In this episode of the Oxford Policy Pod, MPP students Diego Peñaranda and Iván Lozano speak with Professor César Hidalgo, a physicist, complexity scientist, and one of the leading thinkers on knowledge and development.

Professor Hidalgo is a tenured professor at the Toulouse School of Economics and leads the Center for Collective Learning. He is widely recognized for co-developing the Economic Complexity Index and for his research on how knowledge shapes growth.

The conversation explores his intellectual journey from physics to economics, and his central idea that development depends on expanding what societies know how to do. Drawing on his latest book, The Infinite Alphabet, Hidalgo explains how knowledge grows, spreads, and is sometimes lost, and what this means for public policy.

The episode also discusses how countries can build capabilities, the role of talent and networks, and the potential impact of artificial intelligence on knowledge and decision-making.