The Man Who Would Be King of Saudi Arabia (with Karen Elliott House)

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4.7 • 4.4K Ratings

🗓️ 23 February 2026

⏱️ 77 minutes

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Summary

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has been dragging Saudi Arabia into the modern world over the last decade. Journalist and author Karen Elliott House lays out the Saudi leader's motivations, hopes, and contradictions. Listen as she and EconTalk's Russ Roberts explore the crown prince's mix of cultural liberalization and political dominance and where his balancing act might lead his country in the future.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Econ Talk, Conversations for the Curious, part of the Library of Economics and Liberty.
0:07.9	I'm your host, Russ Roberts, of Sholem College in Jerusalem and Stanford University's Hoover Institution.
0:13.8	Go to EconTalk.org, where you can subscribe, comment on this episode, and find links and other information related to today's conversation.
0:21.5	You'll also find our archives with every episode we've done going back to 2006.
0:26.7	Our email address is mail at econTalk.org.
0:30.0	We'd love to hear from you.
0:36.6	Today is January 12th, 2026, and my guest is journalist and author Karen Elliott House.
0:43.4	Her latest book is The Man Who Would Be King, Mohamed Bedsalman, and the Transformation of Saudi Arabia.
0:51.5	And that is the subject of today's conversation.
0:54.5	Karen, welcome to Econ Talk.
0:56.8	Thank you very much.
0:58.7	Your book is a portrait of Muhammad Ben Salman, and I may be pronouncing his name incorrectly,
1:04.3	you'll tell me.
1:05.3	He is the 39-year-, crown prince of Saudi Arabia.
1:11.7	He is commonly known as MBS for his initials.
1:15.5	He is the son of King Solomon, the crown prince, and indeed the man who would be king.
1:20.6	Let's start with how his father came into power and how MBS is so much more than a prince-in-waiting,
1:27.7	which would be a normal thing to assume.
1:31.6	Yes, crown princes in Saudi Arabia typically have just been bodies waiting to ascend when the king dies.
1:42.1	But MBS is vastly more than that. His father was crown prince
1:48.4	under King Abdullah, who outlived three crown princes. And thus King Salman became king.
2:01.0	I mean, he, most people never thought he would be because he was down the line,
	...

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