EPISODE · Jul 3, 2026 · 56 MIN
Trade and traffic
from Arts & Ideas · host BBC Radio 4
What does trade set in motion beyond the exchange of goods? Anne McElvoy explores the movement of commerce across time as a carrier of habits, ideas, ambitions and influence, as well as of material things. From the early modern world, where trade was entangled with colonial expansion and shaped by unequal, sometimes unexpected encounters, to the supply chains and diplomatic negotiations of the present, this discussion asks how economic exchange has also mediated cultural contact. Alongside rivalry and wealth, how has trade given rise to its own languages of civility, reciprocity and trust?Guests include:Nandini Das is Professor of Early Modern Literature and Culture at Oxford University and author of This Little World: A New History of Tudor and Stuart EnglandJeremy Hunt is a former Chancellor of the Exchequer and the author of Can We Be Rich Again?Soumaya Keynes is an economist and columnist at the Financial Times and the author of How to Win a Trade WarProfessor Rana Mitter is ST Lee Chair in US-Asia Relations at the Harvard Kennedy SchoolDr Lauren Working is a Lecturer in Early Modern Literature at York University and author of A Golden World: How the Americas Transformed Renaissance EnglandProducer: Ruth Watts
What this episode covers
What does trade set in motion beyond the exchange of goods? Anne McElvoy explores the movement of commerce across time as a carrier of habits, ideas, ambitions and influence, as well as of material things. From the early modern world, where trade was entangled with colonial expansion and shaped by unequal, sometimes unexpected encounters, to the supply chains and diplomatic negotiations of the present, this discussion asks how economic exchange has also mediated cultural contact. Alongside rivalry and wealth, how has trade given rise to its own languages of civility, reciprocity and trust?Guests include:Nandini Das is Professor of Early Modern Literature and Culture at Oxford University and author of This Little World: A New History of Tudor and Stuart EnglandJeremy Hunt is a former Chancellor of the Exchequer and the author of Can We Be Rich Again?Soumaya Keynes is an economist and columnist at the Financial Times and the author of How to Win a Trade WarProfessor Rana Mitter is ST Lee Chair in US-Asia Relations at the Harvard Kennedy SchoolDr Lauren Working is a Lecturer in Early Modern Literature at York University and author of A Golden World: How the Americas Transformed Renaissance EnglandProducer: Ruth Watts
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Trade and traffic
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