Economist Podcasts

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...

Pandemic power-grabs: autocrats’ covid opportunism

22 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

As it has with so many other trends, the pandemic has hastened the decline of democracy and human rights; covid-19 provides autocrats with perfect cov...

Secular-stand nation: terror in France

21 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The brutal murder of a schoolteacher comes amid warnings of mounting Islamism in the country. The attack will only harden resolve for a secular societ...

The persecution of a people: China’s repression of the Uyghurs

20 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Reporting by The Economist reveals deepening efforts by Chinese authorities not just to imprison the Muslim-minority people but also to reduce their n...

Loved Labour’s won: landslide in New Zealand

19 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

After a term spent steering the country through crises, Jacinda Ardern has led her Labour party to a thumping victory; what will they do with their hi...

Más MAS? Bolivia’s election

16 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

After last year’s vote was marred by fraud allegations, the electorate is split ahead of Sunday’s poll: will the country return the socialist MAS ...

A close-it call: Nigeria’s uprising

15 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Angry protests following an alleged police killing continue, even after a hated police unit was shuttered. That exposes far-deeper discontent. Banks’...

Scared strait: Taiwan

14 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Rhetoric and sabre-rattling from mainland China are rapidly ramping up; we examine the risk of an invasion that would have global consequences. A deci...

Food chain broken: famine in Yemen

13 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The country yet again faces widespread starvation as a civil war grinds on, and both sides are to blame for the misery visited upon civilians. With th...

In their own Swede time: pandemic pragmatism

12 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

By the numbers to date, Sweden's light-touch covid-19 measures may not seem successful. But its pragmatism takes an instructively long view of the pan...

Buy the way? Kyrgyzstan’s post-election chaos

09 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Citizens are furious after a poll seemingly tainted by vote-buying; its annulment leaves a power vacuum that may yet draw in China and Russia. An auth...

More-civil discourse: Pence and Harris debate

08 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

That a housefly could steal the show at America’s only vice-presidential debate is telling, but a discussion with more substance than bombast was a ...

Clerical era: Iraq in a hard place

07 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

A pilgrimage that is sure to become a covid-19 hotspot is a sign of how much the country’s government is losing legitimacy to its clergymen and trib...

Sailing into the wind: Boris Johnson

06 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Britain’s prime minister will outline big wind-energy plans at his party’s annual conference, even as the pandemic and Brexit blow his government ...

Ill-disposed: Trump’s hospital stay

05 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Amid a flurry of conflicting information over the weekend, details of Donald Trump’s progress and prognosis remain worryingly unclear. How will this...

In Syria’s trouble: an embattled despot digs in

02 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Unexpected defeats at rebels’ hands, a cratered economy, a hungry citizenry and a runaway covid-19 epidemic: can anything unseat Bashar al-Assad? Wh...

Enclave on edge: Armenia and Azerbaijan

01 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The region of Nagorno-Karabakh has been the subject of dispute and skirmishes for decades—but the current conflict threatens to draw in both Turkey ...

Shoutshow: Trump and Biden clash

30 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

America’s first presidential debate was unmitigated chaos, revealing little more than the rancour between the candidates. In Chicago a newish musica...

No-tax-and-spend policy: Trump’s tax returns

29 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Just ahead of the first presidential debate, a trove of tax documents suggests the president has some staggeringly loss-making businesses and a stagge...

Bench press: Trump’s Supreme Court pick

28 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

On gun rights, abortion policy and health care Amy Coney Barrett, the seemingly unstoppable successor to Ruth Bader Ginsburg, will shift the court’s...

Another matter: the Breonna Taylor verdict

25 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

A grand jury’s decision has re-energised months-long protests. We ask how much another tragic death at the hands of police may spur meaningful refor...

Winter is coming: covid-19’s next phase

24 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Soon the pandemic will have claimed a million lives. We take a broad look at what has been learned—and the deadly mistakes still being made. Our cor...

America’s next top chamber, modelled: the Senate battle

23 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Congressional elections will decide the direction of America’s governance irrespective of the presidential pick; we reveal our statistical model of ...

