You're listening to Money Talks on Economist Radio, our weekly podcast on the markets,

the economy and the world of business.

I'm Patrick Lane, a digital editor at The Economist, and coming up on today's show,

we investigate the curious case of the missing worker.

This is not just an American problem, there's growing evidence that worker shortages are

a problem and a growing problem across the which world.

Is it time for a new global system to tax big companies?

It could be the most important overhaul of the international tax architecture in a century.

And Patrick Collison, co-founder and CEO of Stripe and why the rise of fintechs is good

news for the banks.

Whether it's in lending or new ways to hold balances, there's a lot of different ways in

which you can take these capabilities that the fund refined by banks and make them

newly accessible.

But first, here's a puzzle.

Millions of people are out of work at the same time as businesses are struggling to fill

vacancies.

It's a particular problem in the United States where unemployment remains high.

But labour shortages are also a challenge across the West.

That's good for employees, maybe.

If wages have to rise to attract applicants, but perhaps not so good for inflation, nor

for people who remain unemployed, nor for businesses on tight margins, many of which now

find themselves asking, where has everybody gone?

...