Latest Interviews
Showing 211–225 of 251 interview transcripts.
Clear all filters- The Economist11 min
GameStop: what it reveals about the US stockmarket
In early 2021, a coordinated surge by millions of retail investors on the Reddit forum WallStreetBets drove GameStop's stock price to over $450, triggering a historic short squeeze that forced institutional short sellers to absorb massive losses. The volatility caused significant market disruption, including trading restrictions by platforms like Robinhood and intense regulatory scrutiny regarding liquidity management and retail investor protection. While analysts view the event as an isolated phenomenon rather than a broad bubble, it permanently altered market dynamics by highlighting the growing influence of social media-fueled retail trading against traditional Wall Street institutions.
- The Economist13 min
Joe Biden's top 7 domestic priorities
Joe Biden, Jon Fasman, Charlotte Howard
President Biden launched a $1.9 trillion economic relief package targeting pandemic response, job recovery, and childhood poverty while simultaneously pursuing net-zero emissions goals through executive actions and agency-wide initiatives. The administration advanced legislative proposals for undocumented immigrant pathways and systemic racism reforms, though analysts warn these efforts face significant congressional hurdles alongside debates on Big Tech regulation. Ultimately, the administration's strategy prioritizes competent, incremental governance over political grandstanding to navigate deep partisan divides and stabilize the nation's economy and social structures.
- The Economist10 min
Cindy McCain: what next for the Republican Party?
Cindy McCain, Joe Biden, John McCain, Donald Trump
Cindy McCain, the widow of Senator John McCain, asserts that the Republican Party has strayed from its historic values of inclusion and predicts a potential fracture due to current high partisanship and the January 6th insurrection. She contrasts the recent violence with the successful democratic transition under President Joe Biden, whom she praises for prioritizing bipartisanship and immediate crisis management regarding the coronavirus pandemic. Ultimately, McCain envisions a new era of cooperation where the law-abiding majority within the party helps restore the United States' global standing as a beacon of hope and democratic stability.
- The Economist12 min
How Biden can be a global leader
Biden, Donald Trump, John Prideaux
The Biden administration seeks to restore America's diminished global standing by rejoining international bodies like the WHO and Paris Climate Accord while reversing the isolationist "America First" policies of the Trump era. Facing a fragile domestic political landscape with slim congressional majorities, President Biden aims to stabilize diplomatic relations through predictable multilateralism, including a planned global democracy summit and strategic continuity in containing China. Ultimately, the administration recognizes that healing domestic division and successfully navigating congressional hurdles are prerequisites for proving US democratic resilience and rebuilding trust with allies.
- The Economist14 min
Bill Gates: How to fund the green revolution
Bill Gates, Zanny Minton Beddoes
Bill Gates outlines the necessity of achieving net-zero emissions through massive technological innovation to solve hard-to-abate industrial sectors like steel and aviation, rather than relying solely on behavioral change. He argues that a $2 trillion global investment strategy must prioritize public R&D funding and venture capital to eliminate the green premium, with the United States serving as the essential exemplar and primary buyer to drive down costs. While carbon taxes remain politically elusive, the path forward requires governments and corporations to shift from symbolic actions to substantive financing of real decarbonization technologies alongside historical emission reductions.
- The Economist11 min
Misty Copeland: why ballet has so few black dancers
Misty Copeland, the first Black female principal dancer at the American Ballet Theatre, leverages her historic breakthrough and advocacy for arts education to challenge systemic discrimination and narrow aesthetic standards in classical ballet. Drawing from personal experiences with colorism and her research into predecessors like Raven Wilkinson, she critiques the industry's reliance on blackface and typecasting while urging a shift toward viewing technique as transcending race. Copeland further contextualizes her career milestones as irreversible progress comparable to the Obama presidency, emphasizing how such visibility fundamentally expands the perceived future for marginalized young artists.
- The Economist12 min
Life after Trump: what’s the future of the Republican Party?
Trump, Joe Biden, Idris Kahloun, James Astle
Despite his 2020 election loss, Donald Trump maintains dominant control over the Republican Party, compelling former critics like Lindsey Graham and Marco Rubio to align with his populist platform to avoid electoral backlash. This entrenched loyalty, reinforced by base support for the 2020 election fraud narrative, has created a fragmented media ecosystem and left Trump with minimal internal opposition as he contemplates a 2024 run. Analysts warn that the party's future trajectory remains volatile, with the strength of Trump's personal appeal serving as the decisive factor in either cementing a populist era or allowing for a potential succession.
- The Economist11 min
Covid-19: how to fix the economy
The pandemic triggered an unprecedented synchronized global economic shock, forcing governments in the US, UK, and Europe to deploy trillions in stimulus and innovative income support to mitigate record unemployment and prevent social instability. This crisis has accelerated structural shifts toward remote work, digital adoption, and supply chain protectionism, challenging policymakers to balance immediate fiscal relief with long-term sustainability while avoiding the austerity errors of the past decade. Ultimately, the scale of government intervention offers a critical window to reform the relationship between the state and citizens, though success depends on managing rising debt burdens and emerging populist tensions.
