Latest Interviews
Showing 151–156 of 156 interview transcripts.
Clear all filters- The Economist22 min
America's next top-job model: our election forecast
Rosie Bloor, Jason Palmer, Dan Rosenheck, Natasha Loder, Caitlin Talbot
Recent polling indicates Donald Trump holds a 60% probability of winning the 2024 election despite legal convictions, as economic dissatisfaction drives a stable race in the Sunbelt states. Concurrently, global malaria progress has stalled due to drug resistance and funding gaps, prompting the rollout of the affordable R21 vaccine as a critical intervention tool. Meanwhile, the "tradwife" social media trend has garnered hundreds of millions of views by romanticizing domesticity, though labor statistics reveal this aesthetic remains largely performative rather than a mass workforce exodus.
- The Economist21 min
Doing their not-own thing: “generation rent”
Jason Palmer, Rosie Bloor, Tom Sass, Holly Berman, David Benin
Global analysis reveals a significant rise in private renting across Western democracies, driven by economic stagnation and housing inflation, while strict rent controls in Stockholm prove counterproductive compared to Auckland's successful upzoning strategies that boosted supply. Concurrently, the Biden administration's ultimatum to force TikTok's divestiture over national security concerns has sparked a high-profile legal battle alleging First Amendment violations, despite the administration's continued political reliance on the platform. In the cultural sphere, major artists like Taylor Swift and Billie Eilish are revitalizing the album format to secure dual revenue streams and challenge historical gender biases in music consumption.
- The Economist21 min
French anti-foreign legion: an EU-election shock
Emmanuel Macron, Rosie Bloor, Jason Palmer, Chris Lockwood, Tamara Jilkes-Bohr
Following shock defeats for centrist leaders Emmanuel Macron and Olaf Scholz, the European Parliamentary elections highlighted a significant surge for far-right parties in France and Germany despite a marginal overall EU-wide shift. Concurrently, U.S. schools are grappling with a post-pandemic absenteeism crisis driven by economic instability and lost learning habits, prompting a pivot from punitive measures to supportive interventions like high-impact tutoring and basic needs assistance. In the automotive sector, manufacturers increasingly rely on alphanumeric or abstract naming conventions to distinguish models, though these strategies risk consumer confusion and cultural blunders ranging from mistranslations to legal disputes over regional naming rights.
- The Economist23 min
Modi’s mess: a shock election result spells uncertainty for India
Modi, Rosie Bloor, Jason Palmer, Jeremy Page, Anjani Trivedi, Emily Steinmark
Prime Minister Narendra Modi secured a third term with his BJP party relying on coalition partners after failing to win an absolute majority, forcing a shift from centralized governance to a consensus-based approach. In parallel, foreign investment in Africa contracted by $32 billion due to global economic headwinds, prompting businesses to pivot toward regional supply chains despite persistent logistical hurdles like visa restrictions. Meanwhile, researchers from the University of Milan successfully demonstrated that running along a suspended circular wall could simulate lunar gravity using only two minutes of daily exercise, offering a potential low-tech solution for long-term space health.
- The Economist21 min
Out on a ledger: Trump convicted
Trump, Ora Okunbiyi, Jason Palmer, Sumi, Kenneth Werner, John McDermott
Former President Donald Trump became the first U.S. ex-president criminally convicted on 34 felony counts, a verdict he attributes to political retaliation while likely facing a suspended sentence and using the outcome to bolster his fundraising ahead of the November election. Simultaneously, South Africa's African National Congress lost its parliamentary majority for the first time since 1994, forcing President Cyril Ramaphosa into difficult coalition negotiations between pragmatic centrist partners and populist allies. In personnel news, The Economist's Auret van der Merwe transitioned from on-air host to its Africa correspondent in Lagos to lead coverage of the continent's emerging business and cultural landscape.
- The Economist28 min
The Intelligence: Rishi Sunak’s report card
Rishi Sunak, Jason Palmer, Ora Ogunbiyi, Matthew Holhouse, Ana Lankas, Katrin Braik
Britain's July 4th general election concludes Rishi Sunak's technocratic yet polarizing tenure, pitting a disunited Conservative Party struggling with a twenty-point polling deficit against a disciplined Labour opposition amidst a global security landscape resembling the Cold War. Concurrently, Latin America faces a homicide crisis driven by shifting drug markets, prompting Ecuador to adopt El Salvador's "iron fist" military strategies despite expert warnings that the region's wealthy, diversified gangs differ fundamentally from the impoverished extortion networks previously targeted. In a third distinct domain, climate-induced ice melt is altering the Earth's rotation by redistributing mass toward the equator, a phenomenon that temporarily offsets core-driven acceleration and delays the technical need for a negative leap second in global timekeeping systems.