Ryan C Briggs

Fall classes have started again so my time on the DC metro has increased greatly. The commuting has meant that I’ve been blowing through podcasts at an alarming rate, and I’ve come across a few that are worth sharing. These links are to the webpages of the podcasts, but all of them can be found in iTunes as well.

Podcasts that are consistently good:

• Development Drums, a podcast by Owen Barder on a wide variety of development issues. This is a must listen.
• Africa today, BBC’s Monday to Friday summary of news about the continent.

One-off podcasts:

• Even if you aren’t into economics, you should still listen to the Econ talk interview with Paul Collier about his recent book (see Chris Blattman talk about it here).
• If you are into economics, then Econ Talk is great. I particularly enjoyed this interview with Peter Blair Henry on the relative importance of institutions and policies on growth.
• Binyavanga Wainaina gave an interview to American Public Media’s Speaking of Faith on the ethics of aid (see Texas in Africa talk about it here).
• [update: Sep 9, 2009] Terrence, pointed out that LSE’s Public Lectures and Events podcasts are often development related. I enjoyed Amartya Sen’s talk on The Idea of Justice.

Tangentially related video podcasts:

• Tea with the Economist is not always about development but is consistently good. Of particular interest will be this interview with Michela Wrong.
• TVO’s Big Ideas (audio or video) is also not about development but is often interesting. Readers might find Margaret MacMillan’s talk on her book Paris 1919 and Niall Ferguson’s talk on his book Empire particularly interesting (and controversial, in the case of Ferguson).
• Finally, CSIS has occasionally interesting audio and video podcasts on Africa, global health, and trade and economics, among other topics.