Crossing Channels

In this episode of Crossing Channels, Richard Westcott (host) talks to Davide Luca from the University of Cambridge and Laurenz Guenther from the Toulouse School of Economics about what lies behind the rise of populism. 
They explore why populism is not only about elections or political leaders, but also about how people experience representation, inequality, place and trust in democracy. 
The conversation examines how spatial inequality, economic anxiety, cultural attitudes and social media shape political behaviour, why some voters feel unheard by mainstream parties, and what democratic systems can do to rebuild stronger connections with citizens.
Listen to this episode on your preferred podcast platform 
Season 5 Episode 8 transcript: MS Word / PDF
For more information about the Crossing Channels podcast series and the work of the Bennett School of Public Policy and IAST visit our websites at https://www.bennettschool.cam.ac.uk/ and https://www.iast.fr/.
Follow us on Linkedin and Bluesky. 
With thanks to:
Audio production by Alice Whaley
Associate production by Burcu Sevde Selvi
Visuals by Tiffany Naylor and Pauline Alves
More information about our host and guests:
Laurenz Guenther is a Research Fellow at the Toulouse School of Economics (IAST) and a Fellow at Bocconi University's Institute for European Policymaking; from August 2026 he will also be a Visiting Scholar at Nuffield College, Oxford. His research combines political and experimental economics to study populism, immigration and political representation — including how gaps between citizens' preferences and those of their elected representatives shape support for populist parties. He holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Bonn (2023). He has been named one of the "40 under 40" by the German business magazine Capital.
Dr Davide Luca is an Assistant Professor in Regional Economics at the Department of Land Economy, University of Cambridge, and Fitzwilliam College’s DoS for his department. His research is interdisciplinary, and focuses on the interactions between territorial inequality, socioeconomic outcomes, and public policy delivery. Before joining Cambridge University, Dr Davide Luca was a Postdoctoral Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School of Government, and worked for the European Commission. He holds a PhD in Economic Geography from the London School of Economics and Political Science. More information about him can be found on his website: https://davideluca.com/
Richard Westcott (host) is an award-winning journalist who spent 27 years at the BBC as a correspondent/producer/presenter covering global stories for the flagship Six and Ten o’clock TV news as well as the Today programme. Last year, Richard left the corporation and is now the communications director for Cambridge University Health Partners and the Cambridge Biomedical Campus, both organisations that are working to support life sciences and healthcare across the city.

In this episode of Crossing Channels, Richard Westcott (host) talks to Rachel Adams (University of Cambridge) and Tiziana Assenza (Toulouse School of Economics)  about who we can trust online, and how misinformation, platforms and AI are reshaping the information environment. 
They explore why misinformation is not only about false content, but also about the systems that decide what people see, when they see it, and at what scale. 
The conversation examines how people often overestimate their own ability to spot misinformation, why emotional and identity-based reactions make false information spread, and how AI can deepen inequalities between countries with very different levels of regulation, digital literacy and platform accountability. 
They also discuss the risks for democracy, children and public debate, the economic consequences of technology-related misinformation, and what governments, platforms, schools and independent institutions can do to build a healthier and more trustworthy online information environment.
Listen to this episode on your preferred podcast platform
Season 5 Episode 7 transcript
For more information about the Crossing Channels podcast series and the work of the Bennett School of Public Policy and IAST visit our websites at https://www.bennettschool.cam.ac.uk/ and https://www.iast.fr/.
Follow us on Linkedin and Bluesky

With thanks to:
Audio production by Alice Whaley
Associate production by Burcu Sevde Selvi
Visuals by Tiffany Naylor and Pauline Alves

