Economist Podcasts

The Intelligence: Country code

09 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

As with many technologies that preceded it, generative artificial intelligence is increasingly viewed as a means to geopolitical advantage: welcome to...

The Intelligence: If a tree falls in the Amazon

08 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Our correspondents travel through the rainforest, seeing the pollution and clear-cutting firsthand. Establishing the rule of law first requires a dece...

Checks and Balance: Biden or bust

05 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Joe Biden’s chances against Donald Trump in November do not look good. He is unpopular and his age puts many Americans off. How did it come to this?...

The Intelligence: The city that never slipped

05 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

From Brexit to covid-19, nothing has yet stymied London’s successes. The city has its problems, but it remains a paragon of policymaking. In the las...

The Intelligence: Workers of the world, delight!

04 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Labour markets are changing in all kinds of ways, thanks to ageing societies, hot-running economies and technological boosts. It all adds up to a gold...

The Intelligence: the killing of a Hamas leader

03 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Saleh al-Arouri has long been a high-priority target for Israel and his death could weaken the Palestinian militant group. However, it could also draw...

The Intelligence: Volodymyr Zelensky on Ukraine’s year ahead

02 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

As Vladimir Putin promises to intensify Russia’s attacks, Mr Zelensky is frustrated at the wavering support from the West. Speaking to The Economist...

The Intelligence: 2024 is a big year for democracy

01 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Citizens across more than 70 countries will be heading to the polls over the next twelve months. It’s a record year for voting, but how democratic w...

The Intelligence: the notable deaths of 2023

29 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Only at the end of the year can a full appraisal be made of the figures—and landmarks—that the world has lost. From Harry Belafonte to Henry Kissi...

The Intelligence: The Economist reads

28 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

What can A Space Odyssey by Arthur C Clarke tell us about AI? Does Shakespeare's Othello contain a warning for the 2024 US presidential election? Our ...

The Intelligence: The Economist explains

27 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

On our website and in our app, “The Economist explains” is one of the best-read features. Today we invite a few of their authors to keep explainin...

The Intelligence: who wins The Economist’s country of the year?

26 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Which country improved the most this year? Nominations poured in from across the editorial department, and the competition was tough, but who came out...

The Intelligence: searching for the elixir of life

22 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Scientists are making considerable progress in the race to slow the ageing process of our cells, and in turn, our bodies. But what would living for lo...

Money Talks: There’s no business like it

21 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

We raise the curtain on the business of New York’s iconic theatre district. Broadway has been struggling with rising costs and falling sales since t...

The Intelligence: Alice Weidel’s alternative plan for Germany

21 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Our Berlin bureau chief sits down with the increasingly popular co-leader of the Alternative for Germany, the furthest-right of the country’s seven ...

Babbage: Science book club

20 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Books are the original medium for communicating science to the masses. In a holiday special, producer Kunal Patel asks Babbage’s family of correspon...

The Intelligence: Colorado blocks Donald Trump’s candidacy

20 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The state’s supreme court has ruled that he cannot appear on the Republican primary ballot, citing insurrection and a constitutional amendment. It’...

The Intelligence: Congo’s election

19 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

After a dubious win in 2018, Felix Tshisekedi is running for office again in the Democratic Republic of Congo – and an incumbency bias could work in...

The Intelligence: Red (Sea) alert

18 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In response to the war in Gaza, Iran-backed Houthi militants are attacking vessels along the key shipping route. If it continues, the consequences cou...

The Weekend Intelligence: MH17 and the battle for truth

16 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

For almost a decade The Economist’s Noah Sneider has been following the story of MH17, the passenger plane shot down over Eastern Ukraine on July 17...

The Intelligence: Zelensky’s plea

15 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Volodymyr Zelensky is hoping to secure more aid from Washington. But the decision rests with a divided Congress. What does this mean for the next phas...

The Intelligence: is America’s media fair?

14 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

News outlets are often hounded by the right for being too left-leaning. Our data show there might be something to that, but the reasons why are more c...

The Intelligence: good COP, bad COP?

13 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In a landmark agreement, nearly 200 nations have agreed to transition away from fossil fuels. However, that is not the same as phasing them out. Has t...

The Intelligence: Antisemitism and freedom of speech

12 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Since the Hamas attacks and the ensuing war in Gaza, debate at America’s top academic institutions has turned sour. Now, the issue has reignited an ...

The Intelligence: French fly, catch up

11 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Our correspondent joins the French air force on a mission in the Baltics, seeing increasing support for NATO just as the country draws down in Africa....

