S2 Ep6: How does technology diffuse?

More from Ideas in Development All episodes →

1. 

   S3 · E2 · 7 Apr 2026 · 35 min

   S3 Ep2: How can African cities pay for stuff?

   There is a paradox at the heart of governing cities in Africa. Mayors are responsible for building the infrastructure their fast-growing cities need. But most don't control the money that this requires. In this episode, we ask how can that change? Astrid Haas joins the Ideas in Development series on cities to discuss why African cities are so fiscally constrained, what reforms in Mexico, the Philippines, and Freetown can teach us, and what national and city governments should prioritise to raise revenue and unlock finance. Note: The following question was accidentally cut at 16:41…

2. 

   S3 · E1 · 31 Mar 2026 · 29 min

   S3 Ep1: Why cities matter

   900 million people will be added to African cities by 2050. Getting this unprecedented urban transition right is one of the defining development challenges of our time. In this opening episode of our new Ideas in Development series on cities, Kurtis Lockhart, founder of the Africa Urban Lab, joins us to set the scene. We discuss why the link between urbanisation and prosperity is breaking down in Africa, what that means for the continent's future, and what the series ahead will explore. Read the show notes on our Substack: https://ideasindevelopment.substack.com/ Check out Africa Urban Lab:…

3. 

   S2 · E9 · 24 Mar 2026 · 27 min

   S2 Ep9: The development economics of AI: Lessons and questions

   What actually changes when AI meets institutions, infrastructure, and the people inside them? Oliver Hanney and Deena Mousa recap the Ideas in Development series on AI, drawing on conversations with Raghuram Rajan, Umar Saif, Rose Mutiso, Josh Lerner, Anton Korinek, Bruno Caprettini, Niriksha Shetty, Claire Cullen and Utkarsh Saxena. They cover the key takeaways: why the binding constraint question matters more than the model question; what the data desert problem means for national AI strategies; why access and value capture are not the same thing; and what AI is doing to the growth…

4. 

   S2 · E8 · 17 Mar 2026 · 52 min

   S2 Ep8: What tech ministers get wrong about AI

   What should a technology minister in a developing country actually focus on when it comes to AI? Umar Saif, computer scientist, former minister of Science and Technology, and IT, in Pakistan, and AI company founder, joins the Ideas in Development series on AI to discuss why data and politics, not technology, are the real bottlenecks to AI in developing countries. In this wide-ranging episode we discuss what he learned from his time in government, why the rush towards sovereign AI capacity may be a costly distraction, his worries for the future, and where he is optimistic. Read the full show…

5. 

   S2 · E7 · 10 Mar 2026 · 46 min

   S2 Ep7: India, AI, and the future of service-led growth

   What happens to a growth model built on services when AI can do some of those services itself? Raghuram Rajan joins the Ideas in Development series on AI to discuss how India's economy grew through services exports, why that model may be more resilient to AI than critics assume, and what policymakers need to get right on human capital, universities, and digital access to stay ahead.

6. 

   S2 · E5 · 24 Feb 2026 · 42 min

   S2 Ep5: Three ways India is using AI for development

   India is already using AI to unlock its courts, classrooms and farms. In this episode of Ideas in Development, Utkarsh Saxena, Claire Cullen and Niriksha Shetty discuss how their organisations, Adalat AI, Youth Impact, and Precision Development, are deploying AI across India, and what they’ve learned during the process.

7. 

   S2 · E4 · 17 Feb 2026 · 42 min

   S2 Ep4: How to think like an economist about AI

   How do economists think about the economic impacts of AI today? Will our current economic paradigm still make sense if we reach AGI? In this episode of Ideas in Development, Anton Korinek joins Oliver Hanney and Deena Mousa to discuss some rules of thumb that help to cut through the headlines, and speculate what the labour market impacts of AI might be if technological progress continues to rapidly improve.

8. 

   S2 · E3 · 10 Feb 2026 · 29 min

   S2 Ep3: Can AI take off in Africa?

   In this episode of Ideas in Development, we ask what needs to happen before AI can take off in Africa. Rose Mutiso talks us through the current state of energy and digital infrastructure in Africa, why leapfrogging is not guaranteed with AI, and what fundamental bottlenecks need to be addressed.

9. 

   S2 · E2 · 5 Feb 2026 · 39 min

   S2 Ep2: Is the industrial revolution a good comparison for AI?

   How did society change during the industrial revolution? Are there lessons we can learn for the age of AI? In this episode of Ideas in Development, Deena Mousa and Oliver Hanney talk to Bruno Caprettini about one of the most common historical analogies people make when talking about AI: the industrial revolution. We discuss how British society, and the economy, changed in real time during this historical period of unprecedented technological change. What did technological change actually look like when it first unfolded? How long did it take for living standards to rise? And what kinds of…

10. 

    S2 · E1 · 3 Feb 2026 · 17 min

    S2 Ep1: Economists vs Technologists on AI

    Today on Ideas in Development, we think through why economists sound so different to technologists when discussing AI. Listen to learn about the mismatch between the public discourse on the economic impacts of AI, and how economists tend to think through periods of rapid technological change. This is the first episode of our new series on AI. Joining us as co-host across the next ten episodes is Deena Mousa.