How Knowledge Drives Economic Growth César Hidalgo

In this episode of the Oxford Policy Pod, MPP students Diego Peñaranda and Iván Lozano speak with Professor César Hidalgo, a physicist, complexity scientist, and one of the leading thinkers on knowledge and development. Professor Hidalgo is a tenured professor at the Toulouse School of Economics and leads the Center for Collective Learning. He is widely recognized for co-developing the Economic Complexity Index and for his research on how knowledge shapes growth. The conversation explores his intellectual journey from physics to economics, and his central idea that development depends on expanding what societies know how to do. Drawing on his latest book, The Infinite Alphabet , Hidalgo explains how knowledge grows, spreads, and is sometimes lost, and what this means for public policy. The episode also discusses how countries can build capabilities, the role of talent and networks, and the potential impact of artificial intelligence on knowledge and decision-making.

You can listen to How Knowledge Drives Economic Growth César Hidalgo online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

How Knowledge Drives Economic Growth César Hidalgo is an episode from Oxford Policy Pod by Students at the Blavatnik School of Government, Oxford University.

This episode is 53:58 long.

This episode was published on Apr 3, 2026.

Yes. Use the heart button on the episode page to add it to your favorite episodes list.

Yes. This page shows related episodes from Oxford Policy Pod when more episodes are available from the podcast feed.