The remittance mystery
The episode investigates a puzzling surge in remittances flowing from the United States to several Central American and Caribbean countries, especially Honduras, despite heightened immigration enforcement and declining new immigration. Through interviews with a Honduran bank remittance manager, migrants, and economists, the reporters explore how fear of deportation, a looming remittance tax, and migrants' desire to build savings back home are driving this spike. They also examine how critical remittances are to economies like Honduras, the risks of over-dependence on this income, and the potential economic shock if these flows decline in the near future.
The best thing that could happen to the energy industry | Matt Tilleard
Host Elise Hu introduces a talk by renewable entrepreneur Matt Tilleard, who argues that the current clean energy shift is fundamentally different from past energy transitions because it is driven by technology instead of fuel. He explains how renewable technologies are less existential, more recyclable, more substitutable, and based on abundant materials, making control of resources and cartels far less powerful than in the fossil-fuel era. Using examples from his work in Africa and a case study in Madagascar, he outlines why the future of energy is likely to be more distributed, shared, and shaped by innovation and manufacturing rather than by those who control fuel deposits.
Is the U.S. Really Less Corrupt Than China? (Update)
Stephen Dubner interviews political scientist Yuen Yuen Ong about her research on corruption in China and the United States, based on her book "China's Gilded Age." Ong explains her four-part typology of corruption, how certain types of corruption can coexist with rapid economic growth, and why she believes the U.S. and China are both experiencing different versions of a "Gilded Age." She also critiques common corruption metrics, discusses China's evolving political-economic model under Mao, Deng, and Xi, and reflects on the strengths and weaknesses of capitalist prosperity and democracy.
Inside India's astonishing solar revolution | Kanika Chawla
Energy expert Kanika Chawla explains how India transformed an audacious 2014 commitment to install 100 gigawatts of solar power into reality, reaching the goal by February 2025 and unlocking $90 billion in investment and 300,000 new solar jobs. She argues that India's success was driven less by ideology and more by economic logic, backed by innovations in business models, market design, and planning. Drawing on examples from India, Ghana, sub-Saharan Africa, and Kenya, she outlines how planning, innovation, and localization can help developing countries lead an irreversible global energy transition.
647. China Is Run by Engineers. America Is Run by Lawyers.
Host Stephen Dubner speaks with analyst and author Dan Wong about his framework for understanding the U.S. and China as, respectively, a "lawyerly society" and an "engineering state." Wong explains how China's engineer-dominated leadership prioritizes rapid infrastructure building, technological capacity, and even social engineering, while the U.S. legal culture emphasizes procedure, litigation, and blocking harmful as well as beneficial projects. Drawing on his years living in China, his family's history, and his book "Breakneck," Wong discusses zero-COVID, the one-child policy, manufacturing and process knowledge, China's global ambitions, and what each country could learn from the other.