The Promise Of Meritocracy With Adrian Wooldr...

Technology has long been the one part of the economy that never hit a wall. No society has ever run out of ideas. Joel Mokyr, the Northwestern economic historian who won the 2025 Nobel Prize for identifying what makes growth self-sustaining, believes all of that and is frightened ...  Show more

Everyone covers the 2026 midterms like a sports match, so we pulled the candidates' actual economic platforms and stress-tested the math. Instead of asking who is up by two points in Michigan, Texas, or South Carolina, this special 2026 Midterms Edition examines what the candidat ...  Show more

Dr. Adrian Wooldridge is a political editor at The Economist and author of the new book ‘The Aristocracy of Talent: How Meritocracy Made the Modern World.’ In this episode, Dr. Wooldridge and I discuss how his new book has been received, the history of meritocracy, how IQ testin ...  Show more

Meritocracy has long been an article of faith in the modern Western world. Get an education, work hard and the rewards of success will be yours, regardless of class, privilege or wealth. But recently meritocracy has come under attack, with the charge led by Michael Sandel, the Ha ...  Show more

When people end up in a job or position they love, was it because they worked hard in school, or did they just get lucky? Why is the idea of progressing on merit under threat? Is there a way we can modernise it for the 21st century? Should we we even try?Adrian Wooldridge, Politi ...  Show more