Stumbling block: the battle over WeChat

22 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The Trump administration’s bid to block the Chinese app has been stymied—for now. The tussle reflects a change in how America does business, and h...

Judge dread: the fight for Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s seat

21 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Ruth Bader Ginsburg was a liberal icon. Her death last week opens a Supreme Court vacancy for Donald Trump to fill, which could tip the court further ...

Uneasy lies the head: Thailand’s under-fire king

18 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Thailand is bracing for a large anti-government protest, with some of the anger directed at the usually-revered monarchy. Some fear that the establish...

Conviction politics: Florida’s disenfranchised felons

17 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

More than a million former felons in Florida regained the right to vote in 2018. Last week, many of them lost it again. We look at the barriers to vot...

Sanctuary in Sochi: Belarus’ dictator clings on

16 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Belarus dictator, Alexander Lukashenko, has travelled to Sochi amid major protests at home to ask Vladimir Putin for help. We examine whether he will ...

After Abe: Japan’s new prime minister

15 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Japan’s new prime minister will be Yoshihide Suga, the son of a strawberry farmer from the country’s rural north. We look at whether he can step i...

Homework: the future of the office

14 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The pandemic has been a giant experiment in working from home. We examine whether workers are happier and more productive using Zoom in their pyjamas ...

Great walls of fire: America’s west coast burns

11 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Relentless climate change will make devastating blazes more likely; urbanisation in woodland areas will make them more costly. Prevention measures cou...

Genocidal intent? Deserters recount Rohingya atrocities

10 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Two Burmese soldiers have described in harrowing detail what has long been alleged: that the army targeted Muslim-minority Rohingya in a programme of ...

Unpicking the thread: forced labour in Xinjiang

09 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Sanctions are tightening around the Chinese province amid suspicions of forced labour. Western firms that are reliant on the region’s cotton and oth...

Subcontinental drift: India’s covid spike

08 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

A hurried lockdown early in the pandemic has cratered the country’s economy, and infection rates are now shooting up. More suffering lies ahead, on ...

Pact unpacked: wobbly Brexit talks

07 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Negotiations on Britain’s post-Brexit relationship with Europe were floundering—even before revelations it may essentially rewrite parts of the la...

Back to the future-planning: France

04 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Alongside a green-minded, 100bn-euro stimulus, President Emmanuel Macron’s recovery plan borrows ideas from the post-war past to imagine a post-covi...

Rough seas and safe seats: Caribbean elections

03 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The outcome of Jamaica’s election isn’t much in doubt. What’s uncertain is how the wider Caribbean can handle rock-bottom tourism and looming hu...

In a class, by themselves: pupils head back to school

02 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Millions of schoolchildren are heading back to classes, many of them online. We examine the evidence on virtual learning and how it deepens inequaliti...

Integration, differentiation: migrants in Germany

01 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Five years ago, a vast wave of migrants and refugees began to spill into the country. We examine their fates amid a tangle of bureaucracy. Even for th...

Ill be going: Abe Shinzo’s legacy

31 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Japan’s longest-serving prime minister leaves behind a mixed bag of policy successes and shortcomings. We examine his legacy and ask what his succes...

Shot down, in flames: Kenosha, Wisconsin

28 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Another shooting of an unarmed black man by police has reopened wounds still not healed after George Floyd’s killing—and, like all else, the unres...

Team-building exercise: America’s Middle East diplomacy

27 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

American officials hope more Arab states will follow the United Arab Emirates in normalising relations with Israel; the groundwork for that has been q...

The grande scheme of things: corruption in Mexico

26 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The former head of the state-owned oil firm has presented stunning claims of high-level graft. Are they credible, and will the president pursue them? ...

Insecurity services? Alexei Navalny’s poisoning

25 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Doctors believe Russia’s opposition leader was poisoned, and suspicion naturally falls on the Kremlin. Why might the country’s leadership have tak...

Isle take it: Turkey’s adventures in the Med

24 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The considerable oil and gas reserves beneath the eastern Mediterranean have sparked Turkey’s interest—as well as a number of disputes in the regi...

In over its head of state: Mali’s coup

21 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The military has again ousted the president, after months of protests and years of ethnic violence. Fresh elections or no, whoever comes out on top fa...