Killing the economic polar bear

The Indicator from Planet Money

NPR

Business

4.7 • 9.2K Ratings

🗓️ 21 September 2022

⏱️ 9 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

When Knut the polar bear was rejected by his mother at the Berlin Zoo, a debate caught fire over whether it was more humane to keep him alive or euthanize him. Today, as the Fed raises interest rates again, another polar bear is in danger: The economy.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	NPR.
0:07.0	In 206, Konut the polar bear was born in Berlin Zoo.
0:16.1	Konut was rejected by his mother.
0:18.0	He then needed 24-hour care and bottle feeding to survive.
0:23.2	Another zookeeper argued that this wasn't humane.
0:25.6	The polar bear had an autoimmune disorder and it would feel like its mother was a band
0:29.9	sending it each time the zookeeper left.
0:32.8	He said that Knut should be euthanized.
0:36.9	Children protested at the zoo, a media storm in the zoo, and the Berlin Zoo vowed to keep
0:43.9	Konut alive.
0:44.9	Konut was spared and was a popular attraction, although he did die in an accident four years
0:50.2	later.
0:51.2	And look, there's a real point about economics to be made here.
0:54.2	There is.
0:55.2	Two economists at the investment company BlackRock are calling for a similar, loud public debate
1:00.9	of a weather to keep another baby polar bear alive.
1:04.8	The baby polar bear in this metaphor is the economy.
1:07.7	These economists say that all over the world, central bankers are facing a brutal dilemma
1:12.7	as they make decisions about interest rates.
1:15.1	Do they keep the economy booming, but risk inflation spiraling higher and higher?
1:20.0	Or do they snuff out inflation now and suffocate the economy too?
1:24.3	In other words, do they kill the polar bear?
	...

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