Economist Podcasts

Harms weigh: AstraZeneca vaccine fears

17 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Scattered reports of blood clots have sparked curbs across Europe, even though the jab is almost certainly safe. We take a hard look at the risks in r...

Earning them: Stripe’s monster valuation

16 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The firm got in early providing online-payment software to tech startups. Now it’s the most valuable Silicon Valley darling yet. We look at its futu...

Redrawing the map: a fragmented Syria

15 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

As the country marks ten years of civil war, the economy is crippled; it has broken up into statelets and ethnic enclaves that may never be reunified....

Casting the net wider: remaking the welfare state

12 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

As the Biden administration fires a $1.9trn pandemic-relief bazooka, we consider how governments might rethink welfare: providing more-flexible benefi...

Nuclear inaction: the legacy of Fukushima

11 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The cleanup effort in and around the melted-down power plant is still progressing, but rebuilding communities—and, crucially, trust—is proving far...

Whither permitting? Vaccine passports

10 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Formalising systems to divide the vaccinated from the unvaccinated is neither as risky nor as useful as many people think. In any case, vaccine passpo...

Reconciled to it: America’s stimulus bill

09 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Thanks to a parliamentary contortion called reconciliation, the $1.9trn covid-relief plan is likely to sail through—we examine what is in it and wha...

Despair and disparities: covid-19 consumes Brazil

08 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

State and local pandemic responses are scattershot; a national effort is all but nonexistent. A creeping sense of fatalism makes for peril far beyond ...

Rubber-stamping ground: China’s parliament meets

05 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The National People’s Congress kicked off with two big signals of Beijing’s intentions: a return to economic-growth targets and a plan to eradicat...

Exit stages left: America and the Middle East

04 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The Biden administration would like to pull back from the region; America’s strategic interests have changed, as have regional dynamics. We examine ...

Owing to the pandemic: Britain’s budget

03 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The finance minister has a plan that will keep many safeguards in place—for now. We ask how the country will then dig itself out of a financial hole...

A dark picture emerges: atrocities in Ethiopia

02 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

It is becoming more certain that war crimes are being committed in the northern region of Tigray. Yet, despite increasing international pressure, ther...

Coup fighters: Myanmar’s persistent protesters

01 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The temperature keeps rising: as demonstrations continue to grow, the army is becoming more brutal. We ask how the country can escape the cycle of vio...

Mutual-appreciation anxiety: Putin and Erdogan

26 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The presidents of Turkey and Russia make an odd couple; their former empires have clashed over centuries. We look at the fragile—but nonetheless wor...

Hell for Tether: a cryptocurrency crimped

25 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The notionally dollar-pegged “stablecoin” quietly underpins many crypto-market moves. We ask what the currency issuer’s clash with New York auth...

Let the games be thin: Tokyo’s Olympic tussles

24 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Planners are in a corner. Delaying or cancelling the summer tournament looks like defeat; pressing ahead looks like a danger. We take a look at the sp...

Confirmation biases: Biden’s cabinet picks

23 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

President Joe Biden’s top posts are shaping up as Senate confirmation hearings continue—but some controversial nominations await a vote. We look a...

Contrary to popular opinion: Mexico’s president

22 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Andrés Manuel López Obrador roared into office with a grand “fourth transformation” agenda. Even after two years of policy failures and power-gr...

Have I not news for you: Facebook’s Australian battle

19 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

A media code that would obligate tech giants to pay for linking to news stories looks set to pass. In response, Facebook pre-emptively took down those...

Watts the problem: Texas’s energy failings

18 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Crippling blackouts can be explained in part by the state’s unique energy market, but the disaster exposes wider failures that must be confronted am...

The next of 1,000 cuts: Hong Kong activists on trial

17 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

It is not violent young protesters in the dock: the accused are the architects of the territory’s democracy. Our correspondent examines the city’s...

Desert stands: France in the Sahel

16 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Terror groups and separatists run riot in the sprawling region, and France has had some success in keeping the peace. But how, and when, to draw down ...

