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
Jul 16, 2021 • 23min
A pounder of a quarter: American banks report
Bank bosses are jubilant: revenues were down but profits way up. We look at the pandemic-driven reasons behind the windfall, and ask how long their influence may last. A thicket of conflicting laws is complicating Jamaica’s plans to enter the wider medical-marijuana market. And our critic reports from a slimmed-down Cannes film festival.For full access to print, digital and audio editions of The Economist, subscribe here www.economist.com/intelligenceoffer
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Jul 15, 2021 • 22min
Loot cause: South Africa’s unrest
Widespread looting and the worst violence since apartheid continue, exposing ethnic divisions and the persistent influence of Jacob Zuma, a former president. How to quell the tensions? As some countries administer third covid-19 “booster shots” we ask about the epidemiological and moral cases for and against them. And the bids to reverse the decline of America’s national pastime.For full access to print, digital and audio editions of The Economist, subscribe here www.economist.com/intelligenceoffer
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Jul 14, 2021 • 21min
Texas hold-’em-up: a voting-rights standoff
The state’s Democratic lawmakers have fled to Washington, stymieing a voting-rights bill. We examine the growing state-level, bare-knuckle fights on voting rights across the country. Ransomware attacks just keep getting bolder, more disruptive, more sinister; what structural changes could protect industries and institutions from attack? And Britain’s efforts to bring back the eels that once filled its rivers.For full access to print, digital and audio editions of The Economist, subscribe here www.economist.com/intelligenceofferRuntime: 21min
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Jul 13, 2021 • 20min
Flight attendance: airlines after the pandemic
Which carriers will thrive? Long-haulers or short-hoppers? The no-frills or the glitzy? The bailed-out or the muddled-through? Our industry editor scans the skies. Record numbers of Latin American migrants heading for America’s southern border mask another trend: many are stopping and making a home in Mexico. And Japan’s storied but declining public bathhouses get hipster makeovers. For full access to print, digital and audio editions of The Economist, subscribe here www.economist.com/intelligenceoffer
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Jul 12, 2021 • 21min
Hasta la victoria, hambre: rare protests rock Cuba
Food shortages are nothing new. But it has been decades since shelves have been so empty—and since Cubans took to the streets in such numbers. Richard Branson’s space jaunt was intended to mark the start of a space-tourism industry; we examine its prospects. And why, despite last night’s disappointment, England’s football fans should be hopeful about their national side.For full access to print, digital and audio editions of The Economist, subscribe here www.economist.com/intelligenceoffer
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Jul 9, 2021 • 23min
A decade decayed: South Sudan
The world’s youngest state was born amid boundless optimism. But poverty is still endemic and ethnic tensions still rule politics; what hope for its next decade? Mass graves found at Canada’s “residential schools” have sparked a reckoning about past abuses of indigenous peoples. And marking 50 years since the final album of Karen Dalton, the forgotten queen of folk.For full access to print, digital and audio editions of The Economist, subscribe here www.economist.com/intelligenceofferRuntime: 22min
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Jul 8, 2021 • 21min
Assassins’ deed: Haiti’s president killed
Jovenel Moïse presided, in an increasingly authoritarian way, over a country slipping toward failed-state status. The unrest is likely to worsen following his assassination. The Democratic primary race for New York’s mayor has at last been decided, with lessons for Democrats elsewhere and for fans of ranked-choice voting. And the movement to revive Islam’s bygone relaxed attitudes to homosexuality. For full access to print, digital and audio editions of The Economist, subscribe here www.economist.com/intelligenceoffer
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Jul 7, 2021 • 22min
Dropped shots: Russia’s third wave
Despite registering the world’s first coronavirus vaccine, the country is being lashed by covid-19. Mixed messages and a long-cultivated mistrust are to blame. DARPA, America’s agency that funds blue-sky tech research, has been so successful down the years that now other countries want to copy it. And remembering Kenneth Kaunda, an icon of African liberation.For full access to print, digital and audio editions of The Economist, subscribe here www.economist.com/intelligenceofferRuntime: 21min
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Jul 6, 2021 • 21min
Taken for a ride: why China is leaning on Didi
Just after the ride-hailing giant made a splashy stockmarket debut, Chinese regulators came down hard. Why is the country crimping its tech champions? There is something missing at many American embassies around the world: American ambassadors. We ask why so few are in post, and what risk that poses. And the not-so-simple task of counting the Earth’s oceans.For full access to print, digital and audio editions of The Economist, subscribe here www.economist.com/intelligenceoffer
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Jul 5, 2021 • 22min
Leave them in no peace: America’s Afghan exit
Passport queues are lengthening; ad-hoc civilian militias are strengthening. As foreign powers bow out, Taliban militants take district after district—and the fear of the people is palpable. The pandemic drove a boom in the attention economy, and media companies happily obliged. Now, it seems, an “attention recession” looms. And a look at the thoroughly inbred nature of thoroughbred horses.For full access to print, digital and audio editions of The Economist, subscribe here www.economist.com/intelligenceofferRuntime: 21min
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