Moody's Talks - Inside Economics

Moody’s Analytics colleague Dante DeAntonio joins the podcast to recap the April jobs report, along with the potpourri of other economic data released this week. Marisa dives into other labor market data, Cris tackles GDP, and Mark discusses consumer confidence. All along the way, Mark points out the thorns in recent data. The team also provides an update on their recession probabilities. 

Hosts: Mark Zandi – Chief Economist, Moody’s Analytics, Cris deRitis – Deputy Chief Economist, Moody’s Analytics, Marisa DiNatale – Senior Director - Head of Global Forecasting, Moody’s Analytics

Guest: Dante DeAntonio - Seni...

Richard Barkham, Senior Economic Advisor at CBRE, joins the podcast to discuss the outlook for commercial real estate and the economy. Richard is decidedly more sanguine than the podcast hosts. Mark, Cris and Marisa also discuss the economic team’s recent win for Most Accurate U.S. Forecast for 2023-2024 by Consensus Economics. They debate how much of the win can be chalked up to skill, luck, or the Chief Economist.

Guest: Richard Barkham – Senior Economic Advisor, CBRE

Hosts: Mark Zandi – Chief Economist, Moody’s Analytics, Cris deRitis – Deputy Chief Economist, Moody’s Analytics, Marisa DiNatale – S...

This episode marks our four-year anniversary doing the Inside Economic podcast, and we devote the conversation to responding to listener questions.  We’ve been getting lots of great Qs, ranging from the global trade war and DOGE cuts to immigration and productivity growth.  Keep the questions coming.

Hosts: Mark Zandi – Chief Economist, Moody’s Analytics, Cris deRitis – Deputy Chief Economist, Moody’s Analytics, Marisa DiNatale – Senior Director - Head of Global Forecasting, Moody’s Analytics

Follow Mark Zandi on 'X', BlueSky or LinkedIn @MarkZandi, Cris deRitis on LinkedIn, and Marisa DiNatale on LinkedIn

Question...

The Inside Economics team is joined by the former chair of the White House’s Council of Economic Advisors, Jared Bernstein. Jared shares his evaluation of what has been a whirlwind few weeks for the global economy. With a healthy dose of humility, the group then debates where things might be headed in the U.S.-China trade war as well as which country they see as possessing more leverage. The group is also joined by Martin Wurm and Matt Colyar to discuss recent financial market volatility and the latest inflation data.

Guest: Jared Bernstein, Former Chair of...

Breitbart’s Economic and Finance Editor, John Carney, and the Urban Institute’s Jim Parrott return to Inside Economics to discuss the motivations and endgame of President Trump’s global trade war, tax and spending policy, and what will happen with Fannie and Freddie. The upshot of the conversation: the trade war isn’t going to end soon, and a recession is dead-ahead.

Guests: John Carney, Finance and Economics Editor at Breitbart & Jim Parrott, Nonresident Fellow at the Urban Institute  

Hosts: Mark Zandi – Chief Economist, Moody’s Analytics, Cris deRitis – Deputy Chief Economist, Moody’s Analytics, Marisa...

 The Moody's Analytics team discusses President Trump's trade war.

Hosts: Mark Zandi – Chief Economist, Moody’s Analytics, Cris deRitis – Deputy Chief Economist, Moody’s Analytics, and Marisa DiNatale – Senior Director - Head of Global Forecasting, Moody’s Analytics

Follow Mark Zandi on 'X', BlueSky or LinkedIn @MarkZandi, Cris deRitis on LinkedIn, and Marisa DiNatale on LinkedIn

Questions or Comments, please email us at helpeconomy@moodys.com. We would love to hear from you. 

To stay informed and follow the insights of Moody's Analytics economists, visit Economic View.

Mark, Marisa, and Cris break down this week's flood of economic data and explain how new auto tariffs will affect consumers and the overall economy. Their conversation addresses important concerns about the quality and availability of government statistics as they consider private-sector alternatives. They wrap up the episode with the ever-popular "statistics game" highlighting key economic indicators and with responses to listener questions.

Hosts: Mark Zandi – Chief Economist, Moody’s Analytics, Cris deRitis – Deputy Chief Economist, Moody’s Analytics, and Marisa DiNatale – Senior Director - Head of Global Forecasting, Moody’s Analytics

Follow Mark Zandi on...

Investing in these especially turbulent times is intrepid. No better person to navigate the ups and downs in global stock, bond, crypto and other asset markets than UBS’s CIO, Mark Haefele. Mark discusses his new book, in which he considers the broad global trends – the 5 Ds – investors should embrace. And he offers a few investment nuggets along the way.