No Capitol punishment: Trump’s acquittal

15 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Donald Trump was all but certain to be cleared in his Senate trial, and so it went. But the few Republican votes to convict are telling. What next for...

Exit-stage plight: Brexit’s costs come due

12 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Stock-trading is shifting to the continent; businesses are bound up in red tape; border issues are still simmering. There is far more than mere “tee...

The coup is on the other foot: Myanmar

11 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

A power-grab by the army’s commander, Min Aung Hlaing, is not turning out to be easy: the greatest protest movement in a generation is gathering ste...

Like hell out of a bat: SARS-CoV-2’s origin

10 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The World Health Organisation unveiled preliminary findings, suggesting the coronavirus probably jumped to humans via an intermediary animal and all b...

Very long covid: the lasting risks to Africa

09 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

So far it seems the continent has weathered the pandemic well. But current numbers mask a future reckoning that is likely to have dire human and econo...

The art of the done deal: Trump on trial, again

08 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The second impeachment trial of Donald Trump will make history, but its outcome is assured. We ask what the proceedings say about the Republican Party...

Ballot bonanza: Latin America’s year of elections

05 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Ecuador’s elections on Sunday kick off a packed year of polls in the region. Democracy’s foothold in South America looks assured; in Central Ameri...

Cheques notes: getting America’s stimulus right

04 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Congress is on the cusp of pushing through a $1.9trn stimulus bill. But would it be money well spent? We examine the economics. Nearly half of India’...

Rise above the cloud: Amazon’s new chief executive

03 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Jeff Bezos is relinquishing the reins—partly—of the firm he founded. We take a look at Andy Jassy, who will replace him as chief executive at a pr...

As a general rules: Myanmar’s coup

02 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The army already had plenty of political power, but following a landslide election loss it dramatically seized more. After five years of democracy, wi...

More needles in the haystack: vaccine candidates proliferate

01 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

That a coronavirus vaccine could be developed in a year is astonishing—and promising candidates just keep coming. How will the virus’s variants ch...

Tug of warheads: the nuclear order

29 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Successful arms-control diplomacy has kept proliferation at bay for decades. But many states now have nuclear ambitions; we look at an increasingly wo...

Conte’s inferno: political crisis in Italy

28 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The president is scrambling to pull together a workable government following Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte’s resignation—and the instability has b...

Vials and tribulations: the EU’s vaccine push

27 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The European Union’s vaccine rollout was slow and fragmented even before pharma companies warned of supply shortfalls; we ask what’s gone wrong. A...

Party down: Vietnam’s Communist leaders meet

26 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

At this week’s five-yearly congress there will be pride in the handling of the pandemic—but broader discontent and mounting protests should worry ...

Vlad tidings: demonstrations across Russia

25 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The arrest of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny—and an exposé he released alleging deep corruption—fuelled vast weekend protests, chipping away at Pr...

Biting the hands that would feed: Ethiopia

22 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

There are signs that the federal government is obstructing humanitarian aid to the war-torn region of Tigray, putting millions of civilians at risk of...

Much to repair: Biden’s first day on the job

21 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The watchword was unity as Joe Biden took office—he struck a calming tone and got immediately to work. We analyse the gargantuan tasks that lie ahea...

Costly disbelief: covid-19 ravages Brazil again

20 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Desperate scenes in the city of Manaus may foretell a dire wave throughout the country. A misguided sense of “herd immunity” has worsened matters,...

Hell no, we won’t grow: Indian farmers’ mass protests

19 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Hundreds of thousands of farmers have participated in protests around Delhi, demonstrating against laws that they say threaten their livelihoods. We a...

Landed, in trouble: Alexei Navalny returns to Russia

18 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The opposition leader was detained as soon as he arrived—but President Vladimir Putin has no good options for dealing with his most vocal opponent. ...

Bold Wine in new battles: Uganda’s election

15 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

After a violent campaign in which the opposition candidate Bobi Wine was extensively intimidated, authorities imposed an internet blackout. President ...

Two-timer: Trump impeached, again

14 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Some House Republicans broke ranks, joining Democrats to hand President Donald Trump an ignominious distinction. Our deputy editor lays out why the Se...

