414. Will Covid-19 Spark a Cold War (or Worse...

A ruthless (and ruthlessly efficient) industry is using digital tools to supercharge one of the world’s oldest behaviors. We look at how the industry works, and ask the scam-fighters what they’re doing about it. SOURCES: Kati Daffan, former assistant director at the Federal Trade ...  Show more

Economists don’t usually talk about “culture.” But Joel Mokyr argues that it’s the engine of innovation — and the Nobel Prize committee agreed. Stephen Dubner sits down for a thousand-year conversation (including advice!) with the new Nobel laureate. SOURCES: Joel Mokyr, economic ...  Show more

Chinese Vistas: Jonathan Spence lectures about China.

Recorded at The Asia Society in New York.

Spence explores the two centuries in which the United States gradually moved from its position as a dominant beacon of freedom and democracy for China, to becoming a mor ...

meet Ruhan Jia one of the young hopefuls in the world of state-manufactured pop. After decades of being closed off to western pop culture, the pressure is on for China to find a state-endorsed popstar, a fun and cool ambassador who can command the global stage. 

At best they have been taken for granted and sometimes they have endured far worse at the hands of China's governments and invaders alike. What voice for the Chinese public now? 

A recent visit to Taiwan by Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, has heightened tensions between the US and China. America has accused China of dangerous military provocations in the region. China has warned the US not to play with fire. Add to all that Russi ...  Show more