Business Daily

By BBC World Service

Business

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The daily drama of money and work from the BBC.

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The joy of work

03.05.2021

New York rat-catcher James Molluso has been dealing with vermin since he was a teenager. The pay isn't brilliant, the hours are long and the chemicals are toxic. So why does he love his job so much? We hear from ...

Business Daily episodes:

03.05.2021 The joy of work New York rat-catcher James Molluso has been dealing with vermin since he was a teenager. The pay isn't brilliant, the hours are long and the chemicals are toxic. So why does he love his job so much? We hear from ...
03.04.2021 Covid: Healthcare worker burnout A year of crisis has taken a toll on those tasked with caring for the sick and elderly. It’s almost a year since the World Health Organization declared the outbreak of COVID-19 a pandemic. Manuela Saragosa revisits three frontline health ...
03.03.2021 Guyana and the pandemic How has mental health in the South American country been affected during lockdown? According to the World Health Organisation Guyana has for years had one of the highest suicide rates anywhere in the world. So how has the country fared ...
03.02.2021 Growing up in lockdown The Coronavirus pandemic has disrupted the lives of billions of people around the world, and with many countries still in lockdown the impact will continue to be felt for many years. Not least for teenagers, whose education, family and social ...
03.01.2021 Lockdown breakdowns It’s almost a year since the World Health Organization declared the outbreak of COVID-19 a pandemic. Many embraced working from home to start off with. But has it lost its lustre? We look at the toll it’s taking on people’s ...
02.27.2021 Business Weekly As the global Covid-19 vaccination drive slowly gathers pace - on Business Weekly we’ll be looking at whether vaccine passports will help us return to life as we once knew it. While the travel industry is keen to use them, ...
02.26.2021 Why does Bitcoin consume so much energy? As Bitcoin's price hits a new all-time high, it's now estimated to use as much electricity as the whole of Argentina But is this remotely sustainable? Justin Rowlatt speaks to cryptocurrency expert and University of Chicago economics professor Gina Pieters ...
02.25.2021 China's vaccine diplomacy Poorer countries in search of Covid-19 vaccines are looking east. Agathe Demarais, global forecasting director at the Economist Intelligence Unit, describes how China and Russia are stepping in to provide vaccines where Europe and the US aren't. Yanzhong Huang, senior ...
02.24.2021 Love in the time of coronavirus Covid-19 has ruined millions of wedding plans. Will 2021 spark a race to the altar for those unable to tie the knot? California couple Lauren and Patrick Delgado tell their story. We also hear from Jordie Shepherd, host of the ...
02.23.2021 The plastic pandemic The pandemic has brought with it a massive rise in plastic waste. Tamasin Ford looks at how the demand for hygiene along with plummeting oil prices boosted our use of single use plastics. In some countries, it has increased by ...
02.22.2021 Will hydrogen prove a life saver? The "hydrogen economy" has received a lot of hype, but could this explosive gas fill some critical gaps in a future zero-carbon energy system? Justin Rowlatt looks at Australia's plans to use its huge solar and wind resources to generate ...
02.20.2021 Business Weekly They’re the technical bits of genius businesses cannot do without. On this edition of Business Weekly, we look at the world of semiconductors and why a shortage of them is holding up industries the world over. From consumer electronics to ...
02.19.2021 Why hair matters To some it may sound absurd to consider hairstyles a workplace issue, but for millions of men and women with African and Afro-Caribbean hair, it is just that. For decades, some hairstyles have been discouraged at work. But things are ...
02.18.2021 The Paystack effect How the biggest start-up acquisition out of Nigeria is resonating across Africa. Last year Nigeria saw its biggest ever start-up acquisition - a multi million dollar deal for digital payments company Paystack. The result was a massive shift in the ...
02.17.2021 The great semiconductor shortage Why Taiwan isn't making enough computer chips. Ed Butler speaks to Jan-Peter Kleinhans, head of technology and geopolitics at SNV, a German think tank, about the central role of Taiwan in the complex global supply chain of semiconductors. The BBC's ...
02.16.2021 Teaching children about money Though children will usually learn how to add, subtract or multiply in school, very often they are not taught the skills they need to manage their money in older life. We’ll hear from children around the world about their understanding ...
02.15.2021 Bill Gates versus climate change Eliminating carbon emissions in the next 30 years would be "the most amazing thing humanity has ever done". In an exclusive interview, Bill Gates tells Justin Rowlatt why he has set his sights on tackling global warming, and how the ...
02.13.2021 Business Weekly On this episode of Business Weekly, we examine the world of amateur traders. One in five Americans now play the stock market, but there are warnings that inexperienced traders could be caught out. Also, we take a look at the ...
02.12.2021 African Free trade: What’s in it for women? After years of planning and delays, Africa’s new trade bloc, the African Continental Free Trade Area, opened in January with the promise of transforming the continent’s economies. Amandla Ooko-Ombaka of McKinsey and Company in Nairobi explains the enormous poverty-reducing potential ...
02.11.2021 Brexit and the City Is one of the world's mighty financial centres under threat from the damage done by the UK's departure from the EU? Six weeks after the final Brexit divorce, Katie Martin of the Financial Times explains the short-term impact, and long-term ...
02.10.2021 The rise of amateur day traders When shares in the apparently declining games company Gamestop soared almost 2000% in less than a month, the world’s attention was drawn to an army of amateur investors on new mobile trading platforms such as Robinhood. Investment author Ann Logue ...
02.09.2021 Satellites to breach the digital divide Bridging the global digital divide, using satellites in space, is the dream of the world's richest men like Elon Musk of SpaceX and Jeff Bezos of Amazon. They're joined in a new space race to carpet the earth in satellite ...
02.08.2021 Stormy seas for global shipping We explore the twin crises affecting the shipping industry. First, thousands of seafarers are stranded far from home, unable to travel because of the coronavirus. Add to that congestion at ports across the globe and sky-high freight rates. The result? ...
02.06.2021 Business Weekly As protests continue against the military coup in Myanmar, Business Weekly hears how the army controls the country’s economy. Jeff Bezos has announced that he’s stepping down as Amazon chief executive so he can concentrate on other projects. We think ...
