In the Balance

How do you juggle the demands of a job and a family? Is there a stress-free and guilt-free way of giving adequate attention to your children and your career? We discuss the daily challenges facing millions of parents all over the world, including the often frantic morning rush, the career opportunities that pass you by, and the difficulty of maintaining a social life. And in this, the last episode of the series, we have three presenters instead of one - Susannah Streeter and Nkem Ifejika join fellow working parent Manuela Saragosa to share some tips. They're joined by Clare Streets, from Birmingham in the UK, who has recently rejoined the world of work after seven years spent raising a family. (Picture: A woman multi-tasking. Credit: Getty Images)

Drug firms are coming under fire from the US, Europe and China over the cost of some of their products. But is it simply the price we have to pay if we want Big Pharma to keep producing life-saving medicines? President Trump has vowed to drive down drug prices "substantially" - we hear why a lack of haggling means the latest patented pills typically cost more in the US than almost anywhere else in the world. We hear from Big Pharma itself - an industry figure tells us high prices reflect the years of research and development that go into new drugs and that, in time, competition does make them cheaper. Plus, does size matter when brokering better deals with the pharmaceutical firms, and in lower income countries what are the other factors pushing up prices? Contributors: Patricia Danzon, professor of health care management at The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania; Thomas Cueni, director general of the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations; and Kalipso Chalkidou, director of global health policy at the Center for Global Development. (Picture: Pills on a US dollar bill. Credit: Getty Images)

In this special edition we hear personal stories from the Great Recession and ask who has paid the highest price. From mortgage defaults and job losses to stagnant wages, we find out how hard the last 10 years have been for many individuals and families, and ask what legacy the financial crisis has left. Plus, where might the next crash come from, and are we any better prepared to withstand it? Manuela Saragosa leads the discussion with a panel of experts: Adam Tooze, professor of history at Columbia University and author of Crashed: How a Decade of Global Financial crises Changed the World; Pablo Bustinduy, a member of parliament in the Spanish anti-austerity political party Podemos; and Scott Winship, a poverty and inequality researcher, formerly of the Brookings Institution and now directing the Social Capital Project within the Joint Economic Committee of the US Congress. Image: Boarded-up windows on a foreclosed home (Credit: Getty Images)

Why are most of us so bad at planning for the future? Whether saving for our retirement, managing workloads and deadlines, or budgeting for a major infrastructure project, we humans often fail miserably. Is it because we're incompetent, even irresponsible? Or is there something psychological getting in the way? We explore some of the most common planning pitfalls, from Olympic Games that go way over budget to short-term corporate incentives, and ask how individuals and businesses can avoid them. Contributors: Peter Ayton, professor of psychology at City, University of London; Bent Flyvbjerg, Chair of Major Programme Management at the University of Oxford; and Sarah Williamson, CEO of FCLT Global. (Picture: A woman looking out over the Grand Canyon. Credit: Getty Images)

Would you sign a divorce contract before you got married? Should you? They’re often seen as unnecessary, unromantic, and irreligious, but we hear how prenuptial agreements are on the rise, and not just among the super-rich. We speak to a newly-wed who signed a prenup with her now husband to protect her business interests. One of the UK’s top divorce lawyers tells us they are often better than the default divorce provisions laid out by governments. And a lawyer in Nigeria explains how she’s trying to use them to protect women’s rights. But prenups are not without pitfalls – we also hear how they can be coercive, unfair, and even destroy a marriage before it’s begun. Contributors: Ayesha Vardag, founder and president of London law firm Vardags; Erin Lowry, author of Broke Millennial, a book and website about personal finance; Laurie Israel from Israel, Van Kooy & Days law in Brookline, Massachusetts, and author of The Generous Prenup; Lesley Agams, founder and partner at Demeters Solicitors & Advocates in Abuja, Nigeria, and blogger on women's issues. (Picture: Models of a bride and groom on a wedding cake. Credit: Getty Images)