidation in the UK. On one point – the need for a fiscal “plan B” – the IMF takes my side in the argument with the government. This is no small victory, not least because its latest report on the UK reads, in other respects, as if dictated to
The Fed is right to turn on the tap
The sky is falling, scream the hysterics: the Federal Reserve is pouring forth dollars in such quantities that they will soon be worthless. Nothing could be further from the truth. As in Japan, the policy known as “quantitative easing” is far more likely to prove ineffective than lethal. It is a leaky hose, not a monetary Noah’s Flood. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Current account targets are a way back to the future
The debate on “global imbalances” has gone back to the future. The proposal from Tim Geithner, the US Treasury secretary, to target the current account takes us back to the preoccupations of John Maynard Keynes at the Bretton Woods conference of July 1944. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Britain has gone climbing without a rope
Martin Wolf admires the courage of the government as it launches its spending review without a Plan B but wonders whether the public will accept the necessary pain Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Why US voters are suing Dr Obama
A large part of the American public has forgotten the gravity of the financial heart attack that hit the US in the autumn of 2008. The Republicans have convinced many voters that the intervention by the Democrats, not the catastrophe George W Bush bequeathed, explains the malaise. Does President Obama deserve blame? No and yes, says Martin Wolf. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more info
A spending review for a diminished country
This may be a great policy success or the biggest fiscal blunder since the early 1930s. More likely, it will be in between, says Martin Wolf. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Britain and America seek different paths from disaster
With the announcement of massive cuts in government spending the UK has launched a remarkable policy experiment. The contrast with the US – which has announced none – should at least be instructive, says Martin Wolf. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Why higher student fees are right
The changes will bring pain. But the upside is also huge. The government should grasp this nettle now, says Martin Wolf Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Why America is going to win the global currency battle
US policymakers will do whatever is required to avoid deflation. Indeed, the Fed will keep going until the US is satisfactorily reflated. What that effort does to the rest of the world is not its concern, says Martin Wolf Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
How to fight the currency wars with stubborn China
The post-crisis world economy will not work so long as its most dynamic economy is also its largest capital exporter. Policies that would turn China into a net importer would benefit both its own people and the rest of the world, says Martin Wolf Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The IMF’s foolish praise for austerity
Effective policy would see the government increase its deficit and have this rise funded by the Bank of England, says Martin Wolf Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Currencies clash in new age of beggar-my-neighbour
Twenty five years ago, France, West Germany, Japan, the US and the UK met at the Plaza Hotel in New York and agreed to push for depreciation of the US dollar. Today America has the same desire. But this time, the focus of attention is not a compliant ally, such as Japan, but the world’s next superpower: China. When such elephants fight, bystanders are likely to be trampled, says Martin Wolf Hosted
Wen is right to worry about China’s growth
Who dares to make such a downbeat assessment of the world’s most dynamic economy before a gathering of influential foreigners in the heart of China itself? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The risks of premature tightening
It would be more sensible to make plans for fiscal retrenchment that are explicitly contingent on how the economy recovers, says Martin Wolf Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Basel: the mouse that did not roar
The world needs a smaller and safer banking industry. The defect of the new rules is that they will fail to deliver this, says Martin Wolf Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Germans are wrong: the eurozone is good for them
Germany has an enormous political and economic interest in making the eurozone work, however unpopular that view may be, says Martin Wolf Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Why the Balls critique is correct
The market is screaming its lack of concern about UK fiscal credibility. Government debt is long-term and denominated in the domestic currency. We are terrified of a confidence bogey who is asleep, says Martin Wolf Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Obama was too cautious in fearful times
The idea that the policies adopted in the last few months of the Bush administration and the first months of this one were far better than nothing is weirdly controversial in the US, says Martin Wolf Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Why Britain does not need a graduate tax
One big drawback is that it would again put allocation of funds under the control of the state, says Martin Wolf Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Why the battle is joined over tightening
The austerity debate: To tighten or not to tighten – that is the question. It is one to which policymakers have started changing their answers. Are they right to do so?, asks Martin Wolf Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Three years and new fault lines threaten
Leaders of the world’s principal economies – both advanced and emerging – will need to reform co-operatively and deeply if the world economy is not to suffer further earthquakes, says Martin Wolf Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Why we must halt the land cycle
Ruinous trust in land speculation as the route to wealth has led to expensive houses and inefficient taxes but, far worse, it ended up destabilising the entire global economy, says Martin Wolf Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Demand shortfall casts doubt on early austerity
Rapid cuts in fiscal support make sense if, and only if, monetary policy can be effective on its own and expanding the interest-elastic parts of the economy is the best way to climb out of the hole, says Martin Wolf Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
This global game of ‘pass the parcel’ cannot end well
Was the summit of the Group of 20 leading economies in Canada over the weekend a step forward towards co-operation or a step backwards towards disagreement? The answer seems to be both. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The risks of Osborne’s pre-emptive strike
