Italy's upcoming general election is being seen as the latest test of a populist upsurge in Europe. Manuela Saragosa is in Rome to hear what young people want from the election and the economy. Italy has one of the highest youth unemployment rates in Europe and many young people leave the country to find work. So do politicians have any answers for young people searching for their first jobs? Manuela hears from students, an employer, and a grass-roots politician about what's at stake for the economy.

Contributors: Andrea Prencipe, Deputy Rector of LUISS Guido Carli University in Rome

(Picture: A man walks past a board bearing the parties' logos registered at the Italian Interior Ministry on January 20, 2018 for the general elections to be held on March 4, 2018. (Credit:FILIPPO MONTEFORTE/AFP/Getty Images)

Fatalists might argue work has no future, that soon pretty much everything will be automated and that the robots will take over. Others say the rise of artificial intelligence and robotics just means the kinds of jobs we'll all be doing is changing. So what sorts of skills will prepare us - and our children - for the future of work, and for jobs which we might not even have dreamt of yet? Join Manuela Saragosa and guests to discuss what we should be studying now.

Contributors: Anne-Marie Imafidon MBE, co-founder of Stemettes

Picture: iPal robots sing for attendees at the AvatarMind booth during CES 2018 at the Las Vegas Convention Center on January 10, 2018 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Credit: Getty Images)

The world's top business people, politicians and economists have been meeting in the Swiss resort of Davos. In the Balance asks: Can capitalism deliver prosperity for all of us?

The International Monetary Fund confirmed a strong picture for global growth this year - but is it the right kind of growth? The IMF report reveals that one fifth of emerging market economies saw per capita incomes fall last year. So, with global growth rising, why isn't everyone getting richer? Join Manuela Saragosa and her guests in Davos, Washington and London, to discuss whether global growth can reach even the world's poorest.

Contributors:

Picture: US President Donald Trump looks on as the Landwehr Fribourg band leaves the stage during the World Economic Forum meeting on January 26, 2018 in Davos (Credit: FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP/Getty Images)

As President Trump completes his first year in office, a Nobel prize-winning economist and two mayors mark the President's economic report card. Has President Trump delivered on his big economic promises to bring back jobs and cut taxes? Ed Butler is joined by the eminent economist Professor Robert Shiller; the Mayor of Gillette, Wyoming, Louise Carter King and Pete Saenz, Mayor of the border town of Laredo, Texas. Ed also hears from Michael Stumo, CEO of the Coalition for a Prosperous America.

Image: US President Donald Trump looks on before boarding Airforce One at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland on January 8, 2018, before departing for Nashville. (Credit: JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images)

Political manipulation and fake news have shaken trust in social media sites like Facebook and Twitter. Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg has vowed to make 2018 the year of big changes on the social media giant. And politicians around the world are threatening to bring in new regulations too. In Germany a new law is now forcing platforms to remove hate speech or face big fines. Join Ed Butler and guests for a discussion on who is to blame for the ills of social media - and how to fix them.

Contributors:Samantha Bradshaw from the Computational Propaganda Project at Oxford University.

Image: Mark Zuckerberg speaks on stage during the annual Facebook F8 developers conference in San Jose, California, U.S., April 18, 2017 (Credit: Reuters)

What are the biggest risks to the global economy in 2018? Ed Butler is joined by some of the world's leading economists and political scientists to ask the key questions that will affect us all in the year ahead. Ed hears from Ian Bremmer, American political scientist and the President and founder of Eurasia Group, a political risk research firm; Megan Greene, Chief Economist at Manulife and John Hancock Asset Management in the USA and Guntram Wolf, Director of Bruegel, a leading European think tank, focussing on economics and politics. Comedian Colm O'Regan chips in from Dublin with his take on how the world is changing as 2018 gets underway.

(Picture: US President Donald Trump and China's President Xi Jinping attend a business leaders event inside the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on November 9, 2017. Credit: AFP/Getty Images)

Giving It Away

Global philanthropy is on the rise, but can the huge sums donated by wealthy business people risk undermining governments and democracy?

Also in the programme: David Callahan, author of The Givers, which questions the power acquired by philanthropists.

(Picture:the 85th Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony, New York November 29 2017. Credit: Getty Images)

Could starting up a business be the best way into work for more women across South Asia? Shivaani Kohok asks why only one in four women in India have paid jobs and what's holding them back from entering the workplace. She's joined by three women working with entrepreneurs across South Asia.

(Picture: A mother and baby treated by the Sehat Kahani healthtech business)

Are there clever solutions to real life challenges across South Asia? In partnership with the BBC Innovators series, Shivaani Kohok hears from some of the people in India who are coming up with new ideas to improve health, education and business in areas where life is tough. Shivaani and guests discuss how "jugaad" can help. It is a Hindi term that translates as "frugal innovation" - how to make the most of limited resources. But does jugaad have the potential to change lives?

(Photo: A crowd of Indian residents gather outside the Fair Price Shop in the northern district of Jahangirpuri, New Delhi. Credit: AFP/Getty Images)

In the Balance reports this week from Catalonia, Spain's strongest economic region. The Catalan leader has declared that the region has won the right to independence, following a referendum declared illegal by the Spanish state. But what about the economy? Catalonia accounts for nearly 20% of Spain's GDP, but who would stand to lose most if the region breaks away? Manuela Saragosa travels to the Catalan capital Barcelona to hear from business people, economists and workers on whether Catalonia can afford to go it alone.

(Picture: Protesters wave Spanish and Catalan flags in Barcelona on October 12, 2017. Credit: JORGE GUERRERO/AFP/Getty Images)