Writers Emily Parker and Clay Shirky join host Cardiff Garcia to discuss how accelerating technological development in China both complements and often clashes with issues of state control, censorship, and information flows. They tell the stories of smartphone company Xiaomi, the country's burgeoning maker movement, and the activities of dissident bloggers. Plus they explain the obstacles confronting the Chinese economy as it goes from being dominated by industrial production to prioritising design and homegrown technologies. Emily Parker is a fellow at the New America Foundation and author of Now I Know Who My Comrades Are, and Clay Shirky is a professor at NYU in Shanghai and author of Little Rice: Smartphones, Xiaomi, and the Chinese Dream. Go to http://ftalphaville.ft.com/ for show notes and links. Music by Los Close. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

Brown University economics professor Emily Oster tells Shannon Bond the truth behind so-called conventional wisdom, especially in the realm of pregnancy and prenatal health, the topic of her book Expecting Better. They also discuss Oster's career and some of her other research, including a 2005 study on the link between gender imbalance and Hepatitis B in China, whose findings she would later say were incorrect. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

Economist Charles Kenny tells host Cardiff Garcia why he believes the rise of the rest is good for the western world, the topic of his book The Upside of Down. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

The conservative commentator and National Review executive editor sits down with host Cardiff Garcia in the FT's New York studio to discuss Mr Salam's data-driven take on modern conservative economic policy, his latest work and a host of other economic topics. Music: "Dawn" by Ryan Little. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

Less than three years after Amazon founder Jeff Bezos bought the Washington Post, the newspaper publisher is as much a technology company as it is a digital news operation. Executive editor Marty Baron and chief information officer Shailesh Prakash tell Shannon Bond what they're doing with the new investment, how they're reaching different audiences and how they see the media's role in the US election. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

Host Cardiff Garcia travelled to Harvard University to sit down with economic historian and professor Claudia Goldin. In this extended conversation, Ms Goldin discusses her work on the history of women in the workplace since the start of the 20th century, how she became interested in the subject and the causes behind the lingering gender wage gap. Music by Minden. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

FT columnist Simon Kuper is joined by author-journalists Amy Raphael, Jimmy Burns and David Winner for an in-depth discussion on how culture and soccer shape one another across the world. This podcast is a recording of a live event that took place in London on 10 February 2016. Music by Minden. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

Cuban dissident Miriam Leiva speaks with Cardiff Garcia in Havana about the life of her late husband, Oscar Espinosa Chepe, an economist with an irrepressible instinct to tell the truth to a government that did not want to hear it – for which he was repeatedly and severely punished.

Music by: Boom Boom Beckett, Blue Dot Sessions, A Ninja Slob Drew Me, Nick Jaina, Will Bangs. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

Development economist and 2010 John Bates Clark Medal award winner Esther Duflo sits down with host Cardiff Garcia at MIT to discuss the latest findings in poverty economics, the importance of political institutions, the debates over the usefulness of randomised control trials, and much more.

Music: "Pillow Tree Version 2" by Uncle Bibby. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

In part two of a discussion, Angus Deaton explains his work on the poverty trap, the controversial debate over the effectiveness of foreign aid, the usefulness of 'randomised control trials', the best ways to help the poor in developing countries, and his informed optimism about the future.

Music: "Rollin at 5-210" by Kevin MacLeod. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy