What happens when the money shrinks, but the challenges don’t? In this podcast episode, we take a deep dive into the messy, political, and deeply human world of international development, with someone who’s spent years inside it.

Our guest, Peter J. Evans, (probably not the one you’re thinking), is a seasoned adviser on governance, inclusion, and aid strategy. He joins us for a reflective and nuanced conversation about the future of aid in an era of constraint. Drawing on his work with major donors like FCDO and his deep experience in political economy, Peter unpacks the realities behind the rhetoric and asks how we can still make aid matter.

Together, we explore the tensions between foreign policy and development goals, the risks of radical simplification, and why we need to treat context as more than just a slogan. From the legacy of “fat aid” to the fragility of anti-corruption efforts, this episode invites listeners to reconsider how effectiveness is defined and what a more grounded, politically aware model could look like going forward.

If you're a policymaker, donor, practitioner, or simply tired of one-dimensional aid debates, this conversation is for you. Lend your voice by signing a petition to reverse these cuts and push for a smarter, more responsible aid strategy. https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/719301

Special thanks to Peter J. Evans for sharing his insight and candour.

Website: @flywheeleconomics.com
Socials: @flywheeleconomics

Thin Aid, Thick Politics: Rethinking Aid Effectiveness with Peter J. Evans

Vuk Velebit is the co-founder and executive director of the Pupin Initiative, which has become the hub for bolstering US-Serbia ties, doing so through collaborative and non-partisan efforts and policies. The Pupin Initiative was established with the same values that renowned Serbian-American scientist and inventor Mihajlo (Michael) Pupin espoused over 100 years ago. They bring together young entrepreneurs, cross-field experts, and value creators from both the United States and Serbia, focus on creating impactful networks through a bottom-up approach, and provide an authentic understanding of local contexts. The Pupin Initiative is privately funded to ensure commitment and efficiency, and to surpass any bureaucratic shortcomings.

Vuk Velebit is a leading new-generation political analyst, renowned for his expertise in foreign and security policy, media analysis, and political strategy.

You can also watch this episode on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/5qvATL-79q8

You can learn more about the Pupin Initiative at: https://pupin.org


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Instagram:   / innovationradio  
Twitter:   / agentinnovation  
Facebook:   / agentsofinnovationpodcast  


You can support this podcast and our Fearless Journeys community on our Patreon account: www.patreon.com/fearlessjourneys

You can also join our network -- and our group trips -- through the Fearless Journeys community at: https://www.fearlessjourneys.org


0:00 Episode Intro
1:55 Introduction of Vuk Velebit
3:52 Why the Pupin Initiative? 
5:55 Who was Michael Pupin? 
10:28 Serbia's dynamic geographic location 
14:06 U.S. companies with hubs in Belgrade
16:08 Serbia's startup ecosystem & US trade partnership
17:00 High-skilled tech talent 
18:16 Why most Serbians speak English 
24:05 Real Estate Investment in Belgrade waterfront
28:53 The need for internal investment in Serbia
30:43 Serbian economy and access to international markets 
37:15 Serbian Dinar a very sound currency 
37:50 Visiting Belgrade & learning its history
43:40 U.S. Presidential visits to Serbia
46:38 Connecting Belgrade and Miami
48:45 The affect of Russia, Ukraine, and Israel on Serbia
51:48 Serbian Orthodox Church & rich history in Belgrade
54:25 Events and Activities of the Pupin Initiative 
58:01 Meeting with decision makers in Washington DC
1:01:06 The future of Serbia and U.S.-Serbia relations

Episode 158: Vuk Velebit, Pupin Initiative, Belgrade, Serbia

Subscribe on Patreon and hear this week's full patron-exclusive episode here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/135176028

Beatrice, Artie and Phil discuss the effects the recently passed “One Big Beautiful Bill” will have on the healthcare system for years to come, the effects we’re already seeing, and why it’s one of the biggest blows to the US welfare state in modern history. Then we take a look at longtime Death Panel foil Ezekiel Emmanuel’s impressively convoluted proposal for the kind of health policy he thinks Democrats should pursue in response.

