In the Balance

What are the political and economic factors to watch in 2020? Will the trade wars continue, will Brexit get done and who will be the next US president? Ed Butler is joined by economists Professor Meredith Crowley, Reader in International Economics, University of Cambridge; Guntram Wolff, Director of Bruegel, an economic think tank and Professor Raghuram Rajan of Chicago Booth School of Business to discuss how the events of 2019 will influence the coming year and give us their forecasts for trends to look out for in 2020. (Image: 2020 US election badges; image credit: Getty Images)

What is best practice for employers dealing with mental health problems at work? The World Health Organisation estimates that depression and anxiety cost the global economy about one trillion dollars a year in lost productivity. About half of all workers suffer from poor mental health but few of us talk to our employers about it. So how can an employer support someone going through a crisis, and does the workplace have a role in breaking down the stigma around mental health? Manuela Saragosa tries to answer some of these questions with guests, Professor Sally Maitlis of Saïd Business School, University of Oxford; Mary Daniels entrepreneur, author and coach; and Nicky Young, managing director at MullenLowe salt. (Image: Graphic image of man with head on desk; Image credit: Getty Images)

Are mandatory quotas desirable or necessary to ensure more diversity in our company boardrooms? The Netherlands has just passed a law obliging listed companies to have 30% of their non-executive boards made up of women and California has till the end of the year to ensure at least one woman is on the board of its public companies. But that law is being challenged, and quotas elsewhere have had mixed success. So why bother? Manuela Saragosa and guests Rhonda Vonshay Sharpe, founder and president of WISER Policy, attorney with Pacific Legal Foundation Anastasia Boden, Tamara Box, managing partner at Reed Smith and founding member of the 30% Club and former EU digital commissioner Neelie Kroes discuss the pros and cons of mandatory quotas for female equality in the corporate world.(Image: three business women: Image credit: Getty Images)

Can we trust the political adverts in our news feeds? Who is sending them, why are we being targeted and are they even true? This week we're looking at the thorny issue of political advertising on social media. Is regulation needed to ensure fair and trustworthy election campaigns or would restrictions endanger free speech and limit voter choice? Ed Butler is joined by Rory Cellan-Jones, BBC technology correspondent, data rights lawyer Ravi Naik, Lisa-Maria Neudert, doctoral researcher at the Oxford Internet Institute and Michael Duncan partner and digital media lead at Cavalry, an issue management firm in Washington DC. (Image: Man looking at phone on a bus. Image credit: Getty Images)

Divestment has become a rallying call by environmental campaigners in the fight against climate change. It's when environmentally aware investors put pressure on their fund managers, employers and governments to move money away from polluting industries. An estimated $11 trillion have been divested from fossil fuel stocks since the 2015 Paris climate summit, but has that divestment made a difference? With emissions continuing to soar, wouldn't it be better just to tax energy companies more? Others argue that investors should put money into innvovative technologies that help solve climate change. Justin Rowlatt discusses these issues and more with guests Mark Lewis, Global Head of Sustainability, BNP Paribas Asset Management, Ahmed Mokgopo, Campaigner, 350.org and Gayle Peterson, Associate Fellow, Said Business School, Oxford. (Image: Climate change protest bannners. Image credit: Getty Images)

At a time when we’re living longer, healthier lives should we do away with the notion of retirement and just keep on working? Are the skills of older people adequate, and are they even wanted in a youth-obsessed society? Ed Butler will be discussing the financial drivers behind working longer, the social benefits of being actively employed and the choices that governments, employers and individuals need to make to prepare for older age. Our guests this week are Samuel Engblom, Policy director at The Swedish Confederation of Professional Employees from Stockholm, Margaret Heffernan, executive coach and author in London and Steve Vernon, author and Research Scholar at the Stanford Center on Longevity, California. Plus, we take a visit to The Common Room, a new concept in intergenerational thinking. (Image: Older woman selling flower bouquet. Image credit: Getty)

The EU has a new parliament, new leadership, but the same old problems; Brexit, political populism and an economic slowdown. How will it stand up to the test? In the Balance comes from the 'Kilkenomics' festival of economics and comedy in Ireland, in front of a live audience of festival-goers. Rory Cellan-Jones is joined by a panel of top Irish, European and American economists in Cleere's pub in Kilkenny, along with comedian Colm O’Regan who is reflecting on how small countries cope as part of a big bloc like the EU. Guests: Matina Stevis-Gridneff, Brussels correspondent for the New York Times, David McWilliams academic and economist and co-founder of Kilkenomics, Bill Black, lawyer, author and associate professor of economics and law at the University of Missouri, Kansas City. And In the Balance regular contributor, comedian Colm O'Regan.Producer: Audrey Tinline Studio Manager: Robert Symington(Image: John Cleere pub exterior, Kilkenny. Image credit: BBC)

Some of the world’s top thinkers on artificial intelligence discuss the threats intelligent machines might pose to humans. With Turkey claiming it may be able to launch autonomous killer drones in the near future, is it time we all thought a bit harder about how we want this cutting edge technology to be deployed? Ed Butler and guests discuss artificial intelligence, from military hardware, to online advertising and insurance. Ed is joined by Dame Wendy Hall, Professor of Computer Science at Southampton University and Co-chair of the UK Government's review on Artificial Intelligence; Helen Toner, Director of Strategy at the Center for Security and Emerging Technology at Georgetown University. And Jaan Tallinn, one of the founders of the technology firm Skype and now co-founder of the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk at Cambridge University.(Picture: Robotic Androids Taking Charge Of Running A Futuristic City. Credit: Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

What's the best strategy for starting a business from nothing? What if you have to start over - either in a new country or because of a business failure or setback in life? We hear from a Syrian refugee who started her cheese making business from the ground up and from South Africa we are joined by the managing director of an organisation advising small scale entrepreneurs who are doing business in tough conditions. Also in the programme, Ed Butler is joined by a venture capital funder who invests in tech start-ups and we'll hear from the leader of Britain's top foundation for boosting entrepreneurship, who says it takes a special type of person to start up a business from scratch. Contributors: Razan Alsous, founder of Yorkshire Dama Cheese Neeta Patel, CEO at the Centre for Entrepreneurs; Entrepreneur-Mentor at London Business School Wybrand Ganzevoort, managing director at Collective Value Creation George Davies, partner at Hambro Perks(Picture; A rocket taking off. Credit: Getty Creative)

Thanks to technology, these days it’s possible to work almost anywhere. You can log on from your kitchen table, in a trendy café or even on the beach. So what’s the point of the noisy, crowded office? Perhaps it’s time we ditched the daily commute and found better places, and better ways, to get the job done. Manuela Saragosa has been discussing, with her three guests, just what kind of spaces we’ll be working in in future, and whether the office has some redeeming features after all.Contributors: Kay Sargent, director of workplace at architectural firm HOK Iwo Szapar, remote work advocate & CEO at Remote-how Stephen Wood, a specialist in workplace psychology and professor of management at the University of Leicester(Picture:Office worker. Getty Images.)