The Big View

Reuters Breakingviews columnists tap their best contacts to explore the biggest issues driving business and markets today. Every Tuesday, Global Editor Peter Thal Larsen and his team tackle a pressing question with a senior executive, financier, policymaker, or other expert. The Big View helps you understand what is going on, explore all sides of the argument, and think about what happens next.

[For previous The Exchange podcast users, we didn't want to leave you hanging so we've decided to repurpose this feed for the launch of The Big View podcast. You can still find the legacy episodes below marked under the old title]

News
176
The Exchange: Editorial lessons from Lionel Barber
The former Financial Times editor discusses his views on journalism in the post-Trump, post-Brexit, post-print era with Rob Cox. He also shares some of the juicier stories from his memoir, “The Powerful and the Damned,” like the time he told off Blacks...
33 min
177
The Exchange: Economic roots of Russia’s protests
Police cracked down on mass demonstrations in support of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny after his alleged poisoning and arrest. Exiled economist Sergei Guriev explains how lower real incomes, corruption and YouTube drove people to the streets – and what...
40 min
178
The Exchange: The long life of bad economic ideas
From self-funding tax cuts to runaway executive pay, economists have provided intellectual support for seriously flawed policies. Reuters journalist Tom Bergin, author of “Free Lunch Thinking” tells Peter Thal Larsen how dodgy theories helped mislead p...
37 min
179
The Exchange: Too much stimulus stores up big risk
That’s the view of Oliver Baete, CEO of Allianz. Markets are pricing in vaccination perfection, as they’ve grown dependent on central bank and government largesse, he tells Rob Cox. But for the $97 billion German insurer, there’s still opportunity to b...
59 min
180
The Exchange: Sheryl Sandberg on banning Trump
The Facebook COO sat down with Breakingviews’ Gina Chon as part of Reuters Next on Monday to explain why the social network has indefinitely blocked the U.S. president after he incited violence at the Capitol: and why it took so long for the company to...
38 min
181
The Exchange: The personal risks in short-selling
Muddy Waters shorted stocks like health provider NMC and forest plantation group Sino-Forest, aiding their collapse. But founder Carson Block tells Dasha Afanasieva he almost quit due to the stress of facing a criminal investigation. For him, ...
37 min
182
The Exchange: American banks and the urge to merge
U.S. financial institutions have increasingly been teaming up to take on the big four: JPMorgan, Citigroup, Bank of America and Wells Fargo. Bruce Van Saun, chief executive of Citizens Financial, one of the top regional lenders, discusses post-pandemic...
34 min
183
The Exchange: Guy Hands on private equity’s future
The British buyout baron, best known for his disastrous purchase of music group EMI in 2007, now focuses on more modest deals. He joins Liam Proud to discuss Covid-19, ESG, and why the private equity industry’s returns are likely to f...
44 min
184
The Exchange: Journey of a vaccine
Covid-19 vaccines developed by Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca may soon be available for distribution. But how do you deliver billions of vials across the world? Rob Coyle, pharma head at freight giant Kuehne+Nagel joins Lisa Jucca to...
31 min
185
The Exchange: Eating worms is good for the planet
Growing global demand for food is putting a squeeze on available land and one French startup says it has the answer: indoor insect farming. Ynsect co-founder Antoine Hubert on how growing mealworms for fertilizer will benefit the envi...
17 min
186
The Exchange: Post-Covid, post-Trump mega-trends
Supply chains may become more diverse or shorter, tech companies with few hard assets will continue to thrive, and the transition away from fossil fuels will present opportunities. Taimur Hyat, COO of $1.4 trln asset manager PGIM, looks to the future w...
26 min
187
The Exchange: Investing in a new macroeconomic era
The U.S. faces a paradigm shift, as the era of monetary policy dominance ends and fiscal action becomes the major driver of growth. So argues Greg Jensen, co-chief investment officer at Bridgewater Associates. He says this means rethinking one’s approa...
37 min
188
The Exchange: Post-pandemic consumer behaviour
Companies like Nestlé and Unilever are grappling with a Covid-19 recession and potentially drastic changes in how people shop and what they buy. Kristina Rogers, global consumer leader at consultancy EY, joins Dasha Afanasieva to discuss which...
28 min
189
The Exchange: IMF and sub-Saharan Africa
The regional head of the International Monetary Fund, Abebe Aemro Selassie, joins Swaha Pattanaik to discuss how the Washington-based lender is helping hard-hit countries, debt difficulties, the need for reforms, and why policy choices are mor...
25 min
190
The Exchange: Private equity and the pandemic
BC Partners is an alternative asset manager whose portfolio companies include PetSmart and Springer Nature. Partner Nikos Stathopoulos chats to Peter Thal Larsen about managing during Covid-19, new investment challenges, and why we need to get back t...
38 min
191
The Exchange: Terra incognita
The U.S. faces more uncertainty as 2020 ends, including inflation, antitrust enforcement, and how the next president handles taxes, trade and the post-virus economy. So says Nathan Sheets, chief economist at PGIM Fixed Income. He argu...
36 min
192
The Exchange: The long wait for inflation
Charles Goodhart and Manoj Pradhan tackle an issue perplexing policymakers and investors: if, and when, price pressures will rise. The authors of “The Great Demographic Reversal” discuss ageing societies, emerging economies, and why the world won’t fol...
46 min
193
The Exchange: UBS CEO exit interview
After 10 years leading Switzerland’s biggest bank, Sergio Ermotti is handing off to Ralph Hamers and becoming chairman of Swiss Re. In a wide-ranging conversation with Rob Cox, he shares his views on banking, M&A, his tenure as CEO and the...
43 min
194
The Exchange: Inflation nation
The Fed’s new rate-setting philosophy is a game-changer, and hawks have become an endangered species in D.C. So argues David Kelly, chief global strategist at JPMorgan Asset Management. The central bank may boost inflation, he suggests – but its blunt ...
40 min
195
The Exchange: China’s bad debt opportunity
Beijing is letting lenders go belly-up as it attacks systemic risk. That’s all fine for Benjamin Fanger, founder of ShoreVest, a manager $1.8 bln of soured loans. He talks with Pete Sweeney about the message China is sending bankers, and the opportunit...
24 min
196
The Exchange: Netflix’s Reed Hastings
The co-chief executive of the video-streaming firm is out with a new book, “No Rules Rules.” Hastings zoomed in with Jennifer Saba to discuss Netflix’s unorthodox approach to management – like unlimited vacation – and how it sets up t...
20 min
197
The Exchange: Middle class myopia
New York Times reporter Jim Tankersley explodes myths about this politically potent group in his book “The Riches of This Land,” questioning the U.S. media's fixation on rust-belt white men. He argues inclusive growth in...
39 min
198
The Exchange: Telecoms mogul David McCourt
The pandemic has made connecting rural areas a global priority. The Irish-American cable entrepreneur explains to Aimee Donnellan why he returned to Dublin to roll out a 3 billion euro broadband programme, and how the Covid-19 crisis created an opportu...
25 min
199
The Exchange: Leadership and Covid-19 trauma
After a period of high productivity in response to the pandemic, businesses face “war room fatigue”. Executive coach Merete Wedell-Wedellsborg explains how leaders can get their teams out of this regression phase as quickly as possible, keeping staff m...
28 min
200
The Exchange: Stephanie Kelton
As budget deficits swell, one of the highest profile advocates of Modern Monetary Theory joins Swaha Pattanaik to discuss her approach to public finances, U.S. presidential hopeful Joe Biden’s economic agenda, how her thinking evolved, and her experien...
46 min