The Essential Podcast

In this episode, we review what past events and circumstances have led us to the recent cryptocurrency news plastering the headlines through the lens of author Zeke Faux's absurdist masterpiece titled "Number Go Up: Inside Crypto's Wild Rise and Staggering Fall." Together with Zeke, we cover a wide range of topics including the FTX fraud, the Sam Bankman-Fried trial, Tether, and the bizare culture within certain crypto communities.

S&P Global's Peter Gardett joins the podcasts to discuss the ongoing race for the wide-scale adaptation of renewable energy sources on a global scale.

Alexandra Dimitrijevic, Global Head of Research & Development at S&P Global Ratings joins the Essential Podcast to talk about conditions in the global credit market and the economic outlook in 2024 for regions around the world.

Leah Boustan of Princeton University and Ran Abramitzky of Stanford University join the Essential Podcast to discuss their book “Streets of Gold: America’s Untold Story of Immigrant Success”.

Gené Teare, Senior Data Editor at Crunchbase joins the podcast to discuss the seemingly ever-changing tides of Venture Capital in the tech-industry's startup scene.

Partner at Bain Capital Ventures Matt Harris joins the podcast to discuss the venture capital world that now exists in the wake of the so-called "halcyon days" of 2021.

Talal Rafi, Economist and Management Consultant at Deloitte, Expert Member of the World Economic Forum, and Regular Columnist for the International Monetary Fund returns to the podcast to give us an update on what's happening in Sri Lanka.

Author and Senior Economic Adviser at HSBC Holdings Stephen D. King joins the podcast to discuss his new book "We Need to Talk About Inflation: 14 Urgent Lessons from the Last 2,000 Years."

Quinn Slobodian, Marion Butler McLean Professor in the History of Ideas at Wellesley College joins the podcast to discuss his book "Crack-Up Capitalism: Market Radicals and the Dream of a World Without Democracy."

Bhavesh Dayalji, Chief Executive Officer of Kensho Technologies joins the podcast to discuss the ever-evolving world of generative artificial intelligence.

Edward Chancellor joins the podcast to discuss his book "The Price of Time: The Real Story of Interest."

Associate Professor of International History at Tufts University's Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy Chris Miller joins the podcast to discuss his new book "Chip War: The Fight for the World's Most Critical Technology."

CERAWeek, The World’s Premier Energy Event is taking place in Houston, TX March 6-10, 2023   Stream selected sessions: https://ceraweek.com/promo/cw23-live.html   Engage with us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and join the conversation using the hashtags #CERAWeek and #CWAgora   Explore previous podcast episodes: https://soundcloud.com/ceraweek-conversations   Learn more about CERAWeek: https://ceraweek.com/about/index.html

CERAWeek, The World’s Premier Energy Event is taking place in Houston, TX March 6-10, 2023   Stream selected sessions: https://ceraweek.com/promo/cw23-live.html   Engage with us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and join the conversation using the hashtags #CERAWeek and #CWAgora   Explore previous podcast episodes: https://soundcloud.com/ceraweek-conversations   Learn more about CERAWeek: https://ceraweek.com/about/index.html

CERAWeek, The World’s Premier Energy Event is taking place in Houston, TX March 6-10, 2023   Stream selected sessions: https://ceraweek.com/promo/cw23-live.html   Engage with us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and join the conversation using the hashtags #CERAWeek and #CWAgora   Explore previous podcast episodes: https://soundcloud.com/ceraweek-conversations   Learn more about CERAWeek: https://ceraweek.com/about/index.html

CERAWeek, The World’s Premier Energy Event is taking place in Houston, TX March 6-10, 2023   Stream selected sessions: https://ceraweek.com/promo/cw23-live.html   Engage with us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and join the conversation using the hashtags #CERAWeek and #CWAgora   Explore previous podcast episodes: https://soundcloud.com/ceraweek-conversations   Learn more about CERAWeek: https://ceraweek.com/about/index.html

CERAWeek, The World’s Premier Energy Event is taking place in Houston, TX March 6-11, 2023   Stream selected sessions: https://ceraweek.com/promo/cw23-live.html   Engage with us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and join the conversation using the hashtags #CERAWeek and #CWAgora   Explore previous podcast episodes: https://soundcloud.com/ceraweek-conversations   Learn more about CERAWeek: https://ceraweek.com/about/index.html

Tom Philpott, a Senior Research Associate at The Center for a Livable Future joins the podcast to discuss his book "Perilous Bounty: The Looming Collapse of American Farming and How We Can Prevent It."

Professor of Law at Texas A&M University and Author William Magnuson joins the podcast to his new book, "For Profit: A History of Corporations."

Terence Kooyker, founder and CEO of the commodity hedge fund Valent Asset Management, joins the Podcast to discuss Helium, lucky element #2 on the Periodic Table.

Political Economist and Author Clara Mattei joins the podcast to discuss austerity and her new book, "The Capital Order: How Economists Invented Austerity and Paved the Way to Fascism," which was recently selected by The Financial Times as one of the best books of 2022.

Nicholas Weaver, Senior Staff Researcher at The International Computer Science Institute, Chief Mad Scientist At Skerry Technologies, and known cryptocurrency skeptic joins the podcast to discuss the recent news surrounding FTX and today's cryptocurrency landscape.

Dr. Ajay Chhibber returns to S&P Global's Essential Podcast to discuss the current state of Bretton Woods institutions like the IMF, the World Bank, and GATT. He covers the ways in which each of these institutions can be re-directed and re-conceived for a post-colonial order.  

Talal Rafi, Senior Global Management Consultant at Deloitte joins the Essential Podcast to discuss the challenges of Sri Lanka as an emerging market economy and how Sri Lanka can serve as a model for understanding the debt trap for other emerging economies.

Brad DeLong, professor of economics at the University of California, Berkeley joins the Essential Podcast to discuss his ambitious and controversial new book "Slouching Towards Utopia: An Economic History of the Twentieth Century".

Evan Gunther of S&P Global Ratings and Leon Sinclair of S&P Global Market Intelligence join the Essential Podcast to talk about the growth and evolution of private debt markets.

Duncan Mavin of Dow Jones joins the Essential Podcast to talk about his new book "The Pyramid of Lies: Lex Greensill and the Billion Dollar Scandal". Duncan discusses Greensill Capital and its collapse, which damaged the reputations of a former U.K. Prime Minister, prominent venture capitalists, and Credit Suisse. He also talks about the bizarre experience of reporting on a company where the red flags were obvious, and yet thoroughly ignored by investors.

Jared Bibler joins the Essential Podcast to discuss his book "Iceland's Secret: The Untold Story of the World's Biggest Con". The saga of Iceland's banks during the global financial crisis is both implausibly strange and strangely plausible.

Diane Coyle of Cambridge University joins the Essential Podcast to discuss the critique she offers of the economics profession, as a professional economist. We cover misperceptions of economics in popular culture, false objectivity, reflexivity, and the challenge of AI.

Gary Gerstle of Cambridge University joins the Essential Podcast to talk about the nature of political orders and the collapse of the political order known as neoliberalism that came to power with Ronald Reagan.