For Mark Haefele's book, The New Rules of Investing, click here

Guest: Mark Haefele – Chief Investment Officer, UBS Global Wealth Management

Hosts: Mark Zandi – Chief Economist, Moody’s Analytics, Cris deRitis – Deputy Chief Economist, Moo...

Firas Saleh, director of product management at Moody's, joins the Inside Economics team to discuss the increasing risk of wildfires and floods. He highlights the growing frequency and intensity of natural disasters and the significant economic losses they cause. The conversation then shifts to the insurance industry, focusing on how rising insurance premiums affect individual property owners and real estate markets. Although markets will adapt to these evolving risks, the transition may be challenging.

For Cris and Firas's research on flood risk click here, for their research on wildfire risk click here

To learn more...

The Inside Economics crew is joined by Matt Colyar to discuss February’s CPI report and a rapidly changing U.S. economic environment. Primarily, the conversation focuses on tariffs and the on-again, off-again chaos coming out of D.C. The group also discusses investors and U.S. trade partners’ increasingly evident fatigue and whether orthodox macroeconomic principals will eventually re-emerge as a guidepost for policymaking. 

Guest: Matt Colyar – Assistant Director, Moody's Analytics

Hosts: Mark Zandi – Chief Economist, Moody’s Analytics, Cris deRitis – Deputy Chief Economist, Moody’s Analytics, and Marisa DiNatale – Senior Director - Head of Global Forecast...

Moody’s Analytics colleague, Dante DeAntonio joins the podcast to discuss the February jobs report, and the team shares their angst about potential cracks in the labor market. The conversation then turns to the potential impact of DOGE cuts to the federal workforce and the economic implications of the on-again, off-again tariffs that has developed in recent weeks. Finally, Dante celebrates his clean sweep in the stats game and Mark and Cris revise their recession probabilities.

Guest: Dante DeAntonio, Senior Director of Economic Research, Moody's Analytics

Hosts: Mark Zandi – Chief Economist, Moody’s Analytics...

Adam Ozimek, Chief Economist at the Economic Innovation Group, joins the podcast to discuss his latest proposal to reform and replace the high-skilled immigration program in the U.S. (better known as H-1B). In addition to immigration policy, the group discusses remote work, the softening of recent economic data, and the prospects for the year ahead. Finally, the group goes around the horn with its recession probability for the next 12 months.

Guest: Adam Ozimek – Chief Economist of the Economic Innovation Group

Adam Ozimek's research on high skilled immigration: https://eig.org/exceptional-by-design%20/

Host...

Inside Economics was fortunate to have Trump whisperer John Carney of Breitbart News join the podcast to provide his insight on the Trump administration’s efforts to rework government and reshape economic policy. Urban Institute scholar Jim Parrott helped guide the conversation. Listeners will get a wildly different perspective from that provided by Robert Reich of UC Berkeley on the podcast last week. Hopefully, these back-to-back podcasts on Trump’s policies help put things into clearer relief.

Guests: John Carney, Finance and Economics Editor at Breitbart & Jim Parrott, Nonresident Fellow at the Urban Institute 

If y...

Robert Reich, UC Berkley professor and former Labor Secretary under President Clinton, joins the Inside Economics podcast to take a retrospective look at economic policies extending back to Clinton that ultimately contributed to President Trump’s election, and a prospective look at where the president is taking policy and what it means for democracy and the economy. His advice: batten down the hatches and buckle up

Guest: Robert Reich, Professor at UC Berkley and former U.S. Secretary of Labor

To keep up to date with Robert Reich: https://robertreich.substack.com/

To le...

After congratulating the Philadelphia Eagles on their dominant Super Bowl win, the Inside Economics team breaks down the week’s inflation data. Moody’s Analytics colleague Matt Colyar joins to help unpack the details behind January’s hotter-than-hoped-for CPI and then the group discusses whether their outlooks for 2025 have changed. Predictably, this evolves into a discussion about tariffs. Finally, they play the numbers game. Objectively, Marisa’s number was best.

Click here to take the most recent Business Confidence Survey

Guest: Matt Colyar - Assistant Director, Moody's Analytics

Hosts: Mark Zandi – Chief Economist, Moody’s Ana...

Dante joins the podcast to break down the January employment report and provide his odds for an Eagles Super Bowl victory. The job market is starting 2025 in a great place, and the team discusses the implications of significant revisions to labor market data. Finally, the conversation turns to tariff policy as everyone weighs in on which tariffs, if any, are likely to stick around and the resulting impact on the economic outlook.