The Intelligence: America’s culture wars brought to bears

08 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In the American West, grizzly bears are spreading—and fights over protecting them under the Endangered Species Act test the frontiers between scienc...

The Intelligence: Putin’s growing advantage

07 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Even before America’s tussle over funding Ukraine’s war effort, it seemed as if Russia was gaining the upper hand—by exploiting Ukraine’s wide...

The Intelligence: No more Mr Nice-to-Guyana

06 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

By the numbers, the outcome seems clear: Venezuelans voted to annex much of newly minted petrostate Guyana. But our correspondent says the referendum ...

Drum Tower: Stand-up feminists

05 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Tickets for “Nvzizhuyi”—a monthly stand-up comedy show in New York City— often sell out in less than a minute. The show invites Chinese citize...

The Intelligence: I spy, with my Valley eye

05 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The cradle of American technology was once known for its libertarian values—but as law-enforcement agencies seek more means of surveillance, Silicon...

The Intelligence: Israel pushes south in Gaza

04 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

As its ground offensive appears to be expanding, Israel is acutely aware that time and international support will run out; we examine its impossible s...

The Weekend Intelligence: A nation on a knife's edge

02 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The Economist's editor-in-chief, Zanny Minton Beddoes, and our Russia and Eastern Europe editor, Arkady Ostrovsky, return to Kyiv to to find out if cr...

The Intelligence: meeting Ukraine’s first lady

01 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Olena Zelenska foresees a time when her family can regain a quiet life. Our editor-in-chief sits down with her to discuss her mental-health campaign a...

The Intelligence: Henry Kissinger’s legacy

30 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The doyen of diplomacy has died, leaving a complex legacy. Following extensive interviews with him earlier this year, our deputy editor examines what ...

The Intelligence: Swede demons

29 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Drug-related shootings and bombings are on the rise. Policies are changing and law-enforcement budgets rising, but stemming the violence is proving po...

The Intelligence: as Zuck would have it

28 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The singular focus on the metaverse of Mark Zuckerberg, Meta’s boss, fretted investors. But in the past year he has pulled off a spectacularly timel...

The Intelligence: eyewitness to slaughter in Sudan

27 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Our correspondent speaks with the Africa head of the Red Cross who has borne witness to the war, famine and genocide that continue—unrelenting and l...

The Intelligence: Land of the rising sums

24 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Look past short-term stumbles: there are plenty of reasons to think Japan may spin out of its decades-long deflationary spiral. But how to avoid anoth...

Money Talks: Play it again, Sam Altman

23 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In five days OpenAI’s boss was fired by its board; hired by Microsoft, the startup’s biggest investor; and returned to his post at OpenAI. Yet thi...

The Intelligence: a far-right victory in the Netherlands

23 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Geert Wilders campaigned on leaving the European Union, closing the borders, and even suggested banning Islam. The Dutch surprisingly voted for him an...

Babbage: Fei-Fei Li on how to really think about the future of AI

22 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

A year ago, the public launch of ChatGPT took the world by storm and it was followed by many more generative artificial intelligence tools, all with r...

The Intelligence: Israel and Hamas’s hostage deal

22 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

After weeks of negotiations, Hamas has agreed to release some hostages. In exchange, there will be a four-day pause in fighting. But then what? Americ...

The Intelligence: Sam Altman and the divide in the AI world

21 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

It is still unclear why the board of OpenAI fired him last week, but hundreds of staff are revolting anyway. The debacle reveals a sizeable rift betwe...

The Intelligence: can Milei cure malaise in Argentina?

20 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

He is a self-proclaimed “anarcho-capitalist” and in a run-off, the people have entrusted this political firebrand to shake the country out of econ...

Checks and Balance: Year all about it

17 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

If the election were held tomorrow, Donald Trump would probably be the favourite to win.  How should we be thinking about the race with a year to...

The Intelligence: Yes, Trump could win again

17 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Were America’s presidential election to be held today, Donald Trump would probably win. We examine the winds shifting in his favour, and how the Bid...

The Intelligence: on the ground in Gaza

16 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

There is little left, in terms of people or infrastructure, in the north of the strip. Our correspondent, embedded with the Israel Defence Forces, con...

The Intelligence: antisemitism in France

15 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In the European country with both the largest Jewish and largest Muslim populations, a rise in antisemitic acts brings particular perils; we examine t...

The Intelligence: putting a Dave face on it

14 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Former prime minister David Cameron is back from the political wilderness—and his appointment as foreign secretary reveals much about the state of t...

The Intelligence: Kherson, one year later

13 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

After a grinding and lethal eight-month battle, Ukraine’s forces retook the port city a year ago. Our correspondent visits, finding a populace both ...