Trial ensnarer: human-rights law’s new tool

13 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

War criminals and their ilk often evade justice solely because of squabbling over who can be tried where. But a rise in “universal jurisdiction” t...

You don’t say: tech’s Trump bans

12 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

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...

Wrest wing: the bid to oust Trump

11 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Today Democratic lawmakers will begin attempts to remove President Donald Trump. It could fail, or be delayed—or Republicans could see a political o...

The longer arm of the law: Hong Kong

08 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

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 ...

Riot act: Biden confirmed amid chaos

07 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

After previously unthinkable scenes played out in Washington’s legislature, we ask what the violence will mean for the president, Republican lawmake...

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

06 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

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 gov...

Stresses of strains: emerging coronavirus variants

05 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

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...

Arms within reach: Israel's vaccination lead

04 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Aggressive purchasing, solid logistics and a competitive health-care system have led to a world-beating rate of immunisation—but, as ever, politics ...

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

30 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

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 ...

Cheques, imbalances: America’s fraught stimulus

29 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

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 B...

Going around the bloc: Europe’s vaccination push

28 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

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 ...

Old acquaintance not forgot: the notable deaths of 2020

23 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

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 nota...

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

22 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

For decades, the country has been an almighty consumer of the fizzy drink. But amid a woeful covid-19 situation politicians are highlighting the healt...

Get the lead out: Zambia’s toxic mine

21 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

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 seeki...

Rehousing project: Bangladesh’s Rohingya

18 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

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 the...

And then, winter: ten years after the Arab Spring

17 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

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...

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

16 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Astonishingly, companies have raised more capital this year than ever before. We ask how capital markets shook free amid the pandemic—and what will ...

Joe, College: Biden’s victory affirmed

15 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

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 ruct...

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

14 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Britain’s divorce from the European Union still hinges on sticky matters of fishing rights and the enforcement of fair competition, and time is rapi...

Taking the temperature: a climate chat with the UN chief

11 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Ahead of a weekend meeting to assess and bolster the Paris Agreement, our correspondent speaks with Antonio Guterres about his reasons for cautious op...

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

10 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

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...

Laïcité, égalité, fraternité? France’s secularism bill

09 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

President Emmanuel Macron’s draft bill walks a fine line balancing the country’s foundational secularism and worries about Islamist terrorism. Ami...

Granting immunity: America weighs vaccine approval

08 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

As Britons receive the first doses of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine, authorities in America are meeting this week to authorise its emergency use. We ...

Fairly unusual: Ghana’s elections

07 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In a region racked by dodgy polls, the country looks to continue a trend of uncontested handovers of power. That is not to say, however, that there ar...

Intensive scare: covid-19 ravages America

04 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Numbers of cases, hospitalisations and deaths are rocketing across the country. We examine the situation in the Midwest, as a microcosm of a wider unf...

Your planet, or mines? Kicking the coal habit

03 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In the West market forces are squeezing coal—even as its use rises in Asia. We examine how the world can wean itself off the dirtiest fossil fuel. S...

Trans formative: a landmark children’s-rights ruling

02 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Britain’s High Court has ruled that puberty blockers for children with gender dysphoria have been dispensed too readily, fuelling a debate that will...

Nuclear-war head: assassination in Iran

01 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The killing of the country’s top nuclear scientist comes at a tricky time: violent retribution may threaten hoped-for diplomacy with the incoming Am...

No show of force: France’s controversial police-protection bill

30 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Protesters are raging against a proposed bill that would outlaw posting videos of alleged police brutality—just as two videos expose more such viole...

One party to rule them all? India’s fraying democracy

27 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Many of the country’s institutions are being slowly hobbled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government; we ask whether the world’s largest dem...

At his majesty, displeasure: Thailand’s anti-monarchy push

26 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

A long string of pro-democracy protests are railing more and more against the king himself—and the protesters are younger and more fearless than eve...

Tigray area: Ethiopia’s deadly standoff

25 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The northern region’s surrounded forces are ignoring Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s deadline to disarm. More regions are being drawn in—and a confl...