- The Economist12 min
Election 2020: what the data tell us
Forecasters predict a Biden victory by November 9 if early indicators hold, leveraging adjusted polling models that account for underrepresented non-college white voters and a shrinking undecided electorate. Economic indicators and state-level turnout dynamics in diverse Sunbelt states drive these projections, though potential ballot rejections among minority populations could narrow the margin by one to two percentage points. Ultimately, a projected victory margin of eight to nine points is expected to provide the stability necessary to prevent post-election unrest despite differing partisan fears regarding result legitimacy.
- The Economist11 min
America’s pandemic election: what could go wrong?
Amidst the global pandemic and systemic barriers to voting, the 2020 U.S. presidential election faces unprecedented risks of chaos due to a sitting president's refusal to guarantee a peaceful transfer of power and widespread concerns over mail-in ballot processing. With 228 pending legal challenges and a high probability of an information vacuum on election night, experts warn that a close result could trigger civil unrest if the loser, projected to be Donald Trump, rejects the outcome. While early voting strategies aim to mitigate logistical failures, the convergence of disinformation campaigns and external interference threatens to destabilize American democracy globally.
- The Economist10 min
Putin, the poisoning and Belarus: what's really going on?
Following the August 20 Novichok poisoning of Alexei Navalny and the violent suppression of the 2020 Belarusian election, sustained cross-border protests in Khabarovsk and Minsk have exposed the fragility of Vladimir Putin's and Alexander Lukashenko's regimes. As European nations move to deny diplomatic recognition to Lukashenko and Putin provides emergency financial aid to maintain power, the survival of opposition leaders like Navalny and the coordinated actions of female activists are undermining the legitimacy of these authoritarian systems. Analysts warn that these unexpected collapses in long-standing autocracies signal a historic shift where the regimes' inability to control human agency creates unpredictable instability for Russia and its neighbors.
- The Economist12 min
David Attenborough talks about his new Netflix film
David Attenborough, Sir David Attenborough, Anne McElvoy
Sir David Attenborough returns with *A Life on Our Planet* to transition his legacy from celebrating natural wonder to demanding urgent behavioral adaptation against humanity's 100-to-200-year ecological decline. He deliberately targets democratic voters rather than entrenched political leaders, arguing that establishing the intrinsic value of nature is a prerequisite for motivating the public action necessary to avert a prolonged environmental catastrophe. While endorsing the goals of youth activists like Greta Thunberg, the 93-year-old broadcaster warns that lawful compliance is essential for long-term success, emphasizing that systemic change requires shifting public opinion before legislation can effectively alter global behavior.
- The Economist12 min
America’s stimulus package: is it working?
The United States is financing its expansive stimulus through low-cost global borrowing, resulting in record-high household incomes and stabilized poverty rates despite a shrinking economy. While federal executive orders have added $300 weekly to unemployment benefits, creaky state infrastructure and impending fund depletion create processing delays and financial uncertainty for the coming fall. Political analysts caution that future fiscal support depends on Democratic legislative control, even though current measures successfully prevented inflation by encouraging cash conservation among households and businesses.
- The Economist8 min
Covid-19: Bill Gates predicts the end of the pandemic
Bill Gates, Zanny Minton Beddoes
Bill Gates warns that the pandemic's global economic and health toll has surpassed earlier projections, prompting the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to pivot its resources toward financing the manufacturing and distribution of six promising vaccine candidates. While Phase III trials project 80% to 90% efficacy by September, Gates emphasizes that securing $10 billion to $12 billion is critical to overcoming current funding gaps and ensuring low-cost access for developing nations without which global herd immunity remains unattainable. He further cautions that achieving the estimated 30% to 60% vaccination coverage needed to halt transmission by late 2021 depends heavily on sustained US leadership, as the decline in multilateral cooperation and rising debt risks in emerging markets threaten to exacerbate existing inequalities and economic instability.
- The Economist11 min
Covid-19: When will a vaccine be ready?
Slavia Chankova, Callum Williams
Global teams are racing to develop vaccines with an estimated 80% success probability, yet full worldwide distribution is projected to take at least two years due to significant manufacturing constraints. While the pandemic causes weekly economic losses of $200 billion to $250 billion, achieving herd immunity requires overcoming distribution inequities and public skepticism, with experts recommending that wealthy nations support GAVI to ensure access for developing countries. Industry and government leaders face a complex balancing act between incentivizing rapid innovation through potential profits and adhering to ethical protocols that prioritize healthcare workers, the elderly, and vulnerable populations.