What does diabetes really cost us as a society? How do global crises affect our daily lives? In the new podcast “Welthandelsplatz 1,” WU Vienna University of Economics and Business explores these and other questions related to life and society. In the podcast, WU researchers shed light on economic developments in Austria and around the world. In their conversations, they discuss the underlying factors from various perspectives, based on current research findings, and they explain how international events and trends impact the daily lives of every one of us.

Episode 001: No Sugarcoating: What Is the True Cost of Diabetes? (in German)

In the debut episode, WU economist Klaus Prettner and his colleague Karin Heitzmann, director of the INEQ research institute, discuss new findings regarding the economic impact of diabetes on our society. Previous estimates failed to take various types of indirect costs into account, which means that the true extent of the economic consequences has long been underestimated. Our first podcast episode is now available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, wu.ac.at/en/wissens-podcast, and wherever you listen to podcasts. A new episode will be released every month.

From academia to everyday life

With this new audio format, WU Vienna is expanding its science communication efforts, which aim to bring research findings to a broader public. Topics from business, economics, politics, law, technology, and sociology are discussed in the form of a dialogue and placed in a broader context based on scientific evidence.

The podcast complements WU Vienna’s existing science communication offerings such as the Research Portal, the video series “Meet Our Researchers” and “One Minute, One Paper,” as well as WU public events such as the “WU matters. WU talks.” series of lectures and panel discussions.

The study behind episode 001

Simiao Chen, Zhong Cao, Wenjin Chen, Jinghan Zhao, Lirui Jiao, Klaus Prettner, Michael Kuhn, An Pan, Till Winfried Bärnighausen & David E. Bloom (2025). The global macroeconomic burden of diabetes mellitus. In: Nature Medicine.