Money Talks from The Economist The Economist

Costco is the world’s third-biggest retailer, after Amazon and Walmart. What sets it apart from its competitors is the peculiar adoration it seems to inspire from shoppers. And it’s not just Costco cardholders who love the wholesaler. Wall Street analysts fawn over the stock. Though the retailer’s sales are less than half of Walmart’s, its return on capital, at nearly 20%, is more than twice as high. What is behind Costco’s enduring success?

Hosts: Alice Fulwood, Mike Bird and Tom Lee-Devlin. Guests: Costco superfans David and Susan Schwartz; and Joe Feldman, an analyst at Telsey Advisory Group.

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Singapore is about to get a new prime minister: Lawrence Wong. Only three people have previously held the job since the country gained independence from Malaysia almost 60 years ago—and they have overseen what is nothing short of an economic miracle. The city-state surfed the wave of globalisation and became wealthy in the process. But the tide may be turning on a more open world—and open markets. Can Mr Wong maintain the country’s success?

Hosts: Mike Bird, Alice Fulwood and Tom Lee-Devlin. Guests: The Economist’s Patrick Foulis and Lawrence Wong.

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For decades, the Nobel prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz looked like an outsider in his field. As the world opened up to trade in the 1990s, the former chair of Bill Clinton’s Council of Economic Advisors and Chief Economist for the World Bank grew disillusioned, eventually becoming one of the most prominent critics of globalisation. Now Joe Biden is pulling back from unfettered trade with China and has turned to massive subsidies in an effort to reindustrialise America. So is Joseph Stiglitz finally having his moment?

Hosts: Tom Lee-Devlin, Alice Fulwood and Mike Bird. Guests: Joseph Stiglitz

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It’s been more than twenty years since China joined the World Trade Organisation and integrated itself fully into the world trading system. Back then, there was enthusiastic and bipartisan support for trade with China in Washington. That alliance in favour of liberalisation has now been transformed into a consensus that America’s trade relations with China are far too close. So where is the US-China trade war heading next?

Hosts: Mike Bird and Tom Lee-Devlin. Guests: Dr Keyu Jin, associate professor of economics at the London School of Economics and author of “The New China Playbook”; and Michael Stumo, CEO of the Coalition for a Prosperous America.

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More than 1bn people around the world are obese. That means there should be extraordinary demand for drugs to cure or mitigate the condition. Novo Nordisk is now Europe’s most valuable company and Eli Lilly’s market value has more than doubled. Both make the “miracle” drugs that can help people shed up to a fifth of their body weight. But these drugs promise to do more than boost drug companies’ profits. How will they reshape the economy?
Hosts: Alice Fulwood, Mike Bird and Tom Lee-Devlin. Guests: The Economist’s Georgia Banjo; pharmaceuticals analyst Michael Nedelcovych; and John Cawley, a professor of public policy and economics at Cornell University.
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Five decades ago, the field of behavioural economics was just getting off the ground, as psychologists brought insights from their studies to the theory-heavy world of academic economics. The discipline shot to international fame in the aftermath of the financial crisis, and faced a major test during the covid pandemic, when governments around the world used the theories of its founding father, Daniel Kahneman, to encourage people to stay at home and get vaccinated. Following the death of Mr Kahneman last month, what’s next for the field of behavioural economics?

Hosts: Mike Bird, Alice Fulwood, and Tom Lee-Devlin. Guests: Simon Cox, The Economist’s China economics editor; George Loewenstein, one of the founders of behavioural economics; and Caltech’s Colin Camerer, who applies psychology and neuroscience to economics.

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