Runtime 1:30:44

Note: We're back! Thank you to everyone for all the well wishes and many kind messages during our parental leave. We have a lot coming together soon processing current events and reacting to some big developments that happened while we were away. As we ramp production back up we'll be prioritizing the patron feed first to make sure patrons get a full new episode every week.

Get Health Communism here: www.versobooks.com/books/4081-health-communism

Find Jules' new book here: https://www.versobooks.com/products/3054-a-short-history-of-trans-misogyny

Find Tracy's book Abolish Rent here: www.haymarketbooks.org/books/2443-abolish-rent

Unlock full episode

Teaser - “Welfare for Deloitte” (07/28/25)

In this episode of "Counsel That Cares," Public Policy & Regulation attorney John Vaughan, Healthcare attorney Dan Silverboard and Public Affairs Advisor Sarah Starling Crossan discuss the rapidly evolving landscape of artificial intelligence (AI) regulation in the healthcare industry. They explore the complex interplay between federal initiatives, such as executive orders and agency rules, and the surge of state-level legislation shaping AI use in clinical practice, insurance and patient care. The conversation highlights key compliance challenges, including the need for AI governance programs, bias audits, data quality assurance and transparency with patients. Listeners will gain valuable insights into navigating disparate regulations across jurisdictions and the importance of staying informed to responsibly implement AI technologies in the healthcare sector.

Regulating AI in Healthcare: The Road Ahead

This bonus episode of the pod comes courtesy of Pierre’s travel challenges and features returning special guest Gabriel Brown, Analyst at Heavy Reading. After reflecting on the circumstances that enabled this pod, as well as some of the stuff the lads have been up to recently, they get into a recent piece of research published by Brown stating that ‘5G standalone (SA) is set to scale worldwide’. A key question concerns the broader significance of 5G SA, which leads to musings on the nature of technological progress and best how to communicate that to the market. They eventually move on to talk about Intel’s struggles as they affect the telecoms industry, before concluding with a look at US President Trump’s increasingly forceful interventions in the tech industry. 

5G SA, Intel and Trump

Subscribe on Patreon and hear this week's full patron-exclusive episode here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/136779075

Beatrice speaks with Kathryn Olivarius about the economy and social structure that emerged around yellow fever in antebellum New Orleans, the ecosystem of deniers, capitalists, and novel theories of "immunity" that shaped it, and her book Necropolis: Disease, Power, and Capitalism in the Cotton Kingdom.

Runtime 1:42:12

Note: We're back! Thank you to everyone for all the well wishes and many kind messages during our parental leave. As we ramp production back up we'll be prioritizing the patron feed first to make sure patrons get a full new episode every week.

Get Health Communism here: www.versobooks.com/books/4081-health-communism

Find Tracy's book Abolish Rent here: www.haymarketbooks.org/books/2443-abolish-rent

Teaser - Immunocapitalism w/ Kathryn Olivarius (Re-Air)

Tom Tresser (www.tresser.com) was interviewed on WVON by Atiba Buchanan and Ladonna Ray on September 24, 2025. They talked TIFs and Tom revealed the headlines for Chicago's TIF activity for 2024 - numbers never known before! The TIF Illumination Project is at www.tifreports.com. Contact us at info@tifreports.com. (33 min)

Tom's Publications

WVON 9-24-25

The extended government shutdown has begun to strain state and local governments usually dependent on reimbursement checks for major projects and support from officials who haven’t been in their offices, according to Justin Marlowe, a research professor at the University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy. Marlowe tells the Priorities Podcast that the shutdown is causing project delays, and has been especially damaging for IT operations. “If you see a delay in the approval of any of that project planning process, it ripples through the entire project, throws off the entire timeline and ultimately costs a lot more,” he says. Being forced to rely less on the federal government, he says, accelerates a national trend that’s been underway since the 1950s. “[It’s] forcing a lot of states and localities to fundamentally rethink their partnership with the federal government,” Marlowe says.

