Economist Radio

By The Economist

News & Politics

What's Economist Radio about?

The Economist was founded in 1843 "to throw white light on the subjects within its range". For more from The Economist visit http://shop.economist.com/collections/audio

4.5

2,095 ratings

Download our free app to listen on your phone

LAST EPISODE

Babbage: The forgotten pand...

07.08.2020

With attention diverted to covid-19, access to HIV medications has been disrupted. Host Kenneth Cukier talks to Meg Doherty, director of HIV programmes at the World Health Organisation, about the fight against the other pandemic. Also, hydrogen power has had ...

Economist Radio episodes:

07.08.2020 Babbage: The forgotten pandemic With attention diverted to covid-19, access to HIV medications has been disrupted. Host Kenneth Cukier talks to Meg Doherty, director of HIV programmes at the World Health Organisation, about the fight against the other pandemic. Also, hydrogen power has had ...
07.08.2020 In front, and centred: Joe Biden The former vice-president has shifted leftward with his party, but it is his centrist tendencies that make him electable—and could permit him to effect radical change. Emmanuel Macron, France’s president, is reshuffling the government; why has he chosen a largely ...
07.07.2020 Money Talks: In recovery? As some lockdown measures lift, governments hope they can get their economies back on track. Which will have the strongest recovery? Also, meal-delivery wars heat up as Uber gobbles up rival Postmates in an all-stock deal worth over $2.6bn. And, ...
07.07.2020 Off like a shot: the race for a covid-19 vaccine A British team is leading the race for the one innovation that could, in time, halt the coronavirus crisis. But once a vaccine is approved, who would get it, where, and how fast? An Ethiopian musician’s murder has inflamed the ...
07.06.2020 Attention deficit: China’s campaign against Uighurs Unparalleled surveillance, forced labour, even allegations of ethnic cleansing: atrocities in Xinjiang province carry on. Why are governments and businesses so loth to protest? The field of economics is, at last, facing up to its long-standing race problem. And how ...
07.05.2020 Editor’s Picks: July 6th 2020 A selection of three essential articles read aloud from the latest issue of The Economist. This week, Joe Biden: Retro or radical? (9:34), the world is not experiencing a second wave of covid-19—it never got over the first (15:25), and ...
07.03.2020 Checks and Balance: Monuments men President Trump is celebrating July 4th with four revered forerunners at Mount Rushmore. Anti-racist protests have brought down dozens of smaller monuments in the past month. The president says the left wants to “vandalise our history.” But Americans have never ...
07.03.2020 Into left field? America's chief justice Recent Supreme Court rulings might seem like a leftward shift. But Chief Justice John Roberts is leaving loopholes for future conservative challenges. China’s video-sharing social network TikTok was wildly popular in India, until the government pulled the plug this week. ...
07.02.2020 The Economist Asks: David Malpass The Economist Asks: David Malpass The president of the World Bank talks to host Anne McElvoy and Henry Curr, our economics editor, about how to stop covid-19 undoing decades of progress on global poverty. A veteran of the Trump and ...
07.02.2020 Unsettled question: Israel’s annexation threat A once-fringe position on annexing the West Bank is now a real prospect. But both international support and opposition are lukewarm; not even Israelis think it a priority. For years, war-crimes allegations hung over Kosovo’s president. Now a court has ...
07.01.2020 Babbage: Predicting pandemics As covid-19 continues to devastate the world and scientists race to develop therapeutics and vaccines, Alok Jha investigates how to get ahead of the curve and prevent the next pandemic. Scientists explain how studying the relationship between animals and humans, ...
07.01.2020 Two systems go: a new law grips Hong Kong A sweeping new national-security law deeply undermines Beijing’s “one country, two systems” approach in the territory; under it, arrests have already been made. What next for Hong Kong’s activists and its businesses? Malawi’s overturned election is a ray of hope ...
06.30.2020 Money Talks: Unfriending Facebook Companies including Unilever, Coca-Cola and Verizon are pulling their ads from Facebook because of its content-moderation policies. Does this spell trouble for the social-media giant? Also, why investors’ love of commercial property is being tested. And, e-sports v traditional sports. ...
06.30.2020 The next threat: confronting global risks Six months on from the first reports of the coronavirus, this special episode examines the catastrophic and even existential risks to civilisation. Work is already under way to head off future pandemics, but how to prepare—and who can take on ...
06.29.2020 The World Ahead: Bus to the future What is the future of public transport in the wake of the covid-19 pandemic? Also, the United Nations’ Assistant Secretary-General on how countries should prepare for future disasters. And could a “carbon surveillance” system help save the planet? Tom Standage ...
06.29.2020 States of alarm: America’s covid-19 surge An entirely predictable pattern is playing out: the states quickest to exit lockdowns are being hit hardest. Can the country get the virus reliably under control? The pandemic has led to staggering amounts of excess plastic waste, now washing up ...
06.28.2020 Editor’s Picks: June 29th 2020 A selection of three essential articles read aloud from the latest issue of The Economist. This week, the next catastrophe and how to survive it; (9:40) the risks of annexation for Israel; (21:50) and the Wirecard scandal. Please subscribe to ...
06.26.2020 Checks and Balance: Bias beware Impartiality in political journalism is under scrutiny as never before. President Trump took a trademark pop at the “fakers” when he resumed his campaign rallies in Tulsa. Meanwhile the White House has begun decapitating state-funded global news agencies like Voice ...
06.26.2020 Council insecurity: the UN at 75 The founders of the United Nations expected it would move with the times. It hasn’t. Can reforms keep all those nations united? The global focus on policing following George Floyd’s death has sparked a reckoning for television shows that distort ...
06.25.2020 The Economist Asks: António Guterres Seventy-five years after the foundation of the United Nations, host Anne McElvoy and Daniel Franklin, The Economist’s diplomatic editor, ask Secretary-General Guterres whether the organisation still works. The dysfunctional relationship between its three dominant powers, America, China and Russia, has ...
06.25.2020 Rush to a conclusion: Latin America’s lockdowns After scattershot enforcement of lockdowns, the region has become the pandemic’s new focal point. But many countries are opening up anyway. America’s latest choke on immigration is aligned with the president’s politics—but not with the tech industry’s needs. And southern ...
06.24.2020 Babbage: Track and trace Contact tracing is one of the tools being used against covid-19, but in the age of the smartphone, technology presents a new way to improve the process. Kenneth Cukier explores why contact-tracing apps have not yet delivered on their promise, ...
06.24.2020 Leave in peace: Afghan-Taliban negotiations A withdrawal agreement struck with America has been damnably hard to implement, but the two sides may at last start talks to crimp nearly two decades of conflict. Wirecard, once the darling of Germany’s financial-technology scene, is now at the ...
06.23.2020 Money Talks: Can Amazon still deliver? The coronavirus has turned Amazon into one of the world’s essential firms. But while proving the company’s strengths, the pandemic-fuelled digital surge has also revealed its vulnerabilities. Tamzin Booth, The Economist’s technology and business editor, talks to insiders, critics and ...
06.23.2020 Past its Prime? Amazon comes of age The pandemic has been great for sales; for profits, not so much. We examine the e-commerce giant’s prospects as it adapts to a changing world. Throughout history pandemics have helped to shape human conflicts, and covid-19 is no different. And ...
06.22.2020 Isle be damned: Britain ravaged by covid-19 Cosmopolitan, overweight, multi-ethnic: the country’s makeup has made the pandemic more deadly. But the government has repeatedly played a bad hand badly. Native American communities are being hit hard, too, putting tribal customs and even languages at risk. And why ...
06.21.2020 Editor’s Picks: June 22nd 2020 A selection of three essential articles read aloud from the latest issue of The Economist. This week, Amazon is essential, but vulnerable; (10:35) pandemic politics in Britain; (18:15) and the United Nations after 75 years. Please subscribe to The Economist ...
06.19.2020 Checks and Balance: Generals strike America is in the midst of its worst civil-military crisis for a generation. President Trump’s call to use military force to quell protests caused alarm up and down the chain of command. What is the place of the military in ...
06.19.2020 Syria’s condition: Bashar al-Assad The country’s dictator has spent nearly half his time in power waging war on his own people. His patchwork support network is fading, but he will not go easily. America’s racial unrest has put reparations back in the national conversation—but ...
06.18.2020 The Economist Asks: Mellody Hobson How can business be braver on race? Anne McElvoy asks Mellody Hobson, co-CEO of Ariel Investments, whether investors should divest from companies that don’t do enough to address racial inequality. Hobson also explains the challenges of managing diverse views, in ...
06.18.2020 Painting the red towns: covid-19 in America Coronavirus cases are easing in Democrat-held jurisdictions and rising in Republican-held areas. What is behind the shift, and what will it mean for President Donald Trump? Ireland at last has a coalition-government plan—upending a nearly century-old rivalry in order to ...
06.17.2020 Babbage: Pole position A year-long, $160m expedition to the Arctic has passed its halfway mark and is amassing sobering data about the effects of climate change there. One of the scientists on board explains the discoveries so far. Also, Peter Schwartz, who imagined ...
06.17.2020 Himalayan assault: India and China clash The first deaths at the contested border in 45 years signal broader geopolitical shifts—and mark an escalation that will be difficult to reverse. “Mercenary” is less and less a dirty word in Africa; in fact, there may be more of ...
06.16.2020 Money Talks: What USA Inc can do about racial injustice The killing of George Floyd and ensuing protests are a wake-up call for corporate America. There are few African-Americans among its CEOs. What will bosses do to combat racism beyond releasing PR statements? Also, how diversity helps the bottom line ...
06.16.2020 No port in a storm: the world’s stranded sailors Pandemic policies seem to have overlooked the key workers who keep the global trade system afloat: merchant seamen. More than a quarter of a million are at sea unwillingly. Misinformation was a plague even before covid-19. Now it’s a matter ...
06.15.2020 A shifting alliance: NATO As the organisation’s defence ministers meet this week we look at two of its principal challenges: China’s rising influence and America’s declining interest. After more than three decades, a grand murder mystery has been solved in Sweden—but the outcome has ...
06.14.2020 Editor's Picks: June 15th 2020 A selection of three essential articles read aloud from the latest issue of The Economist. This week, the power of protest and the legacy of George Floyd; (11:07) life in great cities after the pandemic; (17:55) and the lessons from ...
06.12.2020 Checks and Balance: Modelled citizens Forecasters put Hillary Clinton’s chances of winning at 70 percent or more on the eve of the election in 2016. She was also the favourite to carry key states like Pennsylvania and Wisconsin that Donald Trump won on the night. ...
06.12.2020 Heavy lifting: India’s lockdown tradeoffs As the world’s largest lockdown loosens, we examine how it went wrong and the challenges ahead for a health-care system pushed to its limits. As statues fall across the globe our culture correspondent considers how they represent shifting values and ...
06.11.2020 The Economist Asks: Jeffrey Sachs The seismic shock of the coronavirus pandemic has revealed the fragility of an interconnected world. Anne McElvoy and economist Jeffrey Sachs debate whether globalisation is still worth the risks—and whether liberal economists should bear some of the blame. And could ...
06.11.2020 Spend, sometime: Germany’s economic shift After decades as the continent’s penny-pincher, the country seems to be splashing out. That isn’t just a covid-19 response; a big thrift shift was already under way. Burundi’s brutal outgoing president of 15 years has died. Will his chosen successor ...
06.10.2020 Babbage: Covid-19's path of destruction Slavea Chankova and Kenneth Cukier investigate the ways in which SARS-CoV-2, the virus which causes covid-19, wears the body down. Apart from pneumonia, there are other facets to the disease that are less understood such as damage to the kidneys, ...
06.10.2020 Haftar be going now: the balance shifts in Libya Tripoli has long been under siege by Khalifa Haftar, a warlord bent on toppling the internationally backed government. At last he has been pushed back from the capital; now what? North Korea is no longer taking calls from the South, ...
06.09.2020 Money Talks: Joblessness in May American unemployment fell in May, but is this really a sign of a "rocket-ship" recovery? Also, Gene Sperling, a former director of the National Economic Council, lays out his vision for a more equitable society. And, thriving on secrecy—the private ...
06.09.2020 Cops, a plea: police reform in America George Floyd will be laid to rest today; our obituaries editor reflects on his life and untimely death. His murder has fuelled a long-overdue discussion of America’s fragmented and unaccountable police forces. How much could yesterday’s sweeping congressional bill actually ...
06.08.2020 Say his name, and others’: American protests spread globally Far beyond America’s shores demonstrators are calling for justice in their own countries. It’s an awkward time for America’s allies, and a fortuitous one for its rivals. Labour-market swings during recessions are normally a measure of male employees’ moves—but not ...
06.07.2020 Editor’s Picks: June 8th 2020 A selection of three essential articles read aloud from the latest issue of The Economist. This week: Police violence, race and protest in America, How will China’s Belt and Road Initiative survive? (10:30) And, Alexander Pushkin’s productive lockdown (23:10). Please ...
06.05.2020 Checks and balance: Fair cops America is engulfed in its most widespread, sustained unrest since the late 1960s. It was sparked by an act of police brutality caught on camera. In the days since, Americans have seen police forces look more like an invading army ...
06.05.2020 Not everything in moderation: Twitter v Facebook The seemingly similar social networks have quite different business models—and that goes some way in explaining why they choose to police their content differently. Emmanuel Macron again finds himself changing course after members of his party defect. And move over, ...
06.04.2020 The Economist Asks: Valerie Jarrett Valerie Jarrett was President Obama's longest serving senior adviser, with responsibility for criminal justice and police reform. In the wake of the killing of George Floyd and protests across the country, Anne McElvoy asks whether this moment could be a ...