The Intelligence: how strong is the Chinese military?

10 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Miscalculating the prowess of the People’s Liberation Army is dangerous. Overestimating it could cause unnecessary confrontation, but underestimatin...

Money Talks: Touring America’s industrial revival

09 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act promised $370bn for green infrastructure and industry. It has spurred a surge in massive construction ...

The Intelligence: higher-for-longer interest rates

09 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Economists have stopped waiting for interest rates to drop because it doesn’t seem to be coming. The upward pressure on long-term bond yields sugges...

The Intelligence: Asia’s transnational crime gangs

08 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

A high-profile money-laundering case in Singapore with links to Chinese gamblers has shed light on a broader web of organised crime across the region....

The Intelligence: Lebanon’s peace plan for Gaza

07 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

One month on from Hamas’ attack on Israel, we meet Najib Mikati. He is hoping to prevent Hizbullah from joining the conflict, and broader spillover ...

The Intelligence: embedded in Gaza

06 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Israeli troops are gearing up to enter Gaza city, bracing for the next round of urban warfare. Our correspondent spends some time with a brigade on th...

The Weekend Intelligence: The hope and the heartbreak of IVF

04 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In our second episode of The Weekend Intelligence, The Economist correspondents Catherine Brahic and Sacha Nauta tell a different story about fertilit...

The Intelligence: Sam Bankman-Fried convicted

03 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

From can-do-no-wrong wunderkind to one of the biggest fraudsters in the history of finance: we look at Sam Bankman-Fried’s fall and conviction, and ...

The Intelligence: stalemate in Ukraine

02 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

General Valery Zaluzhny concedes that five months of counter-offensive have not gained much—and can see from history why the impasse may be impassab...

The Intelligence: Gaza sparks a global culture war

01 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Online and on-screen reactions to the conflict reflect a subtle but important shift in Western attitudes, driven by three related forces: technology, ...

The Intelligence: meeting Senegal’s president

31 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

As country after country in the Sahel has fallen prey to coups, President Macky Sall’s Senegal seemed an outpost of stability. Yet our correspondent...

The Intelligence: Israel’s Gaza offensive

30 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The long-anticipated invasion is not the expected blitzkrieg; we ask how a longer, more cautious war will be fought. Kemal Ataturk is still wildly pop...

Checks and Balance: Well enough alone?

27 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

On foreign policy, trade and immigration, the Republican Party wants America to push the world away. This is a departure, but also a return to what th...

The Intelligence: Iran’s dangerous game in Gaza

27 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

American airstrikes on Syrian bases linked to Iran are a reminder that Iran’s proxies lie behind many Middle East conflicts. But the ayatollahs’ a...

Money Talks: The future of crypto, part two

26 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Last week, we spoke to the author Michael Lewis, who was embedded with Sam Bankman-Fried, as FTX, the crypto-trading empire he built, came crashing do...

The Intelligence: America gets a House speaker

26 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

With the accession of Mike Johnson as the lower chamber’s majority leader, Congress can at last get back to lawmaking—unless the leadership circus...

Introducing The Weekend Intelligence

25 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The Weekend Intelligence is a new podcast from the award-winning team at The Economist. It’s a space for our reporters and writers to take a break f...

Babbage: How to avoid a battery shortage

25 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In the coming decades, electric vehicles will dominate the roads and renewables will provide energy to homes. But for the green transition to be succe...

The Intelligence: Israeli hostages’ fortunes

25 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

A network of captives’ families has sprung up to accomplish what Israel’s government has so far failed to do—and may yet emerge as a political f...

Drum Tower: What does it mean to be Taiwanese?

24 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, many have worried: is Taiwan next? China is giving Taiwan a terrifying choice: unify with China, or face war. Pe...

The Intelligence: Navalny’s peril deepens

24 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

President Vladimir Putin has long had it in for Alexei Navalny, Russia’s principal opposition figure. But now his lawyers are in peril, too, and Mr ...

Hybrid work: Out of office

23 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

To manage a workforce divided between the home and office, bosses should ask the five basic questions of journalism: who, what, where, when and why. J...

Leadership: Weed it and reap

23 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Andrew Palmer, The Economist's Bartleby columnist, learns lessons in management on a Norwegian mountainside. He hears from Emma Walmsley, the CEO of G...

Poll vault: Argentina’s Peronist surprise

23 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

After dominating the polls for months, Javier Miliei, a right-wing firebrand, was outshone by the candidate from the ruling Peronist administration. W...

The day Hamas came: a report from an Israeli kibbutz

20 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

They fled round after round of gunfire, hid for hours and saved hundreds of lives. It is a rare story of survival on what was a horrific day for Israe...