The balance of cuts that the chancellor has set out is unlikely to prove politically sustainable, let alone sensible, says Martin Wolf Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
A bloodbath none was prepared for
Perhaps only a young government – in age and in time in office – would gamble so much on such a fast adjustment, says Martin Wolf Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Why it is right for central banks to keep printing
At present, we have ‘too little money chasing too many goods’. In this environment, monetary policy must be aggressive. When the economy recovers, the monetary effects should be withdrawn, says Martin Wolf Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Why plans for early fiscal tightening carry global risks
Yet again, we hear the cry of the old economic religion: repent before it is too late; the wages of fiscal sin is death. But is it already time to retrench? I doubt it, says Martin Wolf Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
A question for chancellor Osborne
Congratulations, Mr Osborne, on "hitting the ground running". You have made good decisions already. So far, so good. But here is my question: what is your "plan B"? , asks Martin Wolf Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Fear must not blind us to deflation's dangers
A consensus is forming that policymakers in countries with large fiscal deficits should tighten fiscal policy sharply – but what makes them sure that business and consumers will spend in response to austerity? asks Martin Wolf Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The grasshoppers and the ants – elucidating the fable
Flows of finance from export-driven ant nests to advanced grasshopper colonies end in tears. Flows of finance from old ant nests to young ones have not worked out either, says Martin Wolf Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
An ABC of financial shocks and fiscal aftershocks
‘If the forecasts are true,’ asked Bobby, ‘why do all these people talk about ‘instability’? Martin Wolf responds Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Spare Britain the policy hair shirt
The OECD seems to take the view that they only big risk is a loss of fiscal and monetary ‘credibility’. But Martin Wolf argues a lengthy floundering economy is a more serious risk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The grasshoppers and the ants – a modern fable
Today’s global economy is more complex than Aesop could have imagined. What would be the moral of a contemporary version of his famous story where the “ants” are Germans, Chinese and Japanese, while the “grasshoppers” are American, British, Greek, Irish and Spanish, asks Martin Wolf Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Eurozone plays 'beggar my neighbour'
Despite today’s gloom and doom, the eurozone will probably survive. But the view that everything would now be fine had fiscal rules been followed is wrong. The private sector’s irresponsibility was the biggest failing, says Martin Wolf. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The economic legacy of Mr Brown
Everybody would like to blame Gordon Brown for the financial crisis. But he was only acting in line with the national consensus on economic policy, says Martin Wolf Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Governments up the stakes in their fight with markets
The German inclination is to believe that everything would be fine if deficit countries were placed under greater discipline. This is false. The answer, instead, is to create a system that recognises and responds to reality, says Martin Wolf Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
A bail out for Greece is just the beginning
Desperate times - desperate measures, says Martin. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Britain's historic general election
Martin finds himself in New York for the election - which he says gives him a sense of perspective. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Why cautious reform is the risky option
To make anything close to the present system less unsafe, says Martin, requires radical changes in the rules - tighter supervision is not enough, incentives must change fundamentally. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The challenge of halting the financial Doomsday machine
People pay too much attention to the direct costs of bailouts says Martin and not enough to the costs which matter - those of the recession itself and the huge jump in public debt. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Growth is the fix for British finances
Martin Wolf asks what is the right economic medicine for the UK? He argues that rebalancing the economy towards higher investment and higher net exports is a big part of the answer. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
UK economy must perform a rebalancing act
Today's fiscal deficits exceed those of any previous periods in peace time. Martin Wolf talks about the importance timing will play if the balance is to be redressed successfully. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Evaluating the renminbi manipulation
Is China a currency manipulator? Yes. China has intervened on a gigantic scale to keep its exchange rate down and it is also protectionist. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Why Germany cannot be a model for the eurozone
Last week’s European Council was not a solution but a fudge. The IMF cannot save Europe Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
‘Back to the future’ imperils Britain
The party that deserves to win the UK election must craft a narrative that creates opportunity out of disappointment, says Martin Wolf Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Mistakes that drained the fiscal reservoir
The government is offering a delayed return to fiscal stability, with details still to be filled in. Is that good enough? No, says Martin Wolf Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Excessive virtue can be a vice for the world economy
Germany is wrong to reject a role in rebalancing global demand, says Martin Wolf. Beggar-my-neighbour policies to boost exports cannot work for everybody Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
China and Germany unite to impose global deflation
Suggestions from Schäuble and Wen would hit their own economies if followed through, says Martin Wolf. But it is not too late for a co-operative Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The British election that both sides deserve to lose
At a time of crisis, the UK has to choose between a government about which it knows far too much and an opposition about which it knows far too little. Neither side is convincing, says Martin Wolf Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Germany's eurozone crisis nightmare
