Timely Topics

“I would say that, in the present conditions, a soft landing is possible given that it’s likely that poaching vacancies go down by more than unemployment vacancies,” says Paulina Restrepo-Echavarria, a senior economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. “We’re kind of hopeful.”

“Inflation is a sustained rise in the general price level,” says Chris Neely, a vice president in the Research Division at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. He discusses the basics of inflation—how it affects the economy, the causes of inflation and how to control it.

When the fed funds rate increases, it turns out that interest rates for checking, savings or time deposits don’t increase by as much, notes Julian Kozlowski, a senior economist at the St. Louis Fed. Consumers may then choose to invest in less-liquid, but higher-return assets. This, in turn, can decrease—or “dry-up”—liquidity in financial markets. Kozlowski discusses all things liquidity in this Timely Topics podcast.

“How can firms and how can governments internalize uncertainty of a future shock and what can they do today to hedge the risks of something happening in the future?” asks Ana Maria Santacreu, research officer at the St. Louis Fed, in her latest discussion about supply chain disruptions.

“FRED is basically a trusted source of economic data,” says Katrina Stierholz, group vice president who oversees FRED at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. She is joined by Carlos Garriga, research director; Keith Taylor, FRED data officer; and Yvetta Fortova, FRED product owner; in a discussion about the history of this economic data, how they focus on the experiences of FRED users and share their favorite FRED data sets.

“We’re experiencing relative scarcity of shipping capacity. So, it’s no surprise that we’ve been facing not just higher prices but also increased delays,” says Fernando Leibovici, senior economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. He examines international shipping cost increases.

“During the pandemic, a lot of people had reasons to retire and the way that markets evolved allowed them to retire,” says Miguel Faria-E-Castro, a research economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. He is joined by Lowell Ricketts, a data scientist at the Institute for Economic Equity, to discuss the “Great Retirement,” how COVID-19 is connected to increased retirements and the demographics of those retirees.

“Over the past few decades, production has become more global … and as a result, the production process today is more fragmented and is more complex than what it was several decades ago,” says Ana Maria Santacreu, senior economist at the St. Louis Fed, who discusses her research on disrupted supply chains.

“The impact that everyday people can have on policy and procedures,” surprised Alice K. Houston when she first became a member of the board of directors at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. She shares her experiences as a child of the civil rights movement growing up in segregated Louisville, challenges she faced as a minority business owner and her commitment to community service.

“The initial effects of the pandemic on employment were actually uneven across occupations,” says Serdar Birinci, economist at the St. Louis Fed, adding that service industries saw the largest effects.

“There are a couple of differences between Black and white millennials that may help explain these [wealth] disparities,” says Lowell Ricketts, data scientist at the Institute for Economic Equity at the St. Louis Fed, who cites student loans and home ownership. Ricketts joins Ana Hernández Kent, senior researcher, in a discussion about the wealth accumulation of millennials.

“As countries have become more integrated, not only in terms of trading goods and services but also in terms of trading ideas, protecting intellectual property has become more important,” says Ana Maria Santacreu, a senior economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.

“We believe rural communities will achieve longer-term, more durable success if they look inside their boundaries for opportunities to invest in and focus on,” says Daniel Paul Davis, vice president and community affairs officer at the St. Louis Fed. Davis joins Andrew Dumont, senior community development analyst at the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, as they discuss a new book they co-edited, Investing in Rural Prosperity.

William M. Rodgers III, vice president and director of the Institute for Economic Equity at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, discusses how the St. Louis Fed works to promote a more inclusive and equitable economy: “We are focused on advancing research that informs equity-based policies and practices leading to an economy that works for everybody.”

Paulina Restrepo-Echavarria, senior economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, discusses how the post-World War II Bretton Woods agreement applies to life in 2021—a time when America and the world are in various stages of recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We really needed to help move the needle on educational materials, and so, we’re working to provide educators with up-to-date information and quality teaching resources,” says Federal Reserve Economist Jane Ihrig. She joins economic education coordinator Scott Wolla in discussing how educators should update their teaching on Fed monetary policy tools.

Juan Sanchez, assistant vice president and economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, talks about trends in credit card debt, mortgage debt and foreclosures during the pandemic and how they compare with those of the financial crisis.

“Access to college types can be used as an effective tool for the purpose of fighting inequality,” says Oksana Leukhina, economist and research officer at the St. Louis Fed. She talks about how changes to the current meritocratic college admissions system in the U.S. could combat inequality.

Meredith Covington, Supervisory Policy and Risk Analysis manager, and Ana Hernández Kent, Institute for Economic Equity senior researcher, discuss how the “she-cession” is disproportionately affecting women of color and sparking conversations about caregiving responsibilities.

Oksana Leukhina, economist and research officer at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, talks about the importance of students understanding the college selection process in the U.S. to tip the scale in their direction.