The Economics Show

Dads today are doing more childcare than previous generations, so why hasn’t the parenting gap between mothers and fathers disappeared? One reason: mums are doing more too. Host Soumaya Keynes talks to Corinne Low, associate professor at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School and author of 'Femonomics’ (titled ‘Having it all’ in the US), about what the data tells us about how couples divide the work of raising a family and what same-sex couples can teach us about gender roles in parenting. Plus, can Soumaya’s parenting spreadsheet really help make childcare more equal?

Subscribe to Soumaya's show on Apple, Spotify, Pocket Casts or wherever you listen.

Further reading:
The perks of parenting by spreadsheet
Can AI improve parenting?

Presented by Soumaya Keynes. Produced by Mischa Frankl-Duval. Original music and sound design by Samantha Giovinco and Breen Turner. Manuela Saragosa is the executive producer. Flo Phillips is the FT’s head of audio.

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Building data centres and running the US government have something in common: they cost a lot of money. Tech companies are borrowing heavily to fund the AI build out, just as Washington is borrowing vast sums to fund the US government, and those two borrowing binges may be on a collision course. Investors are already worried about America’s mounting debt burden and about whether the AI boom has become a bubble. Ruchir Sharma, chair of Rockefeller International and contributing editor to the FT, explains how the two worries might be more closely connected than they first appear, how rising US Treasury yields could raise borrowing costs for AI companies and which number investors should be watching.

Subscribe to Soumaya's show on Apple, Spotify, Pocket Casts or wherever you listen.

Further reading:
Why America’s debt binge is starting to matter

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In recent months, part of the chip market has been going bananas. Prices for memory chips – which AI data centres use in droves – have rocketed, as US tech companies lock in massive orders. That’s bad news for consumers facing more expensive electronic devices. But what are the broader consequences of misalignment in this market? How will the chip squeeze end? And, as memory chips become a strategic commodity, how are the US and China looking to secure supply? Host Soumaya Keynes is joined by Dan Kim, chief strategy officer at semiconductor analysis firm TechInsights and former chief economist at the CHIPS Program Office at the US Department of Commerce.

Further reading:

Why memory chips are the new frontier of the AI revolution

Memory chip boom leaves PC and smartphone makers in the cold

Maybe the chips are down because memory’s too expensive

Presented by Soumaya Keynes. Produced by Mischa Frankl-Duval. Original music and sound design by Breen Turner. Manuela Saragosa is the executive producer. Flo Phillips is the FT’s head of audio.

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

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

Federal Reserve chair Kevin Warsh took to the stage at Jackson Hole under pressure. Inflation is sticky, bond markets have been wobbling and his insistence on minimal Fed communication has been seen by some to make matters worse. Soumaya speaks to Torsten Slok, chief economist at Apollo Global Management, to discuss what Warsh did (and didn’t say), the changing relationship between the Fed and the Treasury and how the central bank should fight America’s growing fiscal issues.

Subscribe to Soumaya's show on Apple, Spotify, Pocket Casts or wherever you listen.

Join Soumaya Keynes on Saturday September 5 at Kenwood House Gardens in London, or online as the FT Weekend paper comes to life. Register now at ft.com/festival and enjoy 10% off with code FTPODCAST.

Further reading:
Hawkish Kevin Warsh hints Fed will raise rates if inflation does not fall soon
Warsh settles some nerves at Jackson Hole
Scott Bessent’s bond intervention puts US Treasury on collision course with Fed

Presented by Soumaya Keynes. Produced by Mischa Frankl-Duval. Original music and sound design by Breen Turner. Manuela Saragosa is the executive producer. Flo Phillips is the FT’s head of audio.

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The 1873 Gründerkrach, the spectacular stock market crash that followed Germany’s unification, is one of history’s great financial maelstroms. But its most enduring legacy isn’t about money. Host Robin Wigglesworth speaks to Pulitzer Prize-winning author Liaquat Ahamed about how the resulting economic malaise fuelled social division and transformed old prejudices into antisemitic conspiracy. It gave birth to ideas that would resurface with catastrophic consequences decades later in the 20th century.

Further reading:

1873: The Rothschilds, the First Great Depression, and the Making of the Modern World (2026), by Liaquat Ahamed
Gold and Iron: Bismarck, Bleichröder, and the Building of the German Empire (1977), by Fritz Stern

Hosts: Gillian Tett and Robin Wigglesworth
Senior producers: Michela Tindera and Laurence Knight
Executive producer: Manuela Saragosa
Original music and sound design: Breen Turner
Broadcast engineers: Bianca Wakeman and Petros Gioumpasis
Podcast development: Laura Clarke
FT global head of audio: Flo Phillips
Video editors: Josh Divney and Kristen Kenyon at Podcast Discovery
Learn more at www.ft.com/tsom or get in touch at thestoryofmoney@ft.com

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