he twin imperatives of sound money and European integration are clashing. Ironically, Germany must become less German if the eurozone is to become more so, says Martin Wolf Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
India’s elephant charges on through the crisis
The world’s biggest democracy has changed, says Martin Wolf. But economic pragmatism alone will not be enough: reforms are still needed Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
How unruly economists can agree
Both sides of the debate can be right, says Martin Wolf. The public finances must be credible, but further unnecessary economic damage needs to be avoided Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The world economy has no easy way out of the mire
Finding an exit route from the extraordinary government deficits could lead to default unless there is a radical rethink, says Martin Wolf Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
How to walk the fiscal tightrope that lies before us
Today, high-income countries face huge fiscal challenges crisis-hit countries start from grossly unsustainable fiscal positions. But massive fiscal tightening could tip much of the world back into recession, says Martin Wolf Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Britain can love hung parliaments
Martin Wolf says he can see no reason why it would be more difficult to implement the needed tightening under a coalition government Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Europe needs German consumers
Greece fills the role of sinner to perfection, but if it and the rest of the peripheral European countries are to avoid meltdown they need a core demand engine within the eurozone, says Martin Wolf Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
What the world must do to sustain its convalescence
The policy interventions of late 2008 and 2009 resulted in a far briefer and shallower recession than most imagined a year ago. The big questions for this year are how quickly to withdraw the monetary and fiscal stimulus and which should be withdrawn first, says Martin Wolf Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Britain’s strategic chocolate dilemma
Corporate takeovers are in the spotlight again after Kraft’s successful bid for Cadbury. Martin Wolf asks whether it makes sense to run a regime as open as the UK’s Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Volcker’s axe is not enough to cut banks to size
Obama’s latest proposals for bank reform miss the point, says Martin Wolf. They may or may not be workable, but they do nothing to create a sustainable finance sector Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The Greek tragedy deserves a global audience
The problems of Greece are extreme, because it alone of the vulnerable eurozone member countries has both high fiscal deficits and high debt. Some say it should be bailed out, but there are two other possibilities – it toughs it out or just defaults, says Martin Wolf Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
How the Icelandic saga should end
The combination of cross-border banking with generous guarantees to creditors is unsustainable. Taxpayers cannot be expected to write open-ended insurance on the foreign activities of their banks, says Martin Wolf Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
What we can learn from Japan’s decades of trouble
Japan’s experience indicates that when fast growth begins to slow in a catch-up economy with high corporate savings and comparably high fixed investment, demand may well prove hard to manage, says Martin Wolf Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The eurozone’s next decade will be tough
The countries on the periphery of Europe’s single currency are in deep trouble thanks to the imbalances within the eurozone, says Martin Wolf. And none of the solutions looks palatable Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The challenges of managing our post-crisis world
The underpinnings of our global economy and so of our globalised civilisation remain dangerously fragile. Somehow, we must manage to sustain a dynamic global economy, promote development, deliver environmental sustainability and ensure peaceful and co-operative international relations, says Martin Wolf Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
How the noughties were a hinge of history
The rest of the world was inclined to believe that the west, whatever its faults, knew what it was doing. But then the teacher failed the examination, says Martin Wolf Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Why new challenges need new people
Those parts of public sector spending that sustain the long-term health of the economy should not be sacrificed, says Martin Wolf Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Britain’s dismal choice: sharing the losses
Not only has the UK had a financial crisis, with the usual severe impact on output and the public finances; it has also been a ‘monocrop’ economy, with finance itself acting as the ‘crop’, says Martin Wolf Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Why China’s exchange rate policy concerns us
What we are seeing is a failure of adjustment to changes in global competitiveness that has unhappy precedents, notably during the 1920s and 1930s, with the rise of the US, and during the 1960s and 1970s, with the rise of Europe and Japan, says Martin Wolf Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The post post-Thatcher era begins
The era of reforms from Thatcher through to New Labour led to rapid growth which, even after recent falls, has left Britain better placed than most major economies, says Martin Wolf Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Why Copenhagen must be the end of the beginning
Next week’s summit will fall short, but at least there is now broad agreement that action is needed to tackle climate change, says Martin Wolf. Solving the problem needs a stable price for carbon, needs wealthy countries to pay up and needs big subsidies for new technology Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Give us fiscal austerity, but not quite yet
Slashing deficits now would be wrong, argues Martin Wolf. What is needed, instead, are credible fiscal institutions and a road map for tightening that will be implemented, automatically, as and when the private sector's spending recovers Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Tax the windfall banking bonuses
The case for generous subventions to banks is to restore the financial system to health, not to enrich bankers, says Martin Wolf Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Grim truths Obama should have told Hu
Obama should have made clear the need for China to revalue its currency and rebalance the global economy when he met Hu Jintao, says Martin Wolf. He could reasonably threaten punitive action, such is the need for change Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
