As President Donald Trump approaches the one-year anniversary of his second term in office, the FT’s chief economics commentator Martin Wolf, and Nobel prize-winning economist Paul Krugman sit down to discuss the US economy and the state of American democracy. Are American consumers finally feeling the effect of Trump’s tariffs? Is AI to blame for the frozen labour market? Or is the spectre of a weakening democracy and plutocracy to blame for slumping consumer sentiment? In the first of four weekly episodes, Wolf and Krugman unpick the US and world economy, with Krugman explaining why he’s less pessimistic now than he was earlier this year.

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Produced by Mischa Frankl-Duval. Manuela Saragosa is the executive producer. Original music and sound design by Breen Turner.

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

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In this four-part series starting on Wednesday November 26, FT chief economics commentator Martin Wolf and Nobel-prize winning economist Paul Krugman take stock after (almost) a year of Donald Trump’s second term and assess the impact of his presidency on the US and world economy and democracy everywhere.

Martin Wolf is the FT’s chief economics commentator. You can find his articles here: https://www.ft.com/martin-wolf

You can find Paul Krugman’s Substack newsletter here

Subscribe to The Economics Show on Apple, Spotify, Pocket Casts or wherever you listen.

Presented by Martin Wolf. Produced by Mischa Frankl-Duval. The executive producer is Manuela Saragosa. Original music and sound design by Breen Turner.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Thirty-five years ago, the global economy could be neatly divided into market economies, socialist economies and poorer non-aligned countries. Today, that picture is rather more complicated. Western-style neoliberalism – expected to become the dominant economic system after the end of the cold war – is in retreat; socialism is no more; China has emerged as a global superpower; and formerly-poor countries in the global south are rising rapidly – all while neoliberalism itself becomes, well… less liberal. If neoliberalism is on the way out, what will replace it? And what does the rise of Asia mean for western consumers who find their spending power dwindling? The FT’s European economics commentator, Martin Sandbu, speaks to Branko Milanović, senior scholar at the Stone Center on Socio-Economic Inequality at the City University of New York, and a visiting professor at the International Inequalities Institute at the LSE.

Further Reading

Globalisation: Where on the elephant are you? (BBC)

Branko Milanovic: ‘The forces of self-interest and technology cannot be undone’

The economic losers are in revolt against the elites

Martin Sandbu is the Financial Times's European economics commentator. You can find his articles here: https://www.ft.com/martin-sandbu

Subscribe to The Economics Show on Apple, Spotify, Pocket Casts or wherever you listen.

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Presented by Martin Sandbu. Produced by Mischa Frankl-Duval and Lulu Smyth. Manuela Saragosa is the executive producer. Original music and sound design by Breen Turner.

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.