02.05.2021 Moon landings and economic priorities Manuela Saragosa speaks with economist Mariana Mazzucato, who argues that America’s Apollo programme, which landed people on the moon in the 1960s, has a lot to teach us about tackling some of the biggest economic challenges on earth today. Mazzucato ...
02.04.2021 What's a song worth? Music streaming services have changed the game. We hear about their impact on artists' income from Tom Gray of the 90s British band Gomez. Plus, Merck Mercuriadis, whose music investment company Hipgnosis is spending billions of dollars buying the copyright ...
02.03.2021 Will the Olympics be postponed (again)? Uncertainty continues to mount over this summer's delayed Tokyo Olympic Games, as Japan’s Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga announces he is extending a coronavirus state of emergency in Tokyo and nine other areas through March. Last year's unprecedented postponement was arguably ...
02.02.2021 How the military controls Myanmar's economy Myanmar's military has announced it has taken control of the country, a decade after agreeing to hand power to a civilian government. Tin Htar Swe OBE, Myanmar analyst and former editor of the BBC Burmese Service, recounts the history leading ...
02.01.2021 Gamestop: Is it really a case of David vs Goliath? What is Wall Street's role in the surge in Gamestop's share price? It’s been billed as a populist revolt against the financial behemoths of Wall Street: a global gang of small investors driving up the price of Gamestop shares, forcing ...
01.30.2021 Business Weekly The UK has said it will impose strict restrictions on people travelling to the country in order to help stop the spread of Covid-19. Travellers from a list of countries deemed 'high risk’ will be put into hotels to quarantine. ...
01.29.2021 The pandemic pet boom Homeworking has led to booming pet sales. What happens when people head back to the office? Sales of dogs, cats and all sorts of other pets have soared in the developed world over the past year amid lockdowns. It’s great ...
01.28.2021 The economic cost of closing schools The economic costs of school closures amidst the pandemic could be huge. 2 billion school days have been missed so far around the world, and millions more are to come. Experts are warning of a lost generation with many children ...
01.27.2021 Kidnap in the Gulf of Guinea Is there a new piracy crisis afflicting Africa's shipping lanes? And should the merchant ships in the region now be armed? Four men boarded a Turkish-crewed container ship out at sea in the Gulf of Guinea in West Africa on ...
01.26.2021 Gorillas, guns and oil Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is Africa’s oldest and largest wildlife park. Since 1925, it’s been home to some of the last mountain gorillas on earth. But it’s also home to armed militia groups and ...
01.25.2021 Covid: Rethinking wealth and fairness How the Covid pandemic is changing the way we see wealth and economic fairness. The Covid pandemic has not only changed the way we work. It’s also exposed how little we value the kind of work that’s kept economies afloat ...
01.23.2021 Business Weekly As Joe Biden was sworn in as the 46th US president, business owners wondered what the new administration would do for them. We hear from some of them who tell us what they need from the President. We also look ...
01.22.2021 Biden's $15 minimum wage The new US president's plan to introduce a $15 minimum wage has sparked debate. Manuela Saragosa speaks to Allynn Umel, campaign director at the Fight for $15 campaign, about why a federal rise in wages is overdue. Jacob Vigdor, professor ...
01.21.2021 The practicalities of Brexit The UK is three weeks out of the European single market and there have already been some teething problems. We hear from wine importer, Daniel Lambert and David Lindars of the British Meat Processors Association. Victoria Prentiss gives the government's ...
01.20.2021 Joe Biden vs climate change How the US is set to return to the fight against global warming. Justin Rowlatt speaks to Todd Stern, the US special envoy for climate change under Barack Obama, and to Rache Kyte, dean of the Fletcher School at Tufts ...
01.19.2021 Is Covid causing a shortage of medical oxygen? Amidst rising Covid infection levels, we're looking at one alarming threat to health services from Brazil to Egypt - a lack of medical oxygen. Hospitals have been reporting running out altogether, with some critical care patients dying as a result. ...
01.18.2021 When will a Covid-19 vaccine be available to you? Covid-19 vaccine rollouts across the world demonstrate huge global health inequalities. Many countries in the global south are struggling to access one of the vaccines currently available around the world. That's despite a global facility called COVAX, set up under ...
01.16.2021 Business Weekly It’s been a week in which the US president, Donald Trump, was suspended from his social media accounts and the social network Parler was taken offline. On Business Weekly, we explore the role these companies have in society and whether ...
01.15.2021 Who owns colour? Scientists, artists and some of the world’s biggest companies are carving up the visual spectrum, and claiming certain colours as their own, so who does have a right to use the colours of the rainbow? We explore the ongoing rift ...
01.14.2021 Trump: The corporate backlash Will it last and why have stock markets been shrugging off political developments? A slew of companies have cut off all funding to political parties in the wake of Trump-supporting mobs storming Capitol Hill after the President and other Republican ...
01.13.2021 Should Trump be banned from social media? President Trump's ban from various social media raises the question of their regulation. Are they right to ban him, and what are the implications? We ask Nancy Mace, a newly elected Republican representative of South Carolina. Cory Doctorow, blogger, author ...
01.12.2021 Forced labour in supply chains China is forcing hundreds of thousands of Uighurs and other minorities into hard, manual labour in the vast cotton fields of its western region of Xinjiang, according to BBC reports. As a result, apparel companies are facing mounting pressure to ...
01.11.2021 Choosing a career: Don't follow your passion? When it comes to choosing a career, should you do what you love or learn to love whatever you do? A clip of Professor Scott Galloway of NYU Stern Business School saying "don't follow your passion" recently went viral. He ...
01.09.2021 Business Weekly In the week when a mob stormed the US Congress, Business Weekly examines the enormous task now facing President-elect Joe Biden. How will he unite the country and how will the new balance of power in Congress affect his economic ...
01.08.2021 What makes Elon Musk tick? Elon Musk, the space pioneer and electric car guru, now ranks as one of the world's richest men, thanks to a surge in the value of shares in his company Tesla. In an interview from 2014, he tells the BBC's ...
01.07.2021 Can the Democrats make economic change? The Democrats and President-elect Biden have won control of the US Congress after results came in from two elections in Georgia. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff defeated Republican incumbents Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue respectively. Mr Biden will have a ...

