SPERI Presents...

How is value constructed and contested in the wine industry? What is the significance of place and nature? What does the win industry tell us about capitalist production in general?

Stefano Ponte is Professor of International Political Economy at Copenhagen Business School. He joins Josh White to discuss his book Value Struggles: Looking at Capitalism through the Wine Glass (Bloomsbury Academic, 2025) which is available as open access. The conversation includes definitions of value and the role of determining it in capitalist production; the significance of terroir and tradition in valuing wine; the institutional politics of prosecco; the ecological consequences of wine production and contestation over sustainability certification; and the racialised contingencies of labour and investment in South Africa.

'New Thinking in Political Economy' is a monthly podcast showcasing cutting-edge political economy research that helps us to understand the world around us.

The series is produced by Chris Saltmarsh and Josh White. This episode was edited by Josh White with support from Chris Saltmarsh. Music and audio by Andy_Gambino. Hosted on Acast. See https://acast.com/privacy for more information.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How should we understand the ruptural shift of the second China shock? How does it effect what we thought we knew about China and global production? How can we study this transformation? What comes next?

Professor Yvette To is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Applied Social Sciences at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Dr Frank Maracchione is an ESRC Postdoctoral Fellow at the Department of Politics and International Studies, SOAS, University of London. Dr Shizhi Zhang is a post-doctoral Research Associate at the Urban Institute, University of Sheffield. Dr Zhengli Huang is a Research Associate also at the Urban Institute, University of Sheffield.

They join Chris Saltmarsh to discuss the theoretical and empirical challenges posed by the the reconfiguration of production networks led by China poses a fresh set of theoretical and empirical challenges; how existing paradigms of development, dependency, and power in the global economy are being unsettled; and in what ways scholars and policymakers alike must rethink the frameworks they use to study global production from the systemic to the everyday levels.

This SPERI Presents... episode is a live recording of the roundtable "The global impact of China’s technological leadership and offshoring: Towards a second China shock" at BISA26 conference. It was sponsored by the International Political Economy Working Group (IPEG) and took place in Brighton on Thursday 4 June 2026.

This episode is produced by Frank Maracchione and Chris Saltmarsh and edited by Chris Saltmarsh. Music and audio by Andy_Gambino. Hosted on Acast. See https://acast.com/privacy for more information.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How are Chinese firms' activities in Africa shaped by local social, cultural and political processes? In what sense is this embeddedness flexible and how does this affect firms' internationalisation? What is specific and generalisable about Chinese firms? How are geographies of trade and production shifting towards South-South engagement?

Dr Elisa Gambino is Hallsworth Research Fellow in Political Economy at the Global Development Institute of the University of Manchester, UK and Adjunct Researcher at the Centre for Asian Studies of the University of Ghana. She joins Josh White to discuss her article 'Flexible embeddedness: how Chinese lead firms internationalise in Africa' (2026), published in Review of International Political Economy and co-authored with Costanza Franceschini. They unpack the concept of flexible embeddedness through the lens of Chinese lead firms' internationalisation in Kenya and Ghana and the varied, dynamic and contested nature of South-South engagement.

'New Thinking in Political Economy' is a monthly podcast showcasing cutting-edge political economy research that helps us to understand the world around us.

The series is produced by Chris Saltmarsh and Josh White. This episode was edited by Josh White with support from Chris Saltmarsh. Music and audio by Andy_Gambino. Hosted on Acast. See https://acast.com/privacy for more information.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How do neoliberal think tanks work? When do they disagree with each other? What do they do to influence government policy and public debate? How did they respond to the crisis of COVID-19 and state intervention that came with it?

Nina Lotze is a Associate Lecturer in the UCL Department of Political Science. She joins Josh White to talk about her article 'Strategies of neoliberal knowledge production: how did free-market think tanks react to the COVID-19 pandemic?' (2026) published in New Political Economy journal. They discuss the similarities and differences between neoliberal think tanks in the UK and Germany respectively; why they supported the first wave of lockdowns but not the second; networking as the basis of political power (including the dinners they organise and they pubs they drink in); and why its not quite right to talk about global neoliberal conspiracy.

'New Thinking in Political Economy' is a monthly podcast showcasing cutting-edge political economy research that helps us to understand the world around us.

This episode is produced by Chris Saltmarsh and Josh White. This episode was edited by Josh White with support from Chris Saltmarsh. Music and audio by Andy_Gambino. Hosted on Acast. See https://acast.com/privacy for more information.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Is a climate transition really happening? What do political economists mean when they talk about climate 'transformation'? Does it require overcoming capitalism? Should we be honest that we're actually talking about revolution? If so, what political agent could possibly bring it about?

Chris Saltmarsh is a postgraduate researcher studying the climate movement at University of Sheffield. Stan Wilshire is a postgraduate researcher studying the political economy of British climate governance at University of Manchester. Rebekah Diski is a postgraduate researcher studying the influence of nationalism in responses to climate change at University of Warwick. Uttara Narayan is a postgraduate researcher studying subjectivities and inequalities in decarbonisation jointly at University of Manchester and University of Melbourne

They join Josh White to discuss whether political economy should embrace a revolutionary approach to studying climate transition. They discuss how we should characterise the ecological upheavals in global politics; its relationship to capitalism; the most common approaches in the literature; the relationship between reform, revolution and transformation; and potential political agents for such revolutionary change.

This SPERI Presents... episode is a live recording of the roundtable "Towards a revolutionary political economy of global climate transition" at PSA26 conference. It was co-organised by the Political Economy Perspectives specialist group and SPERI Doctoral Researchers Network. It took place in Oxford on Wednesday 1 April 2026.

This episode is produced and edited by Chris Saltmarsh. Music and audio by Andy_Gambino. Hosted on Acast. See https://acast.com/privacy for more information.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.