Speaking of the Economy

John O'Trakoun discusses the supply shocks resulting from the recent conflicts in the Middle East and how businesses and consumers have responded to these shocks. O'Trakoun is a senior policy economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond.
Full transcript and related links: https://www.richmondfed.org/podcasts/speaking_of_the_economy/2026/speaking_2026_07_01_supply_shocks

Urvi Neelakantan describes how employment, income growth and consumption can differ between groups of households and reviews recent trends in this divergence of economic outcomes. Neelakantan is a senior policy advisor at the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond.
Full transcript and related links: https://www.richmondfed.org/podcasts/speaking_of_the_economy/2026/speaking_2026_06_17_k-shaped_economy

Surekha Carpenter and Borys Grochulski discuss how community development financial institutions work to help underserved communities that lack adequate access to credit and what factors determine their success in filling market gaps. Carpenter is a senior research analyst and Grochulski is a senior economist, both at the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond.
Full transcript and related links: https://www.richmondfed.org/podcasts/speaking_of_the_economy/2026/speaking_2026_06_10_cdfi_market_failures

Marina Azzimonti discusses how digital currency like stablecoin and physical currency like the U.S. dollar are tied together, how the demand for one affects the other, and how this relationship plays out in global financial markets. Azzimonti is a senior economist and research advisor at the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond.
Full transcript and related links: https://www.richmondfed.org/podcasts/speaking_of_the_economy/2026/speaking_2026_06_03_stablecoin_dollars

Sonya Waddell and John Graham share their research on the adoption of artificial intelligence in the workplace, based on the expected and realized effects reported by the financial executives who participate in the CFO Survey. Waddell is a vice president and economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond and Graham is a finance professor at the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University and director of the CFO Survey.
Full transcript and related links: https://www.richmondfed.org/podcasts/speaking_of_the_economy/2026/speaking_2026_05_20_CFO_AI