diff --git a/recipes/economist.recipe b/recipes/economist.recipe
index 6d088bc51b..630d055bc1 100644
--- a/recipes/economist.recipe
+++ b/recipes/economist.recipe
@@ -268,8 +268,14 @@ class Economist(BasicNewsRecipe):
                     title = u'{}: {}'.format(*map(self.tag_to_string, spans))
                 else:
                     title = self.tag_to_string(a)
-                articles.append({'title': title, 'url': process_url(a['href'])})
-                self.log(' ', title, articles[-1]['url'])
+                desc = ''
+                desc_parent = a.findParent('div')
+                if desc_parent is not None:
+                    p = desc_parent.find(itemprop='description')
+                    if p is not None:
+                        desc = self.tag_to_string(p)
+                articles.append({'title': title, 'url': process_url(a['href']), 'description': desc})
+                self.log(' ', title, articles[-1]['url'], '\n   ', desc)
             if articles:
                 feeds.append((secname, articles))
         return feeds
diff --git a/recipes/economist_free.recipe b/recipes/economist_free.recipe
index 6d088bc51b..630d055bc1 100644
--- a/recipes/economist_free.recipe
+++ b/recipes/economist_free.recipe
@@ -268,8 +268,14 @@ class Economist(BasicNewsRecipe):
                     title = u'{}: {}'.format(*map(self.tag_to_string, spans))
                 else:
                     title = self.tag_to_string(a)
-                articles.append({'title': title, 'url': process_url(a['href'])})
-                self.log(' ', title, articles[-1]['url'])
+                desc = ''
+                desc_parent = a.findParent('div')
+                if desc_parent is not None:
+                    p = desc_parent.find(itemprop='description')
+                    if p is not None:
+                        desc = self.tag_to_string(p)
+                articles.append({'title': title, 'url': process_url(a['href']), 'description': desc})
+                self.log(' ', title, articles[-1]['url'], '\n   ', desc)
             if articles:
                 feeds.append((secname, articles))
         return feeds