The Intelligence from The Economist
The Economist
Join Jason Palmer and Rosie Blau for noise-cancelling news and analysis from The Economist's global network of correspondents. Every weekday this award-winning podcast picks three stories shaping your world—the big shifts in politics, business and culture, plus things you never knew you needed to know. On Saturdays, download The Weekend Intelligence to dive deep into a single story, vividly told. If you’re already a subscriber to The Economist, you’ll have full access to all our shows as part of your subscription.For more information about Economist Podcasts+, including how to get access, please visit our FAQs page at https://myaccount.economist.com/s/article/What-is-Economist-Podcasts
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Episodes
Mentioned books
Sep 10, 2021 • 22min
From the ground up: New York after 9/11
The horrors of 20 years ago spurred an ambitious transformation, not just at the site of the attacks but across the city’s five boroughs. We visit what has risen from the ashes. A growing body of academic work—and plenty of examples on the ground—suggest countries that most mistreat women are the most violent and fractious. And solving a flashy-hummingbird mystery.For full access to print, digital and audio editions of The Economist, subscribe here www.economist.com/intelligenceoffer
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Sep 9, 2021 • 22min
Putsch back: Africa’s latest coup in Guinea
It is unclear whether better governance lies ahead after a military takeover; what is certain is that Africa’s unwelcome trend of defenestrations has returned. We ask why. Justin Trudeau, Canada’s prime minister, thought it a good time to shore up his party’s mandate; as election day nears that plan looks shaky. And the rise and fall of Georgia’s sex-selective abortions.For full access to print, digital and audio editions of The Economist, subscribe here www.economist.com/intelligenceoffer
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Sep 8, 2021 • 22min
The call before the storm? Brazil’s protests
Tens of thousands of people aligned with President Jair Bolsonaro held protests—at his direction. Yet the numbers are increasingly aligned against him as he eyes next year’s elections. Conspiracy theories are nothing new, but politicians espousing them, and exploiting them to great effect, make them much more than harmless tales. And a listen to the disappearing sounds of old Beijing.Additional Beijing audio courtesy of Colin Chinnery.For full access to print, digital and audio editions of The Economist, subscribe here www.economist.com/intelligenceoffer
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Sep 7, 2021 • 21min
Bitcoin of the realm: El Salvador’s experiment
President Nayib Bukele thinks obliging businesses to take the cryptocurrency will help with remittances, inclusion and foreign investment. So far, few are convinced. From after-school tutoring to endless extracurricular activities, education is an increasingly cut-throat affair; we examine the costs of these academic arms races. And Sally Rooney’s new novel and the question of what makes great contemporary fiction.For full access to print, digital and audio editions of The Economist, subscribe here www.economist.com/intelligenceoffer
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Sep 6, 2021 • 22min
Heartbeat of the matter: Texas’s draconian abortion law
The Supreme Court’s surprise decision to let the country’s harshest “heartbeat bill” stand bodes ill for the landmark Roe v Wade decision; we ask what happens next. Brazil’s police kill six times as many people as America’s—and the numbers bear out a clear racial divide among the fallen. And how Lebanon is reviving its olive-oil industry, with global ambitions.For full access to print, digital and audio editions of The Economist, subscribe here www.economist.com/intelligenceoffer
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Sep 3, 2021 • 24min
Taking the fifth: Venezuela’s talks
Four previous resolution meetings involving President Nicolás Maduro have changed little. This time international backing and aligned incentives might at last spur fair elections. Madagascar already had it hard, but the coronavirus and repeated, brutal droughts have conspired to push the country’s south to the brink of famine. And our obituaries editor reflects on war surgeon and hospital-builder Gino Strada.For full access to print, digital and audio editions of The Economist, subscribe here www.economist.com/intelligenceoffer
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Sep 2, 2021 • 21min
Reeling and dealing: how to engage the Taliban
In some ways America has more leverage now that its forces have left; we ask how diplomatic and aid efforts should proceed in order to protect ordinary Afghans. A global pandemic has distracted from a troubling panzootic: a virus is still ravaging China’s pig farms, and officials’ fixes are not sustainable. And the first retrospective for activist artist Judy Chicago.For full access to print, digital and audio editions of The Economist, subscribe here www.economist.com/intelligenceoffer
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Sep 1, 2021 • 21min
Out for blood: the Theranos trial
Elizabeth Holmes founded a big blood-testing startup; her claims were founded on very little. As her trial begins we ask how the company got so far before it all crumbled. Research on primates is increasingly frowned upon in the West, leaving a strategic opportunity in places such as China. And lessons in a lost novel by French philosopher Simone de Beauvoir.For full access to print, digital and audio editions of The Economist, subscribe here www.economist.com/intelligenceoffer
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Aug 31, 2021 • 20min
CDU later? Germany’s topsy-turvy election
The party of Angela Merkel, the outgoing chancellor, is flailing in polls. We ask why the race has been so unpredictable and what outcomes now seem probable. In America, obtaining a kit to make an untraceable firearm takes just a few clicks; we examine efforts to close a dangerous legal loophole. And as sensitivities change, so do some bands’ names. For full access to print, digital and audio editions of The Economist, subscribe here www.economist.com/intelligenceoffer
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Aug 30, 2021 • 21min
Banks note: the Jackson Hole meeting
The message for central bankers at the annual jamboree: relax a bit about inflation and be loud and clear about plans to stanch the cash being pumped into economies. The halt to an Albanian hydroelectric-dam project reflects a growing environmental lobby in the country, which sees better uses for its waterways. And following dinosaur tracks—but finding no bones—in Bolivia.For full access to print, digital and audio editions of The Economist, subscribe here www.economist.com/intelligenceoffer
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