Showing 1 - 10 of 2,928
How can we future-proof the global economy?
Oped, Mohamed A El-Erian, Published on 23/04/2026
» An uncomfortable reality is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore. The global economy is in a period of "more frequent and violent shocks", as Nobel laureate Michael Spence puts it. Instead of facing isolated and temporary disruptions, we are confronting a structural shift towards unsettling volatility, deepening fragmentation, and a wider dispersion of outcomes for countries, companies, and households. The old world is gone, and virtually everyone risks losing out in the new one. The question is by how much and what to do about it.
Rupture, reform and how to rebuild
Oped, Robert F Godec, Published on 23/04/2