More information about our host and guests:
Rachel Adams, Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence (CFI), University of Cambridge.
Dr Rachel Adams is the Founder and CEO of the Global Centre on AI Governance, a global hub for research and evidence-led action on inclusive and equitable approaches to the use and governance of Al technologies. She has wide expertise in leading global research grants and building international, multi-stakeholder programmes that connect rigorous scholarship with real-world policy impact. She’s been involved with CFI for a number of years, including as an Assistant Research Professor with the Centre. In her new role Dr Adams will provide leadership for the Centre, with the aim of advancing, supporting and maintaining the University of Cambridge’s national and international reputation for excellence in research and teaching in the ethics and impact of AI.
Tiziana Assenza, Toulouse School of Economics
Tiziana is an Associate Professor of Economics at Toulouse School of Economics. Her research examines economic behavior using experimental and computational methods, with a particular focus on expectations formation in macroeconomics. She studies how individuals form and update economic expectations, how central bank communication influences these expectations, and how dis(mis)information shapes decision-making, business cycles, and the effectiveness of economic policy.
Richard Westcott (Host), Cambridge University Health Partners and the Cambridge Biomedical Campus
Richard Westcott is an award-winning journalist who spent 27 years at the BBC as a correspondent/producer/presenter covering global stories for the flagship Six and Ten o’clock TV news as well as the Today programme. Last year, Richard left the corporation and he is now the communications director for Cambridge University Health Partners and the Cambridge Biomedical Campus, both organisations that are working to support life sciences and healthcare across the city.

In this episode of Crossing Channels, Richard Westcott talks to Sumedha Deshmukh and Bruno Biais about whether the future of money can be truly inclusive. 
They explore the promise and limits of cryptocurrency, asking whether it offers a genuine alternative to existing financial systems or risks reproducing the same forms of exclusion, volatility and mistrust. The conversation examines why crypto may be useful in places where monetary and banking institutions are weak, but also why it can expose less informed users to new risks. They also discuss stablecoins, digital public infrastructure, regulation, trust and governance, and what policymakers need to consider if digital finance is to serve people’s real needs rather than simply benefiting those who are already better connected and better informed.

Season 5 Episode 6 transcript
Listen to this episode on your preferred podcast platform

For more information about the Crossing Channels podcast series and the work of the Bennett School of Public Policy and IAST visit our websites at https://www.bennettschool.cam.ac.uk/ and https://www.iast.fr/.
Follow us on Linkedin, Bluesky and X. 

With thanks to:
Audio production by Alice Whaley
Associate production by Burcu Sevde Selvi
Visuals by Tiffany Naylor and Pauline Alves

More information about our host and guests:
Podcast host
Richard Westcott is an award-winning journalist who spent 27 years at the BBC as a correspondent/producer/presenter covering global stories for the flagship Six and Ten o’clock TV news as well as the Today programme. Last year, Richard left the corporation and he is now the communications director for Cambridge University Health Partners and the Cambridge Biomedical Campus, both organisations that are working to support life sciences and healthcare across the city.
Podcast guests
Bruno Biais, a professor at HEC Paris, and associate researcher at TSE, holds a PhD in finance from HEC. He is a fellow of the Econometric Society and the Finance Theory group and has been scientific adviser to the NYSE, Euronext, European Central Bank and Bank of England. His current research project, titled "Welfare, Incentives, and Dynamic Equilibrium" benefits from the support of the European Research Council (ERC Advanced Grant).

Sumedha Deshmukh, formerly of the Bennett School of Public Policy, is currently a Research Fellow at University College London and the Ada Lovelace Institute. Her research focuses on the economic and societal impacts of digital technologies, with a particular interest in technology governance and public policy. Previously, she led multi-stakeholder technology governance initiatives at the World Economic Forum. She holds a PhD from the University of Cambridge, as well as a Master of Public Policy and BA in Economics from the University of Virginia.

