Economist Radio

By The Economist

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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

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Checks and Balance: On mute

01.15.2021

In the last week of his presidency Donald Trump is being purged from the political mainstream. Congress has impeached him again. He has been booted off social media. A major golf tournament has been pulled from one of his courses. ...

Economist Radio episodes:

01.15.2021 Checks and Balance: On mute In the last week of his presidency Donald Trump is being purged from the political mainstream. Congress has impeached him again. He has been booted off social media. A major golf tournament has been pulled from one of his courses. ...
01.15.2021 Bold Wine in new battles: Uganda’s election After a violent campaign in which the opposition candidate Bobi Wine was extensively intimidated, authorities imposed an internet blackout. President Yoweri Museveni will almost certainly cling to power—a worry for Uganda and the wider region. Wikipedia turns 20 today; we ...
01.14.2021 The Economist Asks: Jimmy Wales As Wikipedia turns 20, we ask its founder Jimmy Wales how “the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit” really works. Also, as creator of another tech giant, does he reckon social media is still a force for good? And were ...
01.14.2021 Two-timer: Trump impeached, again Some House Republicans broke ranks, joining Democrats to hand President Donald Trump an ignominious distinction. Our deputy editor lays out why the Senate should now convict and remove him. Under South Africa’s ruling ANC party a powerful black middle class ...
01.13.2021 Babbage: Innovation’s new wave Covid-19 has catalysed scientific advancement and boosted technological optimism. Could innovation be the answer to decades of slowing growth in Western countries? Also, why magnetic tape still reigns supreme in “cold” data storage. And how effective are traditional herbal remedies ...
01.13.2021 Trial ensnarer: human-rights law’s new tool War criminals and their ilk often evade justice solely because of squabbling over who can be tried where. But a rise in “universal jurisdiction” trials is tightening the net. Recent lockdowns’ hits to global economies are not nearly as deep ...
01.12.2021 Money Talks: Testing their metals Despite the economic catastrophe of the pandemic, prices of goods such as copper, iron ore and soya beans are surging; just how far can commodities climb? Also, how the Brexit trade agreement will reshape business on both sides of the ...
01.12.2021 You don’t say: tech’s Trump bans Moves to shutter the president’s accounts and to crimp corners of the internet given to right-wing extremism raise thorny questions, both about free speech and social-media firms’ business models. Our public-policy editor takes a broad look at girlhood: how women’s ...
01.11.2021 Wrest wing: the bid to oust Trump Today Democratic lawmakers will begin attempts to remove President Donald Trump. It could fail, or be delayed—or Republicans could see a political opportunity. Even amid a global vaccination drive, the hunt for covid-19 treatments continues; we examine two existing arthritis ...
01.11.2021 Editor’s Picks: January 11th 2021 A selection of three essential articles read aloud from the latest issue of The Economist. This week: the shame and the opportunity of Trump’s legacy, how to deal with China (8:50), and why the crazy upward march in stock prices ...
01.08.2021 Checks and Balance: American carnage President Trump stood on the Capitol steps at his inauguration and promised to stop “this American carnage.” Four years later a violent mob stormed the Capitol building in an attempt to overturn his election defeat. Will this jarring spectacle make ...
01.08.2021 The longer arm of the law: Hong Kong A national-security law imposed by Beijing had not, until this week, bared its teeth; the arrests of dozens of pro-democracy figures reveals how much it can crimp opposition. At the American Economics Association’s annual shindig, a scholar implores economists to ...
01.07.2021 The Economist Asks: Margaret MacMillan After the shocking scenes in Washington DC this week, we ask war historian Margaret MacMillan if violence is an inevitable part of civilisation. Professor MacMillan, author of 'War: How conflict shaped us', reflects on whether the invasion of the Capitol ...
01.07.2021 Riot act: Biden confirmed amid chaos After previously unthinkable scenes played out in Washington’s legislature, we ask what the violence will mean for the president, Republican lawmakers and American democracy. Argentina’s move to liberalise its abortion laws reflects slowly changing attitudes across Latin America, and may ...
01.06.2021 Babbage: Viral defences A new strain of covid-19 is surging in Britain, America and Europe—vaccines can curb the effects, but can governments speed up the roll-out? Also, in 2020 some regions acted rapidly enough to avoid severe waves of infection. Host Kenneth Cukier ...
01.06.2021 Run-off, their feat: Georgia’s Senate races Democrats look set to win both the run-off elections that will determine control of the Senate—and how President-elect Joe Biden will be able to govern. Quantum computing is still nascent, its power yet to be truly tapped. But the finance ...
01.05.2021 Money Talks: Once bitcoin, thrice as high Having tripled in value in the past quarter, the cryptocurrency continues its rollercoaster ride, as the financial establishment begins to jump aboard. Also, why a new EU-China investment deal fails to balance competition, cooperation and confrontation. And, what can companies ...
01.05.2021 Stresses of strains: emerging coronavirus variants It is no surprise that more-transmissible coronavirus variants are cropping up. We ask how worrisome the strains found in Britain and South Africa are. American authorities have lodged a landmark case against Walmart for its role in the country’s worsening ...
01.04.2021 Arms within reach: Israel's vaccination lead Aggressive purchasing, solid logistics and a competitive health-care system have led to a world-beating rate of immunisation—but, as ever, politics is playing a role, too. Big oil had a terrible 2020, but the sector’s troubles pre-date the pandemic; we look ...
01.04.2021 Editor’s Picks: January 4th 2021 A selection of three essential articles read aloud from the latest issue of The Economist. This week: Britain’s place in the world, the future of global e-commerce (9:25), and using urine to heat homes (16:30). Please subscribe to The Economist ...
01.01.2021 Checks and Balance: Leaving today New York became the epicentre of the pandemic when it first hit America. More than 25,000 New Yorkers have died of covid-19. An estimated 300,000 have left the city as its health infrastructure stretched beyond capacity, schools closed, and crime ...
12.30.2020 Babbage: Baby it’s cold outside In a special holiday episode, we travel to the Russian Arctic to meet the "prophet of the permafrost", take an extraterrestrial hike in the tracks of NASA’s Curiosity rover on Mars and meet the researchers cataloguing culture. Kenneth Cukier hosts ...
12.30.2020 Isle talk to EU later: a vote on a scant Brexit deal Britain’s parliament will vote today on its last-gasp agreement with the European Union. But that will only mark the start of more negotiations for years to come. And we examine the shortlist from The Economist’s annual “country of the year” ...
12.29.2020 Money Talks: The Alexander technique A hundred years ago, Sadie Alexander became the first African American to receive a PhD in economics and then spent a career fighting racial discrimination. In this episode, The Economist’s trade and globalisation editor Soumaya Keynes speaks to Nina Banks ...
12.29.2020 Cheques, imbalances: America’s fraught stimulus After months of deadlock, a covid-19 relief package has passed, but the battles continue. We ask how things got so dire and what President-elect Joe Biden will inherit. A deadly shootout in London more than a century ago still resonates ...
12.28.2020 The World Ahead: Joe Biden’s in-tray Looking ahead to 2021, we consider Joe Biden’s domestic-policy agenda: faced with a pandemic and an economic crisis, where will he start? To what extent will the new president be able to heal America’s deep cultural divides and how will ...
12.28.2020 Going around the bloc: Europe’s vaccination push The first inoculations are happening across the continent as part of a co-ordinated push—but levels of both supply and uptake remain uncertain. Our correspondent explores South Korea’s obsession with hiking and why it means different things to different climbers. And ...
12.28.2020 Editor’s Picks: December 28th 2020 A selection of three articles read aloud from the holiday issue of The Economist. This week: a history of Christmas newsletters, the life of Desiderius Erasmus (18:20) and the lure of pebbles (37:45). Please subscribe to The Economist for full ...
12.24.2020 The Economist Asks: Misty Copeland Was the first black principal dancer at the American Ballet Theatre earlier denied roles because of her skin colour? She tells host, Anne McElvoy, how dance saved her from a difficult childhood and about her first performance in a classic ...
12.23.2020 Babbage: The parasites and the pandemic While the world has been preoccupied with tackling covid-19, deadly malaria epidemics are continuing around the world. Robert Guest, The Economist’s foreign editor, investigates how covid-19 has affected the fight against malaria and talks to scientists in Senegal working to ...
12.23.2020 Old acquaintance not forgot: the notable deaths of 2020 In a year marked by more than a million and a half deaths, mortality has rarely been so front of mind. Our obituary editor looks back through the notable figures she has memorialised, from George Floyd to Vera Lynn. For ...
12.22.2020 Merry Talks: The year that was Tins of tuna and bedroom slippers, triple-digit growth and IPO implosion—what could it all mean? Host Henry Tricks leads an international band of “Money Talks” regulars on a whistlestop tour through a year like no other. The team choose their ...
12.22.2020 Bubbles in the market: Mexico’s Coca-Cola obsession For decades, the country has been an almighty consumer of the fizzy drink. But amid a woeful covid-19 situation politicians are highlighting the health concerns it brings. In getting to know a sleepy French village, our correspondent finds a nuanced ...
12.21.2020 Get the lead out: Zambia’s toxic mine A site that closed more than a quarter-century ago is still slowly poisoning the residents of Kabwe with lead; a class-action lawsuit is at last seeking redress. Our correspondent visits the ancient monastery behind the international Shaolin brand, learning the ...
12.21.2020 Editor’s Picks: December 21st 2020 A selection of three essential articles read aloud from the latest issue of The Economist. This week: reflecting on the plague year, ten years after the Arab spring (9:50), and what if CEOs’ memos were clear and honest? (15:30). Please ...
12.18.2020 Checks and Balance: The unfinished revolution After the defeat of the Confederacy and the end of slavery in 1865, the period known as Reconstruction was a chance to create a multiracial democracy and for America to live up to the promise made at its founding. It ...
12.18.2020 Rehousing project: Bangladesh’s Rohingya The country’s refugee camps are packed and squalid, so the government is moving perhaps 100,000 Rohingya Muslims to a tiny island. Will life for them improve? Military tactics can be misleading; sometimes they are outright trickery. Our defence editor looks ...
12.17.2020 The Economist Asks: What next for Germany after Merkel? Anne McElvoy asks the former German ambassador to the US, Wolfgang Ischinger, if America can still be relied upon as a “protective uncle” and how it should deal with China. And, who will succeed Chancellor Merkel in 2021? Anne talks ...
12.17.2020 And then, winter: ten years after the Arab Spring A revolutionary conflagration a decade ago has almost entirely flickered out. We ask what happened to all the optimism and why real change has been so hard to achieve. A widely watched lawsuit reveals the slow march of feminism in ...
12.16.2020 Babbage: Taming the tech titans This week the EU unveiled its plan to rein in big tech—the draft laws target the American giants, but European firms may not benefit much. Also, how a failed study has revealed a promising new gene-therapy treatment for blindness. And, ...
12.16.2020 This market went a little piggy: a capital-raising frenzy Astonishingly, companies have raised more capital this year than ever before. We ask how capital markets shook free amid the pandemic—and what will happen with all that cash now. Our correspondent finds just how dependent the world’s waste-management industry is ...
12.15.2020 Money Talks: The madness of crowds A volatile world begets volatile financial markets. Does this explain investor enthusiasm for tech stocks and IPOs—or is something else afoot? Also, Michael O’Leary, the boss of Europe’s largest airline Ryanair, reads the skies ahead. And, the little-known history of ...
12.15.2020 Joe, College: Biden’s victory affirmed America’s by-the-book electoral-college vote calmed concerns about another Trump-camp bid to overturn the election—but that is not to say the ructions are over. On an unannounced visit to a suspected forced-labour camp in China’s Xinjiang province, our correspondent runs into ...
12.14.2020 So long, and we’re keeping all the fish: Brexit Britain’s divorce from the European Union still hinges on sticky matters of fishing rights and the enforcement of fair competition, and time is rapidly running out to strike a deal. India’s fantastical “love jihad” conspiracy theory is just another Muslim-marginalisation ...
12.14.2020 Editor’s Picks: December 14th 2020 A selection of three essential articles read aloud from the latest issue of The Economist. This week: after the pandemic, will inflation return? Religious discrimination in a New York village (09:35). And, the global repercussions of an English ruling on ...
12.11.2020 Checks and Balance: On my mind As 2020 draws to a close, the partisan feud is focused on Georgia. Joe Biden was the first Democrat in 28 years to win the state on the way to the White House. Run-off elections on January 5th will decide ...
12.11.2020 Taking the temperature: a climate chat with the UN chief Ahead of a weekend meeting to assess and bolster the Paris Agreement, our correspondent speaks with Antonio Guterres about his reasons for cautious optimism. The founder of an upstart far-right Dutch party has been consumed by scandals; we discuss a ...
12.10.2020 The Economist Asks: Joseph Henrich How stable is the West? Professor Joseph Henrich, chair of Human Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University, says that even successful societies can implode. He tells Anne McElvoy that the economically dominant Western identity, evolving from the “psychologically peculiar” minds of ...
12.10.2020 If you already joined ‘em, beat ‘em: Facebook gets sued American regulators have put mergers that they approved years ago at the heart of antitrust lawsuits—a tricky bid to curb the social-media giant’s market power. We examine the surge of an artist-led protest movement in Cuba, where dissent on any ...
12.09.2020 Babbage: Lighter than air The aviation industry is under pressure to curb carbon-dioxide emissions—hydrogen fuel could offer a greener way to fly. Also, host Kenneth Cukier unravels the inner workings of the human mind with psychologist Howard Gardner and neuroscientist David Eagleman. If there ...

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Economist Radio

What's Economist Radio about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

Economist Radio episodes:

Checks and Balance: On mute

Bold Wine in new battles: Uganda’s election

The Economist Asks: Jimmy Wales

Two-timer: Trump impeached, again

Babbage: Innovation’s new wave

Trial ensnarer: human-rights law’s new tool

Money Talks: Testing their metals

You don’t say: tech’s Trump bans

Wrest wing: the bid to oust Trump

Editor’s Picks: January 11th 2021

Checks and Balance: American carnage

The longer arm of the law: Hong Kong

The Economist Asks: Margaret MacMillan

Riot act: Biden confirmed amid chaos

Babbage: Viral defences

Run-off, their feat: Georgia’s Senate races

Money Talks: Once bitcoin, thrice as high

Stresses of strains: emerging coronavirus variants

Arms within reach: Israel's vaccination lead

Editor’s Picks: January 4th 2021

Checks and Balance: Leaving today

Babbage: Baby it’s cold outside

Isle talk to EU later: a vote on a scant Brexit deal

Money Talks: The Alexander technique

Cheques, imbalances: America’s fraught stimulus

The World Ahead: Joe Biden’s in-tray

Going around the bloc: Europe’s vaccination push

Editor’s Picks: December 28th 2020

The Economist Asks: Misty Copeland

Babbage: The parasites and the pandemic

Old acquaintance not forgot: the notable deaths of 2020

Merry Talks: The year that was

Bubbles in the market: Mexico’s Coca-Cola obsession

Get the lead out: Zambia’s toxic mine

Editor’s Picks: December 21st 2020

Checks and Balance: The unfinished revolution

Rehousing project: Bangladesh’s Rohingya

The Economist Asks: What next for Germany after Merkel?

And then, winter: ten years after the Arab Spring

Babbage: Taming the tech titans

This market went a little piggy: a capital-raising frenzy

Money Talks: The madness of crowds

Joe, College: Biden’s victory affirmed

So long, and we’re keeping all the fish: Brexit

Editor’s Picks: December 14th 2020

Checks and Balance: On my mind

Taking the temperature: a climate chat with the UN chief

The Economist Asks: Joseph Henrich

If you already joined ‘em, beat ‘em: Facebook gets sued

Babbage: Lighter than air

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