Is AI too big to stop and do Europeans work less?
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What is the overall focus of today’s Taking Stock episode?
Taking stock with Susan Hayes Cullaton. With Nifty Business. When your business needs simplicity and efficiency, Nifty Business is the right fit for your fleet. This is NewS Talk.
Hello and welcome to Taking Stock. I'm Susan Ace Collotton, and this is the show that looks at business and economics from a wider perspective. Coming up on today's show, is Europe turning against Airbnb? We look at the changed fates of the accommodation disruptor and the AI crisis. With some of the biggest names in the space calling for a slowdown, we ask if the geopolitics and economics involved mean it's too late to stop the train of. Artificial intelligence. Plus, is Europe really lazy when it comes to working? We talk to renowned economist Chris Giles. You can email the show, taking stock at newstalk.com, or you can message me on socials at Susan Hayes Collerton. Now, for my explainer this week, I want to tell you why the 10-year US Treasury yield is getting so much attention.
Now, first off, it's the rate that investors are demanding to lend to the government. For 10 years. Or in other words, it's the going rate for long-term money being lent to the US government. Now, this rate is back up at about 5%. It's the highest in almost three years. And it's briefly near levels not really seen since before the financial crisis. And when that benchmark rises, borrowing costs tend to rise with it for mortgages, companies, and governments. So put another way, if investments Investors want more to lend to America, everyone else usually has to pay more too in the US. And interestingly, during the Reagan years, this rate never even fell below 8%. So the 10-year US Treasury yield is getting a lot of attention anyway, but it's of particular note now because it's making those short-term record highs.
Now, cities and governments are questioning when does a home stop being a home and start functioning more like tourist infrastructure? Structure. The EU's proposed Affordable Housing Act matters because it doesn't impose a blanket ban on Airbnb style rentals, but it does give states and cities a clearer legal basis to intervene where housing stress can be shown. And that brings us to Ireland because if short-term lets are only one part of the problem, the real question is whether regulating them meaningfully eases a housing market that is just already desperately. Short of supply. I'm delighted that Jack Power, Europe correspondent with the Irish Times, joins me now to discuss this. First off, Jack, when the EU talks about an Affordable Housing Act, what exactly is it and what is it trying to achieve?
Yeah, thanks. So the EU's new piece of legislation here mightn't um result in many affordable homes being built. The intention is basically to have a look at Airbnb and other short term rentals and and the the question that you know has probably increasingly been posed, particularly in areas like cities or or tourist hotspots. You know, you're thinking of your Barcelona or your your Dingle is the ones that kind of come to mind in the Irish continent. context where you know you're seeing Airbnb or or Booking.com or wherever else it is and a real proliferation of the short term lets and not even in a way that you know somebody might be Airbnb and out their their house for the odd few weeks or weekends a year, more the kind of the commercial side of it, you know, where businesses might have, you know, five or ten properties
That are then solely put up on these short-term letting sites. And basically they're taking those properties, you know, permanently out of what we consider probably the normal housing market, you know, for rent or for people to buy. And so what the EU's proposing to do is effectively kind of close off a bit of a bit of legal uncertainty over, you know. How far can local authorities or national governments go to really regulate um Airbnb? And so that's what's that's what's kind of winding its way through the the system in Brussels at the moment.
So just to be clear on this, Jack, this isn't the EU regulating what's going on, we'll say with Airbnb.
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Chapters
7 chapters
1
What is the overall focus of today’s Taking Stock episode?
0:00–6:14
2
Why is the 10‑year US Treasury yield gaining attention and how does it affect borrowers?
6:14–14:09
3
How are European cities and the EU responding to Airbnb’s short‑term rental boom?
14:09–20:55
4
Why are industry leaders calling for a slowdown in AI development?
20:55–26:43
5
Is the stereotype that Europeans work less than Americans actually true?
26:43–32:41
6
How have rising female labour‑force participation rates changed Europe’s employment picture?
32:41–38:36
7
What reforms does Chris Giles say Europe needs to boost productivity and growth?
38:36–45:01
Speakers
2 identifiedMore from Taking Stock
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