Economist Podcasts

Relocation, relocation, relocation: America’s internal migration

22 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The flood of people out of cities is unlike anything since the suburbanisation of the 1950s; we examine the inevitable economic and political conseque...

All about that base: Japan’s security policy

21 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

In recent years the country has found itself in a sharply different geopolitical environment, responding by building bases and security-partner ties a...

Back to the USSR: Russia and Ukraine

20 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

As border tensions continue to build, our Russia editor looks back to the fall of the Soviet Union to explain why Russia has never accepted Ukraine’...

Centre of no attention: Chile’s presidential election

17 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

As the vote’s second round has neared, the candidates have shifted, a bit, from their positions at opposite ends of the political spectrum. Which ra...

Money printer slow brrr: the Fed turns down the taps

16 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

America’s central bank plans to pinch off its massive bond-buying programme much faster in a bid to stall inflation; our correspondent says it is pe...

In full swing: Ethiopia’s shifting civil war

15 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

More than a year after a rebellion Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed promised to put down in weeks, the balance of power keeps swinging—and neighbouring sta...

Twister of fate? Tornadoes and climate change

14 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Many have been quick to link the tornado catastrophe in America’s Upland South to climate change; we ask why that is a tricky connection to draw. Ci...

Protein shake-up: getting to know Omicron

13 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The latest “variant of concern” has spread far—and fast. We examine what has been learned about it at equally striking speed, and ask what to lo...

Unsafe as houses? Evergrande and China’s big plans

10 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The wildly indebted property firm has defaulted at last. That poses big risks as China’s leadership works to refashion financial markets and draw in...

Ain’t no party: scandals hobble Britain’s government

09 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

At two years into Boris Johnson’s premiership, yet more scandal ensures attention will still stray from the sweeping agenda of change he promised. A...

CDU later: Angela Merkel’s successor

08 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

For the first time in 16 years Mrs Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union is out of Germany’s government. We ask what to expect from Olaf Scholz, the...

Off the warpath: America 80 years after Pearl Harbour

07 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The Japanese attack set America on a course toward military hegemony; recent administrations have walked it back. We ask what the country would fight ...

The first sentence of the story: Aung San Suu Kyi

06 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Myanmar’s ousted leader has been sentenced to four years in prison; more guilty verdicts are expected soon. That will only fuel unrest that has not ...

Taiwan thing after another: the Solomon Islands

03 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The archipelago’s diplomatic pivot to China has added an international dimension to the latest flare-up of domestic tensions. We ask how this tiny s...

Roe blow? SCOTUS weighs abortion rights

02 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The conservative supermajority on America’s Supreme Court looks likely to strip back rights enshrined since the Roe v Wade ruling in 1973. Beset by ...

The house that Jack built: Twitter’s founder departs

01 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Jack Dorsey’s departure from the social-media giant reflects the growing primacy of engineering talent, and the waning mythology of the big-tech fou...

Centrifugal forces: Iran nuclear talks resume

30 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Things were all smiles after negotiations resumed—but it is difficult to see how a middle ground can be reached in Iran’s nuclear ambitions. Apple...

Priority letter: the Omicron variant

29 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Governments’ rapid responses to a new coronavirus strain were wise. But much is still to be learned about the Omicron variant before longer-term pol...

A cut-rate theory: Turkey’s currency spiral

26 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

As President Recep Tayyip Erdogan keeps pushing his upside-down economic ideas, the currency plummets and an immiserated population grows restless. Su...

You put your left side in: Germany’s shake-about

25 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

A three-way coalition has struck a deal to govern. We ask who’s who among top ministers and what’s what on the newly centre-left agenda. A shortag...

America’s sneezing: diagnosing global inflation

24 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Prices are up all over, especially in America. But whether the world’s largest economy is part of the problem or just suffering the same symptoms wi...

New bid on the bloc: Europe and vaccine mandates

23 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

A Delta wave is driving restrictions and restrictions are driving unrest. Vaccine mandates like that enacted by Austria may be the only way to end the...

Left, right and no centre: Chile’s elections

22 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The presidential election will now go to a run-off—between candidates of political extremes. We ask how that polarisation will affect promised const...

State of profusion: governments just keep growing

19 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Some factors that drive relentless growth in state spending are eternal; some are getting stronger. Our correspondent outlines a big-government future...

Georgia undermined: protests and a hunger strike

18 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Mikheil Saakashvili, a former president, is seven weeks into a hunger strike and protests supporting him are proliferating. We ask where the country i...