Older episodes

Business Daily

What's Business Daily about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

Business Daily episodes:

The joy of work

Covid: Healthcare worker burnout

Guyana and the pandemic

Growing up in lockdown

Lockdown breakdowns

Business Weekly

Why does Bitcoin consume so much energy?

China's vaccine diplomacy

Love in the time of coronavirus

The plastic pandemic

Will hydrogen prove a life saver?

Business Weekly

Why hair matters

The Paystack effect

The great semiconductor shortage

Teaching children about money

Bill Gates versus climate change

Business Weekly

African Free trade: What’s in it for women?

Brexit and the City

The rise of amateur day traders

Satellites to breach the digital divide

Stormy seas for global shipping

Business Weekly

Moon landings and economic priorities

What's a song worth?

Will the Olympics be postponed (again)?

How the military controls Myanmar's economy

Gamestop: Is it really a case of David vs Goliath?

Business Weekly

The pandemic pet boom

The economic cost of closing schools

Kidnap in the Gulf of Guinea

Gorillas, guns and oil

Covid: Rethinking wealth and fairness

Business Weekly

Biden's $15 minimum wage

The practicalities of Brexit

Joe Biden vs climate change

Is Covid causing a shortage of medical oxygen?

When will a Covid-19 vaccine be available to you?

Business Weekly

Who owns colour?

Trump: The corporate backlash

Should Trump be banned from social media?

Forced labour in supply chains

Choosing a career: Don't follow your passion?

Business Weekly

What makes Elon Musk tick?

Can the Democrats make economic change?

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