logo
episode-header-image
May 2023
28m 12s

Narcos and avocados: Mexico’s diversifyi...

The Economist
About this episode

In attempts to amass more wealth, these organisations are dabbling in newer narcotics and even taking on the mining sector. The result is taking a toll on the country’s economy. Can a 100-year-old discovery solve the problem of antibiotic resistance? And we celebrate the anniversary of William Shakespeare’s first folio.


For full access to print, digital and audio editions of The Economist, try a free 30-day digital subscription by going to www.economist.com/intelligenceoffer


Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Up next
Yesterday
Wage against the machine: the distortions of minimum pay
<p>For decades governments have found minimum-wage rises a politically expedient means of redistribution. But the onward <a href="https://www.economist.com/leaders/2025/11/20/why-governments-should-stop-raising-the-minimum-wage?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_so ... Show More
22m 16s
Nov 24
Emission creep: a contentious COP closes
<p>It is telling and troubling that the annual climate talking-shop’s <a href="https://www.economist.com/international/2025/11/22/cop30-ends-with-a-whimper?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_content=discovery.content.anonymous.tr_shownote ... Show More
25m 51s
Nov 21
Flee country: Britain seeks to slash migration
<p>Britain’s home secretary Shabana Mahmood proposed a big shift in <a href="https://www.economist.com/britain/2025/11/20/will-britain-copy-asylum-policy-from-a-place-with-poor-integration?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_content=discov ... Show More
23m 22s
Recommended Episodes
May 2023
Narcos and avocados: Mexico’s diversifying drug cartels
<p>In attempts to amass more wealth, these organisations are dabbling in <a href="https://www.economist.com/united-states/2023/05/11/fentanyl-trafficking-tests-americas-foreign-policy?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_content=discovery.c ... Show More
28m 12s
Mar 2024
The Intelligence: Drug gateway
<p>A visit to a port of entry at America’s Mexican border reveals the difficulties in stopping the <a href="https://www.economist.com/leaders/2024/02/29/fentanyl-cannot-be-defeated-without-new-tactics?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_co ... Show More
25m 25s
Dec 2023
The Intelligence: searching for the elixir of life
<p>Scientists are making considerable progress in the race to <a href="https://www.economist.com/technology-quarterly/2023/09/25/slowing-human-ageing-is-now-the-subject-of-serious-research?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_content=discov ... Show More
30m 6s
Mar 2024
The Intelligence: Europe is not so hot on its green parties
<p>Melting ski slopes, floods and droughts are enraging the continent’s citizens, but not quite enough for them to consider <a href="https://www.economist.com/europe/2024/03/04/europes-new-look-winter-floods-high-sea-levels-and-melting-glaciers?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio. ... Show More
24m 14s
Mar 2024
The Intelligence: Haiti’s latest nightmare
<p>Despite growing pressure from powerful local gangs, Ariel Henry, the prime minister, is refusing to step down. <a href="https://www.economist.com/the-americas/2024/03/07/the-last-scraps-of-the-haitian-state-are-evaporating?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_sour ... Show More
21m 27s
Mar 2024
The Intelligence: The fallen crypto king learns his fate
<p>It has been called one of the <a href="https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2023/11/03/sam-bankman-frieds-downfall-is-complete?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_content=discovery.content.anonymous.tr_shownotes_na-na_article ... Show More
21m 58s
Dec 2023
The Intelligence: The Economist reads
<p>What can A Space Odyssey by Arthur C Clarke tell us about AI? Does Shakespeare's Othello contain a warning for the 2024 US presidential election? Our journalists (and our listeners, too) <a href="https://www.economist.com/the-economist-reads?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio. ... Show More
35m 41s
Dec 2023
The Intelligence: the notable deaths of 2023
<p>Only at the end of the year can a full appraisal be made of the figures—and landmarks—that the world has lost. From <a href="https://www.economist.com/culture/2023/04/26/harry-belafonte-delighted-and-challenged-a-divided-america?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&ut ... Show More
26m 37s
Feb 2024
The Intelligence: No water, no lights, no beds
<p>Hardened war-zone doctors say the situation in Gaza is the worst they have witnessed—and that will cost lives long after the current conflict is resolved. Numbers from America’s tight labour market suggest that long-standing gaps between black and white workers <a href="https: ... Show More
23m 52s