Guest: Dante DeAntonio, Senior Director of Economic Research, Moody's Analytics

Hosts: Mark Zandi – Chief Economist, Moody’s Analytics, Cris deRitis – Deputy Chief Economist, Moody’...

After a brief rundown of the week's solid economic data, the Inside Economics team is joined by Moody’s Analytics colleague Martin Wurm to discuss the Fed’s recent pause and the path of monetary policy for the rest of the year. Martin breaks down how we should think about the equilibrium long-term interest rate and, in turn, the fed funds rate. The team also discusses the possible scenarios for the Fed this year, given the uncertainty around tariff and immigration policy. 

Hosts: Mark Zandi – Chief Economist, Moody’s Analytics, Cris deRitis – Deputy Chief Economist, Moody’s Analytics, and Ma...

Inside Economics welcomes Wayne Best, Chief Economist at Visa, back on the podcast to celebrate the 200th episode and talk about the state of the American consumer. Wayne discusses Visa’s Spending Momentum Index for the U.S. and other parts of the globe and what it means for low, high, and middle-income households. The conversation ends with a discussion of the Trump administration’s policy proposals and the implications for inflation and growth.

Guest: Wayne Best, Chief Economist at Visa

Hosts: Mark Zandi – Chief Economist, Moody’s Analytics, Cris deRitis – Deputy Chief Economist, Moody’s Analytics...

No, we aren’t referring to President Trump’s inauguration.  But we do chat about the implications of President Trump’s economic policies for Europe with Cosimo Pacciani, Head of Research for Poste Italiane and Moody’s Analytics own Gaurav Ganguly, chief EMEA economist.  Inflation and interest rates were also top of mind.  If, after listening to the podcast, you know what we are referring to, let us know. The first person who gets back to us with the correct answer will win a cowbell. 

Guests: Cosimo Pacciani - Head of Research for Poste Italiane, Matt Colyar...

The Inside Economics team is pleased to welcome Glenn Hubbard, Nonresident Senior Fellow at AEI and former chairman of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers, to the podcast.  Dante kicks things off with a summary of this week's "surprising" employment report.  Glenn offers his opinions on the Trump administration's policy proposals and their potential effects on the economy.  The group successfully navigates the statistics game through hints and joint effort.  

Click here for the NYT article referenced 

Guests: Glenn Hubbard, Nonresident Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and Dante DiAntonio, Senior Director of Economic Re...

On the first podcast of 2025, the Inside Economics crew discusses the outlook for the year ahead and delves into the Risk Matrix, a visual depiction of the major risks facing the global economy.  Mark, Cris and Marisa each pick a risk to highlight and then give their wildest predictions for 2025, some of which are not very serious. 

To view the Risk Matrix, click here  (https://www.economy.com/content/podcast/US_Risk_Matrix.svg)

Hosts: Mark Zandi – Chief Economist, Moody’s Analytics, Cris deRitis – Deputy Chief Economist, Moody’s Analytics, and Marisa DiNatale – Senior Director - Head of Glo...

In the last Inside Economics podcast of the year, the team is joined by our colleague Justin Begley to discuss the incoming Trump administration’s seeming view that smaller government means stronger economic growth. Will the new government agency DOGE, a more relaxed anti-trust policy, and lighter regulation successfully lift the economy’s prospects?  A potentially politically charged question the team works to tackle analytically. How did we do?  And Happy New Year! 

Hosts: Mark Zandi – Chief Economist, Moody’s Analytics, Cris deRitis – Deputy Chief Economist, Moody’s Analytics, and Marisa DiNatale – Senior Director - Head of Global Forecastin...

The Inside Economics hosts welcome Professor Alice Kassens to discuss her use of the Inside Economics podcast as a teaching tool at Roanoke College. Alice describes how the podcast inspires her students to learn about and debate the meaning of economic releases. After a quick round of the statistics game which Alice dominates, the group discusses the effects of a potential government shutdown on the economy and financial markets. 

Guest: Alice Louise Kassens, Professor of Economics at Roanoke College  

More Cowbell: Using Inside Economics to Develop Data Literacy and Camaraderie (JET, 2024)

Intemperate Spirits: Ec...

Inside Economics had the fortune to have Alan Blinder, Princeton University economics professor, former Vice Chair of the Fed, and author of the recent book “The Monetary and Fiscal Policy History of the United States, 1961-2021” join the podcast on the day the Fed cut rates but warned investors not to count on more rate cuts anytime soon. At least not until Fed officials get a fix on incoming President Trump’s economic policies, ranging from tariffs and deportations to tax cuts and Fed independence, and their fallout. 

