Works in Progress Podcast

Works in Progress is an online magazine devoted to new and underrated ideas about economic growth, scientific progress, and technology. Subscribe to listen to the Works in Progress podcast, plus Hard Drugs by Saloni Dattani and Jacob Trefethen.

Last refreshed: July 26th, 2025 at 9:50 AM ⓘ

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Episodes

Stian Westlake on the intangible economy and paying for social science

Why does London dominate Britain's economy, whereas Germany's is spread out across the whole country? Why don't restaurants scale well? What kind of social science research (if any) should the government be funding? Stian Westlake – Executive Chair of the Economic and Social Research Council and author of Capitalism Without Capital: The Rise of the Intangible Economy – joins the Works in Progress podcast to discuss these questions.

Jul 11, 2025•59 min•Ep. 3

Samuel Hughes on The Great Downzoning

Before the twentieth century, most cities were highly permissive about what people were allowed to build on their land. Nearly all Western householders lost these liberties during the first half of the twentieth century. Samuel Hughes calls this phenomenon The Great Downzoning. In the first episode of the Works in Progress Podcast, he describes how and why this happened, and what it means for modern pro-housing campaigners.

Jun 27, 2025•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 2

Lenacapavir: The miracle drug that could end AIDS

Lenacapavir is a new HIV drug that blocks infections with an efficacy rate of nearly 100%, and it could completely change the fight against HIV worldwide. Saloni and Jacob talk about the development and prospects for this new drug, as well as the history of HIV, the initial discovery of retroviruses, and how HIV was transformed from a death sentence to a manageable condition. Hard Drugs is a new podcast from Works in Progress and Open Philanthropy about medical innovation presented by Saloni Dat...

Jun 11, 2025•4 hr 54 min•Ep. 1

Coming soon: The Works in Progress Podcast

Coming soon: the Works in Progress Podcast. Featuring underrated ideas to improve the world – for bigger, more beautiful cities; clean energy that's too cheap to meter; truly pathbreaking scientific research; everyday progress in things like food and drink; and more. Plus: Hard Drugs, a new series hosted by Saloni Dattani and Jacob Trefethen about medical progress and the quest to eradicate the world's worst diseases. Subscribe now.

Jun 07, 2025•1 min•Ep. 1

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