One of the many aims of President Joe Biden’s signature legislation, the Inflation Reduction Act, is to cut the cost of drugs prescribed by Medicare, a government health insurance programme for Americans 65 and over. But the policy could have some side-effects for patients far beyond the US.Hosts: Tom Lee-Devlin and Mike Bird. Contributors: Shailesh Chitnis, The Economist’s global business correspondent; Tricia Neuman, from the Kaiser Family Foundation, a health-care think-tank; and David Fredrickson of AstraZeneca.Sign up for Economist Podcasts+ now and get 50% off your subscription with our limited time offer: www.economist.com/podcastsplus-moneytalksYou will not be charged until Economist Podcasts+ launches. If you’re already a subscriber to The Economist, you’ll have full access to all our shows as part of your subscription. For more information about Economist Podcasts+, including how to get access, please visit our FAQs page. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Thousands of building projects across China have been halted or dramatically slowed as a rolling crisis engulfs the country’s property sector. The government’s “three red lines” policy sought to limit the leverage of property developers, but has now forced scores of them into default and restructuring. Confidence in the market has evaporated. And in a country where people buy their homes in advance, long before they are built, that wave of worry has sent sales tumbling.On this week’s podcast, hosts Mike Bird, Alice Fulwood, and Tom Lee-Devlin ask whether there is an end in sight to China’s growing property woes. The Economist’s Don Weinland takes a trip to Zhangzhou to examine what went wrong. Long-time China-watcher Anne Stevenson-Yang explains why real estate looms so large over China’s economy and Beijing-based property analyst Rosealea Yao explains what it would take to bring the crisis to an end.Sign up for Economist Podcasts+ now and get 50% off your subscription with our limited time offer: www.economist.com/podcastsplus-moneytalksYou will not be charged until Economist Podcasts+ launches.If you’re already a subscriber to The Economist, you’ll have full access to all our shows as part of your subscription.For more information about Economist Podcasts+, including how to get access, please visit our FAQs page. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Wealth managers occupy a unique place in their clients’ lives. Not only do they advise on picking assets and tax-efficient investment strategies—they often find out about illicit affairs and which heirs might be a problem child. These services were once the preserve of those worth $10m or more but new technology means they are accessible to people with as little as $100,000 in the bank. And now banks are fighting to be the ones to advise the moderately wealthy. On this week’s podcast, hosts Alice Fulwood, Tom Lee-Devlin and Mike Bird ask why wealth managers want to do business with the not-so-wealthy. Helen Watson, who’s head of UK wealth management at Rothschild & Co, shares the secrets of managing other people’s fortunes. And Markus Habbel, a consultant at Bain, explains why 250m people might soon be in need of a wealth manager.Sign up for our new weekly newsletter dissecting the big themes in markets, business and the economy at www.economist.com/moneytalks For full access to print, digital and audio editions, subscribe to The Economist at www.economist.com/podcastoffer Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The mantra from the mid-2000s that “data is the new oil” is taking on a new sheen: tapping and refining it into personalised advertisements has become harder, thanks to increasing regulation and the self-serving policies of the tech behemoths. Meanwhile artificial intelligence is a data-guzzler, eschewing the pointedly personal in favour of the revealing aggregate. Both trends raise thorny questions about ownership of the precious underlying resource.On this week’s show, hosts Tom Lee-Devlin, Mike Bird and Alice Fulwood examine how data are gathered and traded, and Kenn Cukier, a deputy executive editor at The Economist, describe the changes in online tracking that altered those paths. Sir Martin Sorrell, chairman of S4 Capital, a digital-advertising firm, describes how his industry is shifting. And Dennis Cinelli, chief financial officer of Scale AI, a data startup, surveys the land-grab of data among artificial-intelligence firms.Sign up for our new weekly newsletter dissecting the big themes in markets, business and the economy at www.economist.com/moneytalks For full access to print, digital and audio editions, subscribe to The Economist at www.economist.com/podcastoffer Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Is a college degree worth it? That question hangs over millions of would-be students, as they prepare to apply to university. It is one that many graduates might be mulling over as they have to start paying off their college debts once more. America’s pandemic-era moratorium on student debt payments comes to an end in September. On this week’s podcast, hosts Alice Fulwood, Tom Lee-Devlin and Mike Bird examine whether college is still worth the time and the money. Constantine Yannelis from the Chicago Booth School of Business explains how the US economy will be impacted when up to 45 million Americans are confronted with their student debt payments once more. And Michael Itzkowitz, who was appointed to the US Department of Education by former President Obama, reveals how often students fail to earn a return on their investment in education. Sign up for our new weekly newsletter dissecting the big themes in markets, business and the economy at www.economist.com/moneytalks. For full access to print, digital and audio editions, subscribe to The Economist at www.economist.com/podcastoffer Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.