How Martin Wolf Understands This Global Economic Moment

Published: Aug. 1, 2023, 9 a.m.

b'The world economy has experienced many shocks over the past few years: A pandemic. Russia\\u2019s invasion of Ukraine. Skyrocketing inflation. These are the stories that have dominated headlines \\u2014 and for good reason.\\n\\nBut they\\u2019ve also overshadowed a set of deeper, more fundamental shifts \\u2014 the rise of China as an economic superpower, the fracturing of trade relations, the realities of the climate crisis \\u2014 that are transforming the global economic order and prompting ambitious policy responses from leaders across the world.\\n\\nMartin Wolf is the chief economics commentator at The Financial Times, a former senior economist at the World Bank and the author, most recently, of \\u201cThe Crisis of Democratic Capitalism. Across his writings, Wolf has developed some of the clearest frameworks for thinking about how the global economy is changing and some of the sharpest critiques of how policymakers are responding to those changes.\\n\\nWe discuss how China\\u2019s meteoric economic rise has shaken the foundations of the global economy, why globalization has remained far more resilient than so many predicted, why Wolf is skeptical that President Biden\\u2019s industrial policy agenda will succeed, the debate between \\u201conshoring\\u201d and \\u201cfriendshoring\\u201d that is dividing the Democratic Party, why a recession in the United States is looking far less likely than it did six months ago, the virtues and vices of Biden\\u2019s \\u201cforeign policy for the middle class,\\u201d why China\\u2019s recent economic troubles could signal a more foundational decline, why the U.S. economy has remained so much more stronger than most economists anticipated, and more.\\n\\nThis episode is guest-hosted by Rog\\xe9 Karma, the senior editor for \\u201cThe Ezra Klein Show.\\u201d Rog\\xe9 has been with the show since July 2019, when it was based at Vox. He works closely with Ezra on everything related to the show, from editing to interview prep to guest selection. At Vox, he also wrote and conducted interviews on topics ranging from policing and racial justice to democracy reform and the coronavirus pandemic.\\n\\nMentioned:\\n\\nNational Security Adviser Jake Sullivan\\u2019s speech\\n\\n\\u201cThe I.R.A. Passed a Year Ago. Here\\u2019s a Progress Check\\u201d by The Ezra Klein Show, with Robinson Meyer\\n\\n\\u201cThe China Shock: Learning from Labor Market Adjustment to Large Changes in Trade\\u201d by David H. Autor, David Dorn and Gordon H. Hanson\\n\\n\\u201cIs the Global Economy Deglobalizing?\\u201d by Pinelopi Goldberg and Tristan Reed\\n\\n\\u201cClimate Progress and the 117th Congress: The Impacts of the Inflation Reduction Act and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act\\u201d by REPEAT Project\\n\\nBook Recommendations:\\n\\nThe Narrow Corridor by Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson\\n\\nPower and Progress by Daron Acemoglu and Simon Johnson\\n\\nThe Rise and Fall of American Growth by Robert J. Gordon\\n\\nThis episode is guest-hosted by Rog\\xe9 Karma, the senior editor for \\u201cThe Ezra Klein Show.\\u201d Rog\\xe9 has been with the show since July 2019, when it was based at Vox. He works closely with Ezra on everything related to the show, from editing to interview prep to guest selection. At Vox, he also wrote and conducted interviews on topics ranging from policing and racial justice to democracy reform and the coronavirus pandemic.\\n\\nThoughts? Guest suggestions? Email us at ezrakleinshow@nytimes.com.\\n\\nYou can find transcripts (posted midday) and more episodes of \\u201cThe Ezra Klein Show\\u201d at nytimes.com/ezra-klein-podcast, and you can find Ezra on Twitter @ezraklein. Book recommendations from all our guests are listed at https://www.nytimes.com/article/ezra-klein-show-book-recs.\\n\\nThis episode of \\u201cThe Ezra Klein Show\\u201d was produced by Rog\\xe9 Karma. Fact-checking by Michelle Harris, with Kate Sinclair, Mary Marge Locker and Kristin Lin. Mixing by Isaac Jones. Our senior editor is Rog\\xe9 Karma. The show\\u2019s production team also includes Emefa Agawu, Jeff Geld and Rollin Hu. Original music by Isaac Jones. Audience strategy by Kristina Samulewski and Shannon Busta. The executive producer of New York Times Opinion Audio is Annie-Rose Strasser. Special thanks to Efim Shapiro.'