In this episode of Crossing Channels, Anna Alexandrova and Léo Fitouchi talk to Richard Westcott about the limits of markets and what happens when economic reasoning meets moral values. 
They explore why some things – such as dignity, fairness and trust – sit uneasily with prices, and how attempts to measure wellbeing can reshape what societies consider valuable. 
The conversation also examines how monetary incentives sometimes crowd out moral motivations, why people react strongly to the idea that certain goods should be for sale, and what this means for policymakers trying to design fair and legitimate institutions in a world where not everything that matters can be priced.
Listen on your preferred podcast platform
Season 5 Episode 5 transcript: Word / PDF
For more information about the Crossing Channels podcast series and the work of the Bennett School of Public Policy and IAST visit our websites at https://www.bennettschool.cam.ac.uk/ and https://www.iast.fr/.
With thanks to:
Audio production by Alice Whaley
Associate production by Burcu Sevde Selvi
Visuals by Tiffany Naylor and Pauline Alves
More information about our host and guests:
Guest speakers
Anna Alexandrova is a Professor in Philosophy of Science at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of King’s College Cambridge. She researches how formal tools such as models and indicators enable scientists to navigate complex phenomena tinged with ethical and political dimensions. Her book A Philosophy for the Science of Wellbeing came out with Oxford University Press in 2017 and won the 2022 Gittler Book Prize of the American Philosophical Association. 
Léo Fitouchi is a Research Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse (IAST) and Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences of the Toulouse School of Economics (TSE). His research investigates the evolved mechanisms of moral cognition and how they shape the cultural evolution of moral norms, religious traditions, and punitive institutions across human societies. He tackles those questions by integrating insights from the social, cognitive, and evolutionary sciences, and testing predictions of the accounts he proposes by means of psychological experiments and cross-cultural databases. He received a Ph.D. in Cognitive Science from the École Normale Supérieure in Paris before joining the IAST.
Podcast host
Richard Westcott is an award-winning journalist who spent 27 years at the BBC as a correspondent/producer/presenter covering global stories for the flagship Six and Ten o’clock TV news as well as the Today programme. Last year, Richard left the corporation and he is now the communications director for Cambridge University Health Partners and the Cambridge Biomedical Campus, both organisations that are working to support life sciences and healthcare across the city.

In this episode of Crossing Channels, Richard Westcott talks to Dr Alessio Terzi from the Bennett School of Public Policy, and Prof Christian Gollier from the Toulouse School of Economics, about what a “fair” climate transition could look like when the costs are local, the benefits are global, and the politics are hard.
They explore why decarbonisation is a whole-economy transformation, what it means for jobs and places, and why the narrative matters as much as the technology. 
The conversation also looks at carbon pricing and redistribution, the credibility problem of long-term policy, and what kinds of institutions and policies can keep people on board in the years ahead.
Season 5 Episode 4 transcript: MS Word / PDF
Listen to this episode on your preferred podcast platform
For more information about the Crossing Channels podcast series and the work of the Bennett School of Public Policy and IAST visit our websites at https://www.bennettschool.cam.ac.uk/ and https://www.iast.fr/.
Follow us on Linkedin and Bluesky.
With thanks to:
Audio production by Alice Whaley
Associate production by Burcu Sevde Selvi
Visuals by Tiffany Naylor and Pauline Alves
More information about our guests:
Podcast guests
Prof Christian Gollier’s research spans the fields of economics of uncertainty, environmental economics, finance, consumption, insurance and cost-benefit analysis, with a particular interest in long-term sustainable effects. He is a Fellow of the Econometric Society. He founded the Jean-Jacques Laffont / Toulouse School of Economics Foundation with Jean Tirole in 2007. He was its director from 2009 to 2024 (with a hiatus in 2015-2016). From June 2023 to October 2025, he was the first director of the “Grand Etablissement TSE”.
Dr Alessio Terzi is an economist working at the intersection of academia, think-tanks, and policy. He is Assistant Professor at the Bennett School of Public Policy, Cambridge, where he also directs the MPhil in Public Policy, and is an Adjunct Professor in Economics at Sciences Po. He is a member of the World Economic Forum Global Future Council on Equitable Transition.  @terzibus.bsky.social