This week’s top stories:

Alex Pettit, who has served as the chief information officer of Oregon and Oklahoma, announced last week that he’s returning to Oregon to serve as its digital transformation officer. Pettit, who most recently served as Colorado’s chief technology officer, wrote online that he’s excited to “bring hard-won experience from the field and apply it to familiar soil.”

A new guide published by the nonprofit Open Contracting Partnership aims to provide government officials with a resource containing the best practices for procuring AI technologies. “AI adoption and AI procurement are diverging,” said one of the group’s program managers. The guide is hoped to bring those back into alignment.

Following a recent decision by a federal judge in Wisconsin to send a whistleblower case from 2008 to trial, an AT&T subsidiary could be forced to repay millions it received in federal broadband subsidies. Central to the case is a debate over whether money dispersed through the FCC’s E-Rate program counts as federal funds under the False Claims Act.

New episodes of StateScoop’s Priorities Podcast are posted each Wednesday. For more of the latest news and trends across the state and local government technology community, subscribe to the Priorities Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Soundcloud or Spotify.


The shutdown led states to ‘fundamentally rethink’ their relationships with the federal government

Recorded November 19th, 2025.

The Trinity Long Room Hub was delighted to launch a new seminar series - Bridging the Gap between Policy and Research - exploring how scholarship in the Arts and Humanities can shape and inform public policy for the common good.

The opening seminar, Do the Humanities Actually Matter? Public Policy and the Humanities hears from Peter MacDonagh, a former senior advisor in the Taoiseach’s Office whose career has bridged government and academia, and includes considerable experience in public policy and research in different countries. 

Speaker:
A former senior advisor in the Taoiseach’s Office, Peter MacDonagh has had an unusually broad involvement in public policy development, research funding and participation in pan-EU research programmes. Following studies in history in UCD and Cambridge, he worked for the now Taoiseach Micheál Martin when they developed the foundations for funding research in the Humanities. In government, he was substantially involved in deepening the engagement between academic research and public policy. Subsequently he served on the Board of Science Foundation Ireland, now Research Ireland, and as chairperson of its Grants Awards Committee. He has been involved with a range of large-scale Horizon projects and works on public policy and political research in different European countries.

Learn more at www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub

Do the Humanities Actually Matter? Public Policy and the Humanities

This is a narrated data sonification (data >> sound) of New York City eviction data from 2017 to 2024. The lower/deeper the tone, the larger the number of monthly evictions. Listen for the pause during the covid-19 pandemic. 

New York City Evictions Sonification (with Narration)

Tom Tresser is a civic educator and public defender. He has been doing grassroots democracy since 1973. Find out more at www.tresser.com.

Each Wednesday, StateScoop’s Priorities Podcast explores the latest in state and local government technology news and analysis. Listen to in-depth conversations with government and industry’s top executives, and learn about trending stories affecting state and local IT leaders ranging from modernization and digital accessibility to the latest advances in generative artificial intelligence.

Opened in 2010, the Trinity Long Room Hub Arts and Humanities Research Institute is dedicated to advancing Trinity College Dublin’s rich tradition of research excellence in the Arts and Humanities, on an individual, collaborative and inter-disciplinary basis.

The Agents of Innovation podcast features interviews with entrepreneurs, philanthropists, and artists.

At Flywheel Economics, we explore economies as ecosystems. The Flywheel Economics podcast is your gateway to a world of innovative thinking and creative problem-solving. Our podcast series examines the intricate relationships within economic ecosystems, highlighting successes, challenges, and lessons learned from experts and trailblazers across various industries. Join us for inspiring stories, expert analysis, provocative discussions and practical wisdom that give unconventional insights for a changing world.

Once a week we get together in a studio somewhere in London to take the piss out of telecoms and technology for an hour or so.

Politics, culture, and public policy from the left. Stay alive another week.

w/ Beatrice Adler-Bolton, Artie Vierkant, Phil Rocco and Jules Gill-Peterson. 

https://www.patreon.com/deathpanelpod

New tracks tagged #public policy