Speaking of the Economy
Felipe Schwartzman explains how he and other economists define the natural rate of interest, what factors have influenced this theoretical estimate of where long-term interest rates will settle, and what it tells us about how the cost of savings and borrowing will respond as monetary policy normalizes after the COVID-19 pandemic.
For our 150th episode, Anna Kovner reviews her career path to becoming the research director at the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond and reflects on the work of the Bank's Research department.
Alaina Barca and Surekha Carpenter examine the decline in the number of bank branches in certain communities and the economic effects of that trend. They also share data from the Banking Deserts Dashboard developed for the Fed Communities website.
Erika Bell and Emily Corcoran discuss the capital needs of small business owners and recent insights yielded by the Federal Reserve's annual Small Business Credit Survey.
Toan Phan reviews the risks faced by banks from the increased frequency and intensity of floods and other extreme weather events, and how banks and financial markets have responded to those risks.
Deborah Diamond and Adam Scavette discuss how anchor institutions such as universities and hospitals fit into the economic life of communities.
Anne Davlin discusses the current state of lending to the commercial real estate sector in the Fifth District, including the challenges faced by office building and multiunit housing developers and the ensuing risks posed to their lenders.
Tom Barkin, president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, looks back on recent economic trends and how they have shaped the current state of the national economy. Topics include return to work, technology adoption and its implications for labor productivity, the surge in new business formation, and the Richmond Fed's current efforts to understand the economy better. (Note: This episode was recorded before the September 2024 FOMC meeting and the August jobs data release.)
Pierre-Daniel Sarte and Sonya Waddell share survey results on businesses' use of AI tools and other forms of automation, and research on the potential effects of automation on the nation's overall productivity growth.
Katarína Borovičková and Claudia Macaluso describe their research on differences in wage growth between workers as they progress in their careers. Borovičková and Macaluso are economists at the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond.