Economist Podcasts
Episodes
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...
Support systems: allies debate Ukraine’s tactics
15 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
As progress on the front line slows, Western countries are divided over how the army should proceed. There are disagreements about where should be tar...
Refresh your feed: introducing Economist Podcasts+
14 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
For 17 years, The Economist has brought you a host of brilliant shows. Now we are taking that even further. But to bring you even more of the content ...
Chilean effect: the 50th anniversary of the coup
13 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
On September 11th 1973, president Salvador Allende shot himself in the head after being overthrown in a coup, giving rise to the violent rule of Gener...
Midnight train to Moscow: Kim Jong Un cosies up with Russia
12 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In a rare trip outside of the hermit state, it seems the dictator is planning to meet with Vladimir Putin. With the prospect of an arms deal on the ta...
Preparing for the long war: an interview with President Zelensky
11 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
As the counter-offensive continues, Ukrainian forces are running out of time to make substantial gains. Diplomatic attempts to isolate Russia have fai...
Moves over: American house prices
08 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The highest interest rates in years should lead to a fall in house prices. But peculiarities of America’s mortgage market are driving them up. Egg-f...
A messy oil change: Nigeria’s fraught reforms
07 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Axing generous fuel subsidies was just one necessary reform promised by Bola Tinubu. A hundred days into the president’s term, we examine his ideas ...
Show and sell: Amazon v Hollywood
06 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The retail behemoth is splashing tremendous amounts of cash on streaming content; critics are unimpressed with the outcomes. But Amazon may have the b...
Upping arms: the new three-way nuclear race
05 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The calculus of the cold war is back, but there are new variables in the equation—namely China’s growing arsenal. We look at how three-way deterre...
Held fire: America’s murder rate slips
04 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The absolute numbers remain troubling but a close look at statistics reveals that, across American cities, fewer people are being killed. Th...
Paranoia politics: a Tunisian lesson in demagoguery
01 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The president is using racist hate-mongering as both a rallying tool and a distraction mechanism. It is the oldest trick in the autocrat playbook and ...
Going, going… Gabon: another African coup
31 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Putsches in Africa are becoming more common and there appears to be a trend. Are there more to come and is there any hope of restoring democracy? Leba...
Game of drones: can Ukraine pull ahead?
30 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Three months into the counteroffensive, the military is reaping the fruits of several months of drone development. But as the war continues, will it b...
Teutonic plague: is Germany the sick man of Europe?
29 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Owing to a host of deep-rooted economic and political challenges, it could be the only G7 economy to contract this year. How might it turn the tide? M...
Going non-nuclear: East Asia’s changing families
28 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
From Japan to South Korea, from China to Taiwan, family structures are becoming less traditional. More premarital cohabitation, single parenthood and ...
Fellow-BRICS road: a club expands
25 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The alliance was always based more on common fortunes than common interests. We ask what to make of the six new members, and whether the bloc’s motl...
Flight of the long knives: Prigozhin’s reported death
24 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
History would suggest that the crash of Yevgeny Prigozhin’s plane was an assassination. Our correspondent considers what the supposed death of the W...
Vote with no confidence: Zimbabwe goes to the polls
23 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Arranging friendly media coverage, giving handouts to voters, stifling opposition rallies: once again the country’s ruling party has put its thumb o...
Home groan: China’s housing-sector crisis
22 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Once again, fears are ripping through the industry—this time starting from a firm once thought too big to fail. In an economy so dependent on houseb...
Latin lessons: two contrasting elections
21 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Ecuador and Guatemala faced similar preoccupations with violence and corruption—one of Ecuador’s candidates was assassinated on the campaign trail...
Gun-shy: why Niger’s coup stands, for now
18 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
For weeks, the regional bloc ECOWAS has threatened to undo the putsch by force. But appetite for a military response—the ultimate deterrent in a cou...
Make ore break: Latin America’s commodities
17 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The region is home to most of the world’s known lithium. Given the mineral’s usefulness in batteries and electric vehicles, could it be on the cus...
Through the fire: an update from Hawaii
16 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
As the death toll surpasses 100, we report from Maui where fires have ravaged the island in the deadliest American wildfire in over a century. Why was...
“Witch hunt”, Part Four: Trump indicted, again
15 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The former president has been hit with a new set of charges, under a catch-all racketeering act that has been used to prosecute everyone from rappers ...
West-siding story? Turkey’s tactical shift
14 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Despite cosying up with Russia and accusing America of trying to topple him, the newly re-elected president now appears to be flirting with old allies...
In the big leagues now: Saudi Arabia’s push into sport
11 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman says a presence in top-level global sport is one route to modernising; critics call the effort a distraction from the...
Taken too soon: why so many Americans die young
10 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
An appalling record compared with much of the rich world is not just down to drugs and guns. We ask what changes, both in policy and philosophy, might...