Guest: Alan S. Blinder - Professor of Economic...

The Inside Economics team weighs this past week’s inflation data and considers what it means for the Fed’s interest rate decision next week and in 2025.  With sticky inflation, a strong(er) economy, easier financial conditions, and looming tariffs and immigrant deportations, more rate cuts next year appear increasingly less likely, and rate hikes even a possibility.

Take the survey on Economy.com

Guest: Matt Colyar - Assistant Director, Moody's Analytics

Hosts: Mark Zandi – Chief Economist, Moody’s Analytics, Cris deRitis – Deputy Chief Economist, Moody’s Analytics, and Marisa DiNatale – Senior Director - Head of Globa...

Mark, Cris, and Marisa are joined by their colleague Adam Kamins and his infamous closet doors, along with Rebecca Rockey, Deputy Chief Economist at Cushman Wakefield, and Chris Leinberger, Managing Director at Places Platform. Rebecca and Chris review key takeaways from their recent study, Reimagining Cities-Disrupting the Urban Doom Loop. Among the variety of topics covered are the importance of Walkable Urban places; the optimal mix of work, live, and play in cities; how to ensure that the commercial real estate mix aligns with the post-pandemic evolution of downtowns; and Mark’s prowess in pickleball and the possibly made-up sp...

With Marisa out on assignment, Dante joins Mark and Cris to discuss the latest U.S. employment report. After several volatile months due to hurricanes and labor strikes, the job market found its footing in November, with payroll growth reported across most industries. The team considers the report's implications for monetary policy and the long-run interest rate outlook. With all of the policy unknowns, they conclude that the only certainty is uncertainty.

Guest: Dante DeAntonio, Senior Director of Economic Research, Moody's Analytics

Hosts: Mark Zandi – Chief Economist, Moody’s Analytics, Cris deRitis – Deputy Chief Economist, Moody’...

Moody’s Analytics own Scott Hoyt joins the Inside Economics team to discuss the state of the American consumer, as the critical Christmas buying season is set to begin. Consumers have been powering the broader economy, and the team expects that to continue.  But there are a number of consumer-related puzzles, which the team works to solve.

Guest: Scott Hoyt, Senior Director of Economic Research, Moody's Analytics

Hosts: Mark Zandi – Chief Economist, Moody’s Analytics, Cris deRitis – Deputy Chief Economist, Moody’s Analytics, and Marisa DiNatale – Senior Director - Head of Global Forecasting, Moody’s Analytics

Joe Hazell, Assistant Professor of Economics at the London School of Economics, joins the podcast to discuss inflation. Joe breaks down the reasons for the lack of inflation in the pre-pandemic period and the primary causes of inflation over the past four years. The team discusses why the average American is much more sensitive to inflation than unemployment and whether the Fed should rethink how it balances the two when considering monetary policy. Finally, the discussion turns to the incoming Trump administration’s policies and their potential effect on inflation over the next few years. 

Gues...

The Inside Economics team assesses the inflation statistics, and why there is no going back to the where prices were prior to fallout from the pandemic and Russian war in Ukraine. And while inflation has largely been quelled, President-elect Trump’s tariff, immigration and other policies threaten to fan inflation anew.  There is also the stats game and listener questions.

Guest: Matt Colyar - Assistant Director, Moody's Analytics

Hosts: Mark Zandi – Chief Economist, Moody’s Analytics, Cris deRitis – Deputy Chief Economist, Moody’s Analytics, and Marisa DiNatale – Senior Director - Head of Global Forecasting, M...

Chris Avallone, Head of Merchant Banking at Amherst, joins the Inside Economics crew to discuss the housing market.  The group examines the "lock-in" effect keeping existing homeowners in their homes and the "lock-out" effect preventing aspiring homebuyers from realizing their dreams.  Chris describes a playbook that local governments could use to address zoning and free up the "locked up" housing market.  After a quick stats game, Mark polls the group for their forecasts for when and how the housing market will normalize. 

The recording of this podcast took place before the results of the 2024 election.

For...

Mark joins the podcast from Europe to provide the European perspective on the U.S. election and how the outcome may affect their economies.  The team then dissects the reactions of the stock, bond, and cryptocurrency markets before turning to listener questions.  Marisa asks the group for their views on the vibecession, a term coined by Kyla Scanlon, to explain the disconnect between economists and the general public, and the integrity of economic data.  Cris's dog makes a special guest appearance.

https://genius.com/Alanis-morissette-ironic-lyrics

https://kyla.substack.com/p/the-vibecession-the-self-fulfilling

Hos...

