Great conversations on development economics along with methods for proving efficacy (with great connections to TOK).
He’s a pioneer of using randomized control experiments in economics — studying the long-term benefits of a $1 health intervention in Africa. Steve asks Edward, a Berkeley professor, about Africa’s long-term economic prospects, and how a parking-ticket-scandal in New York City led to a major finding on corruption around the world.
How did it all go wrong? Jennifer Brick Murtazashvili, a leading scholar of Afghanistan, joins Damir and Shadi to dissect the Taliban’s victory and discuss what it tells us about the failures of America’s nation-building effort. Why did the Afghan government collapse so quickly? Have the technocrats and NGOs in the democracy promotion industry been completely discredited? And for the sake of the Afghan people, should we now help the Taliban succeed in governing the country? Things get heated.
For more than two decades, the United Nations has led a fierce campaign against ‘Female Genital Mutilation’. And yet it still happens to millions of girls every year.
Venezuela was long one of the most prosperous countries in the region, with sophisticated manufacturing, vibrant agriculture and strong businesses, making it hard for many residents to accept such widespread scarcities. But amid the prosperity, the gap between rich and poor was extreme, a problem that Mr. Chávez and his ministers say they are trying to eliminate.
Podcast: Food Shortages At The Heart Of Venezuelan Economic And Political Crisis
Protesters blame the president for the country’s economic collapse and also for his tactics to hold on to power, suspending local elections, refusing to allow a recall referendum to go forward, attempting to rewrite the constitution and crackdowns on protesters.
Planet Money Podcast Episode 731: How Venezuela Imploded
Today on the show, we have an economic horror story about a country that made all the wrong decisions with its oil money. It’s a window into the fundamental way that money works and how when you try to control it, you can lose everything.
Today, the border that divides Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland is “soft”, in most places you could almost forget that it’s there. But for decades it was a deadly flash point in the bitter conflict known as “The Troubles”. This week, we share an episode from Today, Explained that takes a look at the history of this conflict and how Brexit could jeopardize a fragile peace.
Jimmy was born in mainland China. In 1960, when he was 12 years old, he snuck out of China and into Hong Kong by hiding in the bottom of a fishing boat. The day he got to Hong Kong, he got a job in a factory. By the time he was 21, he was running a factory. Today, he’s one of the richest people in Hong Kong. He’s also one of the most vocal critics of the Chinese government, and a major figure in Hong Kong’s protest movement.
Jimmy Lai’s story is the story of Hong Kong. And Hong Kong’s story is the story of the 200-year-long history of China and with the West — a story of communism, colonialism, and capitalism.
Tierra del Fuego is home to penguins, grey skies and brutal winds. It’s the last stop for ships before making the final leg to Antarctica.
Today on the show, how a town at the ends of the earth wound up making Blackberry phones, and what happened to when a charismatic president launched a big plan to create jobs and boost manufacturing.
Foreign aid is meant to alleviate suffering and help poor countries develop. But according to William Easterly, a professor of Economics at NYU, it often does the opposite. Instead of helping countries develop, it wastes resources or makes it harder for them to make economic progress. And far from advancing democracy and human rights, it often helps autocrats to stay in power.
In this week’s episode of The Good Fight podcast, Yascha Mounk and William Easterly discuss how political considerations misdirect foreign aid, whether the “development industrial complex” ignores the human rights of the poor, and why foreign aid so often gives a lifeline to authoritarian leaders around the globe.
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