Genocide returns: slaughter in Sudan

19 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

From a refugee camp in Chad, we speak with those fleeing murder in Darfur. Reporting on the war between the Sudanese Armed Forces and a powerful param...

Diplomacy up in smoke: Biden visits Israel

18 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

A fatal explosion at a hospital-cum-shelter has led to outrage and the canceling of the very summit that the US president had flown in for. America’...

Invaluable bonds: rising borrowing costs

17 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

America may have avoided a government shutdown last month but its fiscal worries are far from over. And unease in bond markets will spill over into th...

Pole position: elections in Poland

16 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

After two terms in power, Jaroslaw Kaczynski’s nationalist party looks to have lost its majority. For Donald Tusk’s pro-Europe centrists, it’s b...

6000 bombs in six days: life in Gaza

13 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Bombs have rained on the strip since Hamas’s attack on Israel last Saturday. With food, water and electricity running out ahead of a ground invasion...

Mass destruction: Israel prepares for a ground invasion

12 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The Defence Force is preparing to follow up its air strikes on Gaza with troops. An incursion will be bloody, and perhaps even more so if Hezbollah be...

An interview with a Hamas leader

11 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

How does the Palestinian militant group justify the atrocities committed in Israel? Why has it done this? What does it plan to do with the hostages? I...

Shell shocked: Israel fights back

10 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

As the retribution continues, the state has now cut off supplies to the Palestinian enclave, and America is sending military support to Binyamin Netan...

Israel reels: a bloody assault

09 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Almost exactly 50 years on from the moment that launched the deadly Yom Kippur War, Hamas, the militant group that controls the Gaza strip, carried ou...

Windows of opportunity: Microsoft’s AI push

06 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The once-unassailable titan of tech has missed big opportunities in recent years. But it has a reasonable shot at the title again, thanks to its artif...

So the Tory goes: Britain’s Conservatives meet

05 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Divisions within the ruling party are on full display this week, and the provocative policies Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced are unlikely to hel...

Blown speaker: Kevin McCarthy is out

04 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Another shutdown standoff, funding worries for Ukraine, more leadership chaos: the booting of America’s speaker of the House of Representatives bode...

SBF, FTX, WTF? Sam Bankman-Fried goes on trial

03 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The founder of FTX, a spectacularly failed cryptocurrency exchange, is a curious character. He denies the stack of charges he faces in a New York cour...

Trailer: Boss Class Season 1

02 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The workplace keeps changing and managers have to keep up. The best bosses create systems for solving problems old and new—from navigating working-f...

They need to talk about Kevin: America’s near-shutdown

02 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The literal 11th-hour deal to avert a government shutdown is only a stopgap—and the battle may end up costing Kevin McCarthy his post as leader of t...

When politics dictates policy: China’s faltering economy

29 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

 During past economic downturns, officials have been both swift and bold. This time not so much—because their hands are tied by knotty internal...

A better pill to swallow: the bid to end AIDS

28 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Many of the pieces are in place to bring the disease entirely under control—but our correspondent finds it will take more than advances in medicatio...

General’s knowledge: a chat with Ukraine’s spy chief

27 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Where the defensive lines really are, the state of Russia’s reserves, battlefield tactics: Kyrylo Budanov is a candid interviewee—but he claims to...

The French disconnection: a retreat from Niger

26 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

President Emmanuel Macron’s about-face on maintaining a presence in the coup-stricken country portends a broader change in France’s relations on t...

Going bump in the right: Europe’s worrisome politics

25 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Populist, right-wing parties are already in power in Hungary, Poland and Italy—and getting closer to it across the continent. We ask why. At long la...

No end in sight: how Ukraine is being shaped by a long war

22 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Reporting from the ground, our Eastern Europe editor explores how the country is bracing for a new phase of war. In some ways, people have adapted, bu...

Missing in action: China’s defence minister has disappeared

21 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

It would not be the first time that a member of the government has gone missing, not even the first time this year. But what does this say about the l...

Are the allegations tru deau? Canada and India’s diplomatic row

20 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The murder of Sikh separatist Hardeep Singh Najjar has deepened a long-running spat between the two countries. Will Canada’s allies be willing to ge...

Argo the sequel: America and Iran’s hostage deal

19 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

This is not the first time the Islamic Republic has taken foreigners hostage. It’s proven an effective bargaining chip for decades and this time aro...

Radical shift: an interview with Argentina’s presidential frontrunner

18 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The libertarian right-winger is leading in the polls, a surprise for a country that has typically leaned left. He has drastic plans to shrink the stat...