Dante joins the podcast to discuss the October employment report. The impact of recent strikes and hurricanes weighed on the headline jobs figure, but everyone agrees that underlying job growth remains strong. Cris and Mark debate the reasons why productivity growth in the U.S. has outpaced the rest of the world, but Dante remains skeptical that recent productivity success is sustainable.

Guest: Dante DeAntonio, Se nior Director of Economic Research, Moody's Analytics

Hosts: Mark Zandi – Chief Economist, Moody’s Analytics, Cris deRitis – Deputy Chief Economist, Moody’s Analytics, and Marisa DiNatale – Senior Director - Head of Gl...

Douglas Holtz-Eakin, President of the American Action Forum and former Director of the Congressional Budget Office, joins Mark and Cris to discuss vexillology, potential election outcomes, and the impact of proposed immigration and tariff policies on the economy.  After a quick statistics game, Doug shared his insights on the national debt and how the government's fiscal imbalances may ultimately be resolved. 

Guest: Douglas Holtz-Eakin, President of American Action Forum

Read this week's "Week in Regulation" from the American Action Forum: Latest Cybersecurity Rule Leaves a Mark

Read Mark's Article in the Philadelphia Inquirer: Wei...

Ben Harris, Brookings’ Director of Economic Studies, joined the Inside Economics team to talk about the economy, the presidential election, and the economic policies of Vice President Harris and former President Trump. The bottom line: buckle in.  The election will likely be close and contentious, and the ultimate makeup of government will result in very different directions for policy and the economy’s future performance.

Today's Guest: Ben Harris - Brookings, Vice President and Director of Economic Studies

Paper referenced by Ben Harris: Immigration and the macroeconomy after 2024

Papers referenced by Inside Economics team...

Matt Colyar and Adam “Hurricane” Kamins join the podcast to discuss this week’s inflation data and the economic impact of Hurricane Milton. The team parses the latest CPI report and debates whether inflation is “sticky” or “moderating”.  Adam discusses his work on estimating the economic damage from the recent string of devastating hurricanes. The team also discusses the potential longer-term fallout on housing and migration in storm-prone areas like Florida.  

For the paper on the impact of homeowners insurance on housing affordability click here

Guest: Matt Colyar - Assistant Director, Moody's Analytics

Guest: Adam Kami...

Mark and Cris are joined by Dante and Michael Strain, Director of Economic Policy Studies at the American Enterprise Institute.  Dante kicks things off with a detailed summary of the stronger than expected U.S. employment report for September. Buoyant wage growth and upward revisions to July and August’s numbers confirm that the economy remains healthy.  The discussion then pivoted to the presidential election with Michael making a strong case for status quo economic policies and divided government.

Check out Michael's Strain's Book: The American Dream Is Not Dead

Guest: Michael R. Strain - Dire...

Is this the best economy ever? Given the big revisions to GDP and the steady stream of other stellar economic data, the Inside Economics team makes the case that it is.  Moderating inflation, full employment, stronger savings rates and steady corporate profits point to an economy that is stronger than consumer confidence suggests. The team also discusses the latest economic proposals from the presidential campaign and a recent opinion piece comparing Mark’s forecasts to those of Punxsutawney Phil.

Editor’s note: Punxsutawney Phil has also been unfairly mischaracterized by the media. https://www.axios.com/202...

Economist Martin Wurm joins Inside Economics to discuss the Fed’s rate cut earlier this week, which was larger than the IE team expected. Martin talks about the decision behind the large cut and what it means for the future path of interest rates and the forecasts for the rest of the economy. The team discusses the rate decision’s impact on the housing market and mortgage rates and ends by playing a tough stats game.

Guest: Martin Wurm – Director-Economic Research, Moody's Analytics

Hosts: Mark Zandi – Chief Economist, Moody’s Analytics, Cris deRitis – Deputy Chief Economist, M...

The Inside Economics team breaks down the latest inflation data -- August’s consumer price index. They unpack the underlying components, focusing most of their attention on the confounding acceleration in shelter inflation. “Eggflation” makes a return to the podcast as well. Nevertheless, U.S. inflation has cooled considerably, and the Fed is set to start lowering their policy rate at next week’s meeting. What will that mean for U.S. consumers and businesses? Finally, Marisa takes some listener questions and Matt reads some (mostly positive) reviews of the Inside Economics podcast. 

Guest: Matt Colyar - A...