Defrost setting: the Xi-Biden summit

17 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The meeting between superpower presidents was cordial and careful, but it will take far more than a video call to smooth such frosty relations. Europe...

White flagged: Cuba’s muted protests

16 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

White roses, white sheets hung from homes, even white t-shirts: a movement’s symbolic colour was not much in evidence after officials quashed nation...

Peronists’ peril: Argentina’s elections

15 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The ruling party got a pasting at the polls, owing in part to a reeling economy. We ask what the opposition’s gains mean for the country. The practi...

The heat is on: COP26’s final hours

12 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The climate summit in Glasgow is in its last official day, but looks sure to overrun as negotiators thrash out an agreement. When the talking’s over...

Putin’s defiers: repression in Russia

11 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

As the economy has deteriorated and the internet has bypassed television, persecution of opponents has become the president’s main tool of political...

Trouble at the border: Belarus and the EU

10 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Around 2,000 people from the Middle East are at the European Union’s eastern frontier. Alexander Lukashenko, the autocratic Belarusian president, pr...

Dream on: Biden and social mobility

09 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Americans born at the bottom of the economic ladder find it harder than past generations—or their peers abroad—to climb to the top. The president ...

Control the past: rewriting Chinese history

08 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Over four days in Beijing, the political and military elite are meeting to recast the past. The revised version will depict Xi Jinping as a giant of t...

Tigrayans turn the tables: Ethiopia’s war

05 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Few imagined when Ethiopia’s civil war began a year ago that the capital, Addis Ababa, would come under threat from Tigrayan rebels. We explain why ...

Covering the ground: trees and COP26

04 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

At the global climate summit, more than 100 countries have promised to end deforestation by 2030. Similar promises have been made before, but might th...

Power failure: South Africa’s ANC stumbles

03 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

For the first time since the end of white rule, South Africa’s governing African National Congress is set to win less than half the vote, albeit in ...

The Floyd factor: American police reform

02 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

More than a year after George Floyd was murdered by a Minneapolis policeman, the city votes on an overhaul of its force. We examine America’s shifti...

Cool heads needed: COP26 begins

01 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

World leaders are gathering in Glasgow for the UN climate summit. Can they agree on the path to meeting the goals set in Paris six years ago, to stabi...

Going critical: Iran’s nuclear programme

29 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The Islamic Republic is closer than ever to a bomb’s worth of fissile material. Talks with America and other countries will resume next month, but h...

Competitive spirit: tech after the pandemic

28 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

After a year of breakneck growth, the big five tech companies—Alphabet, Amazon, Facebook, Apple and Microsoft—are coming back down to earth. We lo...

Winter is coming: Afghanistan’s humanitarian crisis

27 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Two months after the Taliban’s victory, civilians face a looming disaster. Will Western governments dig their heels in, or turn the aid taps back on...

Trouble in Khartoum: Sudan’s coup

26 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Just as the country was moving towards democracy, its generals have overthrown the civilians—again. We look at what sparked the unrest, and why coup...

You shall not pass: standardising vaccine passports

25 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Covid certificates are a global mess, with countries operating a patchwork of incompatible systems. We look at why it’s so difficult to standardise ...

Flu into a rage: Brazil’s Bolsonaro inquiry

22 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

President Jair Bolsonaro’s early dismissal of the pandemic as “a little flu” presaged a calamitous handling of the crisis. We ask how a congress...

States of emergency: Nigeria

21 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Criminal gangs in north-western states, jihadists in the north-east, a rebellion in the south-east: kidnappers, warlords and cattle rustlers are makin...

Gas-trick distress: a visit to Ukraine

20 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Russia continues to pile pressure on the country, and will soon have the power to cut off its natural gas. Our correspondent pays a visit to find how ...

Meeting them where they are: a British MP’s murder

19 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Sir David Amess was killed doing what he loved: speaking directly with voters. We examine the dangers inherent in the “constituency surgeries” tha...

Chinese draggin’: growth slows

18 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

A paltry GDP rise is down to the pandemic, power and property. We ask what growing pains President Xi Jinping will endure in the name of economic refo...

Port, and a storm: sectarian violence in Lebanon

15 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The effort to investigate last year’s port explosion in Beirut has fired up political and religious tensions—resulting in Lebanon’s worst violen...

For watt it’s worth: energy markets’ squeeze

14 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

A fossil-fuel scramble reveals energy markets in desperate need of a redesign. We examine what must be done to secure a renewable future. Throngs of H...

Keep your friends close: Pakistan’s shifting role

13 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

As the Taliban’s closest ally, the country bears a big responsibility for Afghanistan’s fate. We examine its diplomatic risks and opportunities. M...

Exit Poles? A bold challenge to the EU

12 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

After a court ruling in Poland that is an affront to a core European Union principle, Poles hit the streets—fearing a “Pol-exit” they do not wan...

Zero-to-some game: Asia-Pacific covid-19 plans crack

11 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Where governments enacted zero-tolerance coronavirus strategies, numbers indeed stayed low. That was before the Delta variant. We ask how countries ca...

Strait of tension: Chinese jets test Taiwan

08 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

China has sent more than 100 planes to probe Taiwan’s air-defence zone. We explain why Beijing has chosen this moment to send a message across the s...

How to lose friends and alienate people: Ethiopia’s civil war

07 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Abiy Ahmed is sworn in again as prime minister, even as continuing strife increases the country’s isolation. Our correspondent witnesses the gruesom...

Ticker shock: London’s wheezing stockmarket

06 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

A global financial centre must move with the times, and—so far—London has not. Our correspondent lays out the causes of the malaise, and how to fi...

When it goes dark: Facebook’s terrible week

05 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Yesterday’s global outage is not even the worst of it: today’s congressional testimony will examine a whistleblower’s allegations that the compa...

Docket launch: a new term for America’s Supreme Court

04 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The court will be tackling just about every judicial and social flashpoint in the country during the term that starts today; our correspondent lays ou...

The courage of two convictions: Nicolas Sarkozy

01 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The first conviction of France’s former president shocked the nation; the second confirms for citizens that, these days, politicians will be held to...

Nobody’s fuel: Britain’s shortages

30 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

From chicken to petrol, Britons are facing long queues and bare shelves. We ask about the multifarious reasons behind the shortfalls, and how long the...

Suga-free Diet: Japan’s next leader

29 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The ruling party’s choice for its president—a shoo-in for prime minister—seems to overlook the people’s will. We ask how Kishida Fumio is like...

A run for its money: funding crunches in Congress

28 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

America’s crash of deadlines carries risks for the government’s budget and just possibly its sovereign debt, and threatens Joe Biden’s presidenc...

Colour schemes: Germany’s coming coalition

27 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The country heads for a three-party government after a nail-biting election. We cut through the flurry of letters and colours to ask what is likely to...

Clubs seal: China’s view as alliances multiply

24 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Leaders of “the Quad” are meeting in person for the first time; drama from the AUKUS alliance still simmers. Our Beijing bureau chief discusses ho...

Same assembly, rewired: the United Nations meets

23 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The annual United Nations General Assembly is more than just worthy pledges and fancy dinners; we ask where the tensions and the opportunities lie thi...

The homes stretch: Evergrande

22 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

China’s property behemoth has slammed up against new rules on its giant debt pile. We ask what wider risks it now poses as a cash crunch bites. Brit...

Running to stand still: Canada’s election

21 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau remains in power after Monday’s election, but he emerges without the majority he wanted, and with his soft power damag...

Potemkin polls: Russia’s elections

20 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The winner of Russia’s elections was not in doubt. Vladimir Putin’s party, United Russia, came out on top. But despite the ballot stuffing and rep...

Sub plot: the AUKUS alliance

17 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The alliance between America, Britain and Australia has enormous significance, most of all for its nuclear-submarine provisions. We look at the global...

Shake, rattle the roles: Britain’s cabinet reshuffle

16 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has re-allocated a number of key government posts. We ask how the changes reflect his political standing and what they me...

Hunger gains: Afghanistan’s humanitarian crisis

15 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Economic collapse and halting international aid following the Taliban’s takeover have compounded shortages that were already deepening; we examine t...

Percent of the governed: California’s recall vote

14 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Governor Gavin Newsom is fighting off a bid to remove him that puts the world’s fifth-largest economy and, possibly, control of the Senate in play f...

Getting their vax up: America’s vaccine mandates

13 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

President Joe Biden’s requirements for employers to insist on vaccinations are a bold move amid flatlining inoculation rates. But will they work? Fo...

From the ground up: New York after 9/11

10 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The horrors of 20 years ago spurred an ambitious transformation, not just at the site of the attacks but across the city’s five boroughs. We visit w...

Putsch back: Africa’s latest coup in Guinea

09 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

It is unclear whether better governance lies ahead after a military takeover; what is certain is that Africa’s unwelcome trend of defenestrations ha...

The call before the storm? Brazil’s protests

08 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Tens of thousands of people aligned with President Jair Bolsonaro held protests—at his direction. Yet the numbers are increasingly aligned against h...

Bitcoin of the realm: El Salvador’s experiment

07 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

President Nayib Bukele thinks obliging businesses to take the cryptocurrency will help with remittances, inclusion and foreign investment. So far, few...

Heartbeat of the matter: Texas’s draconian abortion law

06 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The Supreme Court’s surprise decision to let the country’s harshest “heartbeat bill” stand bodes ill for the landmark Roe v Wade decision; we ...

Taking the fifth: Venezuela’s talks

03 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Four previous resolution meetings involving President Nicolás Maduro have changed little. This time international backing and aligned incentives migh...

Reeling and dealing: how to engage the Taliban

02 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

In some ways America has more leverage now that its forces have left; we ask how diplomatic and aid efforts should proceed in order to protect ordinar...

Out for blood: the Theranos trial

01 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Elizabeth Holmes founded a big blood-testing startup; her claims were founded on very little. As her trial begins we ask how the company got so far be...

CDU later? Germany’s topsy-turvy election

31 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The party of Angela Merkel, the outgoing chancellor, is flailing in polls. We ask why the race has been so unpredictable and what outcomes now seem pr...

Banks note: the Jackson Hole meeting

30 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The message for central bankers at the annual jamboree: relax a bit about inflation and be loud and clear about plans to stanch the cash being pumped ...

The terror of their ways: Kabul and global jihadism

27 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The suicide-bombings that have killed scores of people signal how the Taliban will struggle to rule Afghanistan; meanwhile the rest of the world’s j...

To all, appearances: Israel’s PM in Washington

26 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Naftali Bennett’s first face-to-face meeting with President Joe Biden will look calm and co-operative. But in time, sharp differences will strain th...

Delta‘s force: Australia’s covid plans crumble

25 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

For a while, closed borders and strict contact-tracing held the coronavirus at bay. What lessons to take now the Delta variant has broken through in t...

How you like them: Apple’s decade under Tim Cook

24 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The tech firm has ballooned under his leadership, but Mr Cook’s next ten years will not be as rosy as the first. We ask how he can maintain Apple’...

Annexed question, please: Ukraine’s summit on Crimea

23 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

President Volodymyr Zelensky wants to draw attention to Russia’s continued occupation of Crimea, and its failure to look after the region’s citize...

Value-free investing: China and Afghanistan

20 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The Taliban’s takeover is a boon for China’s propaganda machine: America is tired, its policies disastrous, its values a distraction. Meanwhile Ch...

Fits and starts: SARS-CoV-2’s origin

19 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

In the end, the World Health Organisation’s report in March revealed little. We ask why the coronavirus origin story is so crucial, and whether Chin...

Stymie a river: the American West dries up

18 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The first-ever water shortage declared for the Colorado River is just one sign of troubles to come; as the climate changes, century-old water habits a...

It rains, it pours: Haiti’s tragedy compounds

17 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

A president’s assassination, a cratered economy and now this: a tropical depression that will hamper rescue efforts after a massive earthquake. The ...

Nothing to break the fall: Afghanistan

16 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The fall of Kabul, the capital, sealed the country’s fate: after 20 years, the Taliban are back in charge—a fearsome outcome for its people and fo...

Thicket and boarding pass: travel’s tangle of rules

13 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Restrictions are opaque, fickle and often illiberal—and it is not even clear how much they help curb the coronavirus. Chinese officials want to boos...

Bridges and divides: America’s infrastructure push

12 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The Senate has passed the first part of President Joe Biden’s mammoth plan, which is now tied to a far more ambitious part two. We examine their pro...

Blazed and confused: Turkey’s raging fires

11 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Across the Mediterranean and beyond, flames are consuming the landscape. Our correspondent says Turkey’s government helped make the country a tinder...

Shots or fired: America’s vaccine mandates

10 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Inoculation or testing requirements are spreading nearly as fast as the Delta variant. But it is not clear they will actually drive more people to get...

Hot prospects: a sobering IPCC report

09 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The UN climate body’s latest doorstopper report is unequivocal: climate change is human-caused, and already here—and 1.5°C of warming is looking ...

Coming in harder: Iran’s new president

06 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Ebrahim Raisi takes office as the country is blamed for multiple attacks in the region; a more mistrustful, hardline and aggressive regime awaits. Our...

No consent of the governed: Andrew Cuomo on the brink

05 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

After a damning report into sexual-harassment allegations, support for New York’s governor has cratered. He is hanging on—for now. LinkedIn seems ...