What funds we’ll have: green venture capital

24 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The boom-and-bust of environmental-technology investing has settled out, and money is flooding in—both individual and institutional. We examine the ...

Playing his Trump cards: Biden’s China policy

23 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The tone of America’s president-elect on China changed markedly through the campaign; his policies, at least at the outset, may differ little from t...

Undercut a deal: the threat to Afghan peace

20 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Peace talks continue in Doha but on the ground the Taliban are consolidating control. America’s rush to withdraw its forces could undo the good work...

Quit it cold, Turkey: policy tightens at last

19 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Now that the economic reins have been taken back from the president’s son-in-law, the country is making the right policy noises—and just in time. ...

Concession stand: Trump’s intransigence

18 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

America’s outgoing president is sticking with an insidious fiction, lashing out at those who deny it. That frustrates a stable handover of power—a...

Out on a LegCo: Hong Kong under pressure

17 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Following a purge based on a harsh new security law, the territory’s Legislative Council lacks a single opposition voice. That will make the work of...

Disrupter, disrupted: Britain’s government

16 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The chief aide to the prime minister had been a driving force in policy but a dividing force in government. What will happen now that he has stood dow...

Going to cede: Armenia and Azerbaijan

13 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The longest-running conflict in the Caucasus could well be over. We examine a peace deal that benefits outside powers and chips away at regional ident...

Sahel of a mess: France’s impossible peacekeeping mission

12 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Jihadism is growing in a continent-wide strip of Africa, and the riskiest operations to contain it fall to French troops. Our correspondent witnesses ...

We’ll again have Paris: Biden’s ambitious climate plans

11 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

President-elect Joe Biden’s campaign had the environment front and centre. We analyse his pledges—and his prospects for implementing them. As the ...

Nine out of ten, doctors say: a promising coronavirus vaccine

10 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

A vaccine claimed to be 90% effective represents an enormous achievement. We discuss what questions remain and the regulatory and distribution challen...

Brought to heal: Biden’s chance to unite America

09 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

President Donald Trump will go, but Trumpism will remain. Our editor-in-chief considers how President-elect Biden can repair the divided country he wi...

Abiy damned: Ethiopia’s looming civil war

06 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has taken drastic steps to quieten a state stacked with trained militias. The conflict could draw in more states—or the wh...

The lawyers of diminishing returns: America’s election

05 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

As President Donald Trump’s re-election path slims, his pledges to fight the results in court are multiplying. We look at the cases that may eventua...

Tally forth: America’s elections

04 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The outcome remains unclear as vote-counting continues. We look at some of the surprise results, ask what happens next and examine how The Economist’...

Poles’ position: an abortion-law backlash

03 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Poland already had some of the strictest laws on terminations, but the ruling party’s bid to tighten them further has sparked national outrage. We l...

Lock step: England to shut down, again

02 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Prime Minister Boris Johnson all but ruled out a second lockdown, but his hand has been forced by England’s caseload. What are the political costs o...

Net losses: plunder of the oceans

30 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The staggering extent of illegal fishing, and its human and environmental costs, are only just becoming clear. We ask how to put a shadowy industry on...

What Xi said: China’s five-year plan

29 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The party’s Fifth Plenum sets out a five-year vision; we mine the plan for clues about how China views itself in the world—and how long Xi Jinping...

Stumbling bloc: Europe’s second wave

28 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Across the continent, covid-19 cases are rising steeply and containment measures are still divergent. We look at the challenges of finding policies th...

Chagrin, and Barrett: America’s Supreme Court

27 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Amy Coney Barrett’s confirmation marks the first time since the 1930s the court has leaned so conservative, and has stoked another partisan battle t...

Coming write-up: Chile votes to overhaul its constitution

26 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The country has roundly rejected its dictatorship-era charter and mapped out how to fashion a new one. What do Chileans stand to gain—and to lose? R...

Civil proceedings: America's presidential debate

23 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

America’s final presidential debate had less noise and more substance. But polls seem immovable and nearly 50m Americans have already voted; will th...