Trust the processor: America’s CHIPS Act one year on
09 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Big-money legislation to bring microprocessor manufacturing to the country is off to a reasonable start—but dominance of the industry is and will pr...
Bloc can tackle? ECOWAS and Niger’s coup
08 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The Economic Community of West African States may yet try to restore President Mohamed Bazoum militarily. Either way, Niger’s status as a bulwark ag...
Back to front: visiting Ukraine’s firing line
07 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
As diplomatic efforts played out in Saudi Arabia our correspondent recounts travels along the nearly unbroken front line of the war—finding frustrat...
Too big tech: is Alphabet approaching a growth ceiling?
04 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
As the tech giant approaches its 25-year anniversary, there are questions of just how much more it can possibly grow. Investors are used to stratosphe...
Industrial waste: the world’s misguided manufacturing policies
03 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The industrial arms race is on. For many political reasons, countries with the means are throwing billions of dollars into local industries. But when ...
Big-claims court: Donald Trump’s latest indictment
02 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The former American president is facing a new set of unprecedented legal challenges linked to his claims that he won the 2020 election. These charges ...
Strong arms: North Korea’s pandemic era weapons program
01 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The country is not new to seclusion, but under the aegis of the pandemic, Kim Jong Un tightened borders even more. His regime has enjoyed the extra co...
Putsched out: Niger’s coup d’état
31 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Following years of military takeovers in the region, Niger is the West’s last solid ally in the Sahel. But with this coup, and growing alignment wit...
Trading criminality for autocracy: El Salvador
28 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
A country that was not long ago gripped by gang violence and crime is slowly emerging from fear, thanks to a brutal roundup of young men by a wildly p...
With a grain assault: a deal abandoned
27 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Russia’s axeing of the Black Sea grain deal reveals a war machine running out of options. We explore how to get the deal back on track. A month-long...
Forewarned before armed: how to predict war
26 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Military types need not wait until mass movements of troops to know a conflict is coming. We examine a raft of subtle and not-so-subtle market moves t...
Squash court: Israel’s controversial law reform
25 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
A seemingly small change to the Supreme Court’s powers to adjudicate “reasonableness” represents a significant risk to the country’s democrati...
Small-Vox symptoms: Spain’s elections
24 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
After no party won a majority, forming a government may take weeks—or another election. But predictions that Vox, a far-right party, might enter gov...
Palace intrigue: the Kremlin after the mutiny
21 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
It has been a month since the head of the Wagner group led a march on Moscow. Although it failed, Putin appears considerably weaker. What does this me...
Runaway soldier: American detained in North Korea
20 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Little is known about why he fled across the border into the hermit kingdom, but securing his release will require some tactical diplomacy. Given the ...
Model growth: Tesla’s ambitious plans
19 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The carmaker, which reports results today, is still celebrating impressive growth and its boss has even bigger plans for it. But with the threat of fa...
Charming the prince: Biden seeks a deal with Saudi Arabia
18 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
America is keen to mend the relationship between the Gulf state and Israel, but Muhammad bin Salman has hefty demands. Is the deal worth the price? As...
Cruel summer: heatwaves rage across the world
17 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Europe, America and Asia are all enduring scorching heatwaves, air temperatures are repeatedly breaking records and the health impacts are alarming. B...
Mass destruction: is the Ethiopian government covering up war crimes?
14 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The burning of burial grounds in the northern region of the country suggests that authorities are destroying evidence. If these claims are proven true...
Second thoughts: Donald Trump’s policy plans
13 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
When he was last elected, many were surprised, even in his own camp. This time around, his backers are taking no such chances. We take a closer look a...
AI-pocalypse: predicting the threat from artificial intelligence
12 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Wiping out a tenth of the world? Possible. Wiping out all of humanity? Less likely, but not entirely impossible. We examine how two groups of experts ...
Rutte, damn: the Dutch prime minister steps down
11 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Mark Rutte is stepping down after leading the Netherlands for 13 years. Despite his renowned political survival skills, our correspondent explains why...
States, disunited: the controversy around cluster bombs
10 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Despite considerable opposition from allies in NATO, America has agreed to send them to Ukraine. The highly controversial munitions could speed up Ukr...
I spy: meeting Ukraine’s intelligence chief
07 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
We sit down with Kyrylo Budanov, Ukraine’s youngest-ever spymaster. He is intense, resolute—and oddly charismatic. A world of electrified transpor...
Clone wars: Meta’s Threads takes on Twitter
06 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
If there is one thing Facebook’s parent company does well, it is aping other social-media features and platforms—and it is a propitious time to st...
Group dynamics: Wagner in Africa
05 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Its leader is in exile and its future is uncertain. But the Wagner Group will be loth to abandon the influence and the cashflow that its murky African...
Break camp: Israel’s West Bank raids
04 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The so-called refugee camp in the city of Jenin has been subject to raids for months—and a hotspot for militants for decades. We ask what set things...