Older episodes

Economist Radio

What's Economist Radio about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

Economist Radio episodes:

Babbage: The forgotten pandemic

In front, and centred: Joe Biden

Money Talks: In recovery?

Off like a shot: the race for a covid-19 vaccine

Attention deficit: China’s campaign against Uighurs

Editor’s Picks: July 6th 2020

Checks and Balance: Monuments men

Into left field? America's chief justice

The Economist Asks: David Malpass

Unsettled question: Israel’s annexation threat

Babbage: Predicting pandemics

Two systems go: a new law grips Hong Kong

Money Talks: Unfriending Facebook

The next threat: confronting global risks

The World Ahead: Bus to the future

States of alarm: America’s covid-19 surge

Editor’s Picks: June 29th 2020

Checks and Balance: Bias beware

Council insecurity: the UN at 75

The Economist Asks: António Guterres

Rush to a conclusion: Latin America’s lockdowns

Babbage: Track and trace

Leave in peace: Afghan-Taliban negotiations

Money Talks: Can Amazon still deliver?

Past its Prime? Amazon comes of age

Isle be damned: Britain ravaged by covid-19

Editor’s Picks: June 22nd 2020

Checks and Balance: Generals strike

Syria’s condition: Bashar al-Assad

The Economist Asks: Mellody Hobson

Painting the red towns: covid-19 in America

Babbage: Pole position

Himalayan assault: India and China clash

Money Talks: What USA Inc can do about racial injustice

No port in a storm: the world’s stranded sailors

A shifting alliance: NATO

Editor's Picks: June 15th 2020

Checks and Balance: Modelled citizens

Heavy lifting: India’s lockdown tradeoffs

The Economist Asks: Jeffrey Sachs

Spend, sometime: Germany’s economic shift

Babbage: Covid-19's path of destruction

Haftar be going now: the balance shifts in Libya

Money Talks: Joblessness in May

Cops, a plea: police reform in America

Say his name, and others’: American protests spread globally

Editor’s Picks: June 8th 2020

Checks and balance: Fair cops

Not everything in moderation: Twitter v Facebook

The Economist Asks: Valerie Jarrett

Other shows like Economist Radio: