IMF Podcasts

Economists have long surmised that people's knowledge and skills contribute significantly to economic development, but to what degree can access to an education change lives? Amory Gethin has compiled...

20 Mar 202514min

While we like to think our financial decisions are based on logic, the truth is, they are largely driven by emotion. So when John Maynard Keynes looked for methods to measure economic fluctuations, an...

12 Mar 202521min

Modern economics was built on ideas spelled out by Adam Smith in his 18th-century The Wealth of Nations. But while he used the term only once in that economic treatise, Smith is most remembered for "t...

3 Mar 202523min

Driving Change: Women-Led Development Economics from the Ground Up The International Economic Association's Women in Leadership in Economics Initiative (IEA-WE) connects women economists worldwide and...

28 Feb 202518min

The pandemic was a brutal reminder of how crucial public health systems are, yet health budgets in many countries are still underfunded. Developing economies generally do not allocate sufficient domes...

25 Feb 202513min

Countries with better institutions are more prosperous. A truism perhaps, but then why are they so hard to build and sustain? That is the question that Simon Johnson has sought to explain since the fa...

14 Feb 202526min

As urbanization continues to grow worldwide, affordable housing is a rare commodity in many cities. Sao Paolo­, South America's biggest city, has gained over 2 million new residents in the past decade...

19 Des 202416min

While housing markets play a significant role in economies, new research shows houses across 40 countries are less affordable than at any time since the 2008 financial crisis. IMF economist Deniz Igan...

12 Des 202422min