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Davos, the super-exclusive annual gathering of the world’s political and business elite displays all the features of a petri dish for the spread of “crony capitalism”. A tiny number of extraordinarily powerful individuals meet to discuss how the affairs of all seven billion human beings should be planned and co-ordinated. It represents an environment for the growth of regulation, intervention and enhanced barriers to entry for small businesses. All too often what we see in criticisms of capitalism are actually examples of rent-seeking and corporations trying to game the system, which amounts to crony capitalism. But has crony capitalism like that displayed in Davos become a catch-all term? The challenge for free markets, and for capitalism, is manifold: the message is tarnished, the frames are poor, and, fundamentally, the moral case for what they achieve is missing. On this week's podcast, the IEA's Digital Manager Darren Grimes is joined by the IEA’s Director General Mark Littlewood and the Director of the IEA’s FREER initiative Rebecca Lowe to discuss these challenges.

Brexit has revitalized debates about democracy. Restoring democracy and sovereignty can come risk for those strongly committed to free markets — that our fellow citizens might choose another path, perhaps even one that could lead to socialist and freedom-hindering policies. But is that a risk we must take? In a free society, what individual rights should never be infringed on? What should be voted on? And is there a place for technocratic decision-making? In a new paper, the Director of the IEA’s FREER initiative, Rebecca Lowe, argues that one clear answer to ‘improving’ democracy here in the UK would be to institute a proper focus on local decision-making — something that, she says, has been overlooked in past years. Rebecca joins the IEA's Darren Grimes to discuss, alongside Adam Bartha, the Director of EPICENTER, the European Policy Information Center.

Inside Property is back for the new year! And with a raft of regulatory changes planned for Letting Agents in 2019, who will benefit and who will be losing out? From April, Letting Agents must have a dedicated bank account and insurance for clients’ money; and tenants’ fees will be banned from June 2019. What is morale like amongst Letting Agents, and how will the sector change in the coming years? And as a result of these changes, will the real victory be with the consumer? Host Richard Blanco is joined by David Cox, CEO of Arla Propertymark; Fiona Exley from London Trading Standards; and Business Transfer Agent, Adam Walker.

Want to keep up with the latest earnings updates from the States? Well join Chris Hill and the Motley Fool Radio Show team here on Share Radio, direct from Washington DC, for news, views and analysis of the US stocks that matter. In this week's show: Amazon rebuffs the Big Apple; Coke fizzles while Pepsi sparkles; And NVIDIA stops the bleeding. Analysts Andy Cross, Ron Gross, and Jason Moser discuss those stories and talk Activision Blizzard, Shopify, Restaurant Brands International, and UnderArmour. Plus, corporate governance expert and film critic Nell Minow talks about the problem with stock buybacks and previews the Oscars.

Want to keep up with the latest earnings updates from the States? Well join Chris Hill and the Motley Fool Radio Show team here on Share Radio, direct from Washington DC, for news, views and analysis of the US stocks that matter. In this week's show: Jeff Bezos squares off with the National Enquirer; Chipotle sizzles; And Alphabet ramps up its spending. Our analysts discuss those stories and dig into the latest from Disney, Electronic Arts, Take-Two Interactive, Hasbro, Mattel, Papa John’s, Skechers, Spotify and Twitter. Plus, on Satya Nadella’s 5th anniversary as Microsoft CEO, tech journalist Mary Jo Foley talks about Nadella and the future of Microsoft.

In the UK, one in four of us will experience a mental health problem at some point in their lives. And according to the latest stats, one in eight young people have a mental health problem. One big problem is access to treatment. Mental health services are underfunded, leaving many people stuck on waiting lists. But what are the wider social and economic factors that are causing poor mental health in the first place? Is the economy itself damaging our mental health? Is modern life making us sick? Ayeisha Thomas-Smith talks to Hana Riaz, who is researching the impact of gentrification on mental health, NEF organiser Becki Winson, and our wellbeing researcher Annie Quick.

Public ownership is back on the agenda. Opinion polls show high levels of support for taking all kinds of things back into public hands, from the railways to water to energy, and the Labour party is committed to a vast expansion of public ownership. But if privatisation has failed, what kind of public ownership should replace it? As the critics of nationalisation are quick to say, British Rail wasn’t that great. What should be done differently this time? If these services were nationalised, would the state even know how to run them? And are there other ways of putting them back in public hands? Ayeisha Thomas-Smith is joined by Cat Hobbs, director of We Own It campaign, Hilary Wainwright, co-editor of Red Pepper magazine and fellow of the Transnational Institute, and Sahil Dutta, lecturer in political economy at Goldsmiths University.

The Windrush scandal outraged the nation last year. But last week the Home Office reinstated deportation flights to Jamaica for criminal offenders who they say are foreign nationals. Meanwhile, parliament passed a new immigration bill last month, promising to control the ​“number and type” of people coming to the UK. The home secretary came under fire for proposing a £30,000 income threshold for EU immigrants. A lot of the debate we hear about immigration is made in economic terms. But it’s also about identity, race and belonging. It can be hard at the moment to imagine that a more humane immigration policy might be possible, but that’s exactly what we’re trying to do this week. Guest host Dave Powell is joined by chief exec of the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants Satbir Singh, executive director of War on Want Asad Rehman, and Maya Goodfellow, author of a forthcoming book on Britain’s immigration policies.

Inflation has slipped to 1.8 per cent - below the 25 per cent target - and the Bank of England has downgraded the UK's growth prospects and indicated interest rate hikes are on hold. But at the same time, wages are rising by more than inflation and unemployment remains low. So has the clock already started ticking on a slowdown in the UK economy, or is this just some pre-Brexit jitters that could eventually be followed by a bounce? Elsewhere, we talk about the property market and a recent slump in prices in London and the South, along with why you should consider carefully how long your mortgage term is for. And finally - with holiday season on the horizon, and with all-inclusive trips on the rise, we ask: are they actually a good idea?

A will may be considered the expression of someone’s last wishes, but more of them are being challenged. High property prices and increasingly complicated families are being blamed for the rise in disputes, but would you challenge someone’s will? In this week’s podcast, Simon Lambert, Lee Boyce and Georgie Frost dive into why inheritance rows are more commonplace and how difficult it is to try to overturn a will. Also this week, alongside some money-saving tips for millennials a heated debate kicks off about buying flat whites vs saving for homes at a time when house prices are sky high compared to ages. Simon reveals his lessons from holding Lloyds shares all the way up, all the way down and then all the time that they have bumped along since the financial crisis. And we dig into the case of a car park prang that led to countless phone calls from ambulance chasers – and how this manages to happen.