UNU-MERIT's Podcast

Dr Thomas Ziesemer explains details from his recent working paper on investment, growth and consumption in sub-Saharan Africa, touching in particular on issues of population sustainability. http://www.merit.unu.edu/permalink.php?id=661

Professor Luc Soete is Director of UNU-MERIT, Dean of the Maastricht Graduate School of Governance, and in September 2012 will take on the role of Rector Magnificus at Maastricht University. In this brief portrait we find out more about the man behind the titles, including some of his life philosophies and why he became an economist in the first place. http://www.merit.unu.edu/permalink.php?id=658

Our new season of podcasts begins with Daniel Vertesy, who today successfully defended his PhD on the role of emerging economies in the aerospace industry. We asked him why Brazil has succeeded while others have failed. http://www.merit.unu.edu/permalink.php?id=637

Can OpenEd bring formal education up to speed with the flatter, online world of the 21st century? Can it guarantee a new wave of culture and class-neutral education? How far is it penetrating beyond the English speaking world?

In today's globalized economy, firms depend on external partners to manage uncertainty. After an exhaustive global survey, Tina Saebi explains why firms need to carefully customize their approach in line with their partner portfolios.

Subsidies and commodity speculation: how do they affect food security around the world? What is the role of the World Food Programme? We talk with Tareq Abuelhaj, who works in Iraq for WFP, about his doctoral research at MGSoG.

UNU formally accredited our MPP programme in May 2011. Education director Lutz Krebs spells out what this means for our students, and reveals plans for more partnerships linked to specializations, capstone and internship programmes.

How can the European Union realize the full benefits of immigration? Should integration policy focus not only on the number of immigrants but also on their employability? Is the EU’s blue card policy too restrictive? To find out more click on play or read our working paper on 'Immigration and growth in an ageing economy'. http://www.merit.unu.edu/permalink.php?id=596

How far do risk pricing, state guarantees and Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) affect financial stability? Did PPPs contribute to the near bankruptcy of Greece? When should governments intervene in these key partnerships? Click play to hear the answers to these questions and more from Manos Sfakianakis, a PhD fellow at the School of Governance who defends his thesis on 25 May. http://www.merit.unu.edu/permalink.php?id=591

Indicators are a kind of technology, a product, which governs behaviour and develops in response to user needs. But what are the real-world social impacts of their development? Could innovation indicators be used to help poorer countries catch up? And is the EU on the right track in terms of monitoring and encouraging innovation? Click play for the answers to these questions and more. This podcast is based on the UNU working paper attached below. http://www.merit.unu.edu/permalink.php?id=584

What are the trade-offs between innovation and standardization of TB care in India? Do local experts 'speak the same language' as central decision-makers? Are we on track to meet Millennium Development Goal 6C, to halt and reverse major diseases like TB, by 2015? Check the podcast below for more on this urgent question of global health. http://www.merit.unu.edu/permalink.php?id=575

Are the high costs of phone, web and media services holding back growth and development in Africa? Should telecoms firms give spare bandwidth to support health and education projects? To hear more check the podcast below. http://www.merit.unu.edu/permalink.php?id=566

After an earthquake and tsunami crippled the light water reactor at Fukushima on 11 March, analysts have scrutinized design choices and risk management in the nuclear industry. Last month UNU-MERIT’s Professor Robin Cowan was cited in the Boston Globe and Atlantic magazine for his paper on ‘Technological Lock-in’, exploring how US technology -- dating back to the 1940s -- came to dominate the nuclear market thanks to a blend of economic and political expediency and regulatory barriers. To find out more check the podcast below. http://www.merit.unu.edu/permalink.php?id=557

As regimes crumbled across North Africa and the Middle East, researchers from the Maastricht Graduate School of Governance came together to share their news and views on the Arab revolutions. This interview with Zina Nimeh complements a feature article, to be released shortly on the UNU web magazine. http://www.merit.unu.edu/permalink.php?id=551

This podcast explores the subtle consequences of cross-cultural life, from reciprocation to unification to variation, based on the experiences of individuals at five Dutch firms in Thailand. http://www.merit.unu.edu/permalink.php?id=547

Pro-poor innovation with a focus on entrepreneurs and alternative finance is the subject of this brief interview, which also explores the bad press surrounding micro-credit in India. http://www.merit.unu.edu/permalink.php?id=546

China's phenomenal rise in R&D, including in the field of nanotechnology, and Western 'quality' research vs. China's 'quantity' advantage, are among the subjects touched on in this radio clip. http://www.merit.unu.edu/permalink.php?id=544