Patterns of Influence

Although economic growth in much of the world is slow, the developing world is booming. On today’s show: Nobel Prize-winning economist Michael Spence explains what will happen to international politics and the environment if current trends continue. Then, we’ll look into Vladimir Nabokov’s vision of what happiness is. William Deresiewicz offers an examination of the life lessons in the work of Jane Austen. Plus, Civil War scholar David Goldfield explains why he thinks the conflict was America’s greatest failure.