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Episode 821: The Other Davos

Husameddin AlMadani

Each year, the World Economic Forum takes place in Davos, a small ski town in the Swiss Alps. The goal of the conference is to promote international cooperation and collaboration, and ultimately improve the state of the world. It's filled with diplomats, CEOs, billionaires, and idea gurus.

But, all those powerful people gathered in one place means that Davos is a prime opportunity for business. Representatives from various countries come to the conference to woo the global elite to invest. Most countries do this by displaying their best stats, but one country has a different approach. In addition to the good stuff, this year, Saudi Arabia also shared their less favorable rankings. They came to Davos with a database of 700 indicators—both good and bad.

Today on the show, we find out what Saudi Arabia's up to, and why asking that question helps us understand a world viewed through ranks and ratings.

Saudi Arabia's data tool: https://iph.sa/

Music: "Small Town Funk" and "Lucid."

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Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Gregory Warner is the host of NPR's Rough Translation, a podcast about how things we're talking about in the United States are being talked about in some other part of the world. Whether interviewing a Ukrainian debunker of Russian fake news, a Japanese apology broker navigating different cultural meanings of the word "sorry," or a German dating coach helping a Syrian refugee find love, Warner's storytelling approach takes us out of our echo chambers and leads us to question the way we talk about the world. Rough Translation has received the Lowell Thomas Award from the Overseas Press Club and a Scripps Howard Award.