Harvard Business School professor Rebecca Henderson talks with Markos Kounalakis about how to reimagine capitalism in a way that aligns with our moral and ethical values. Henderson says it’s not only possible, but it’s profitable to move beyond an obsessive focus on shareholder value to solve global problems like income inequality, climate change, and the coronavirus pandemic. How can capitalism drive systemic change worldwide?

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What does it take to avoid the worst of the pandemic and allow a country to return to some sense of normalcy? Producer Teresa Cotsirilos and Radio New Zealand’s Indira Stewart explain how Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern managed to nearly eradicate the virus from New Zealand. And New York Times Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Nicholas Kristof has been sheltering in place in his home town of Yamhill, Oregon. Already devastated by the opioid epidemic, working class communities like Yamhill are reeling as the pandemic exacerbates America’s inequities. To learn more about Yamhill, check out Kristoff and co-author Sheryl WuDunn’s book Tightrope: Americans Reaching for Hope.

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At the age of 22, Amaryllis Fox was recruited to work for the CIA, making her one of the youngest female operators in the CIA’s history. After training, Fox was deployed to the Middle East where she infiltrated networks to disrupt acts of terrorism and stop illegal sales of arms and explosives. In her memoir, Life Undercover: Coming of Age in the CIA, she emphasizes that her biggest strength was her ability to connect with terrorists on a personal level rather than through tough negotiations. Out of government for over 10 years, she is now a peace activist and a mother. Fox sat down with KQED journalist Mina Kim to share her fascinating story of her time in the clandestine world of spycraft and how her perspective about her work at the CIA has evolved since she left.

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As we’ve learned from this pandemic, human beings can act quickly in the face of immediate danger. However, we’re not so good at taking action against slow-moving threats. The threat posed by nuclear weapons is now as high as it’s been since the Cold War. This week on WorldAffairs, we talk about North Korea with veteran aid worker Katharina Zellweger, Pulitzer-nominated journalist Jean Lee and North Korean defector Joseph Kim. We also discuss Russia and nuclear proliferation with Dr. Ernest Moniz, who served as Secretary of Energy in the Obama Administration.

If you appreciate this episode and want to support the work we do, please sign up for a World Affairs membership. Your donation enables us to produce programs you value and it connects high school students directly with leaders in the field of international relations while engaging them in critical global issues. We cannot do this work without your help. Thank you.

Host: Philip Yun

Producer: Teresa Cotsirilos

Senior producer: Jarrod Sport

Executive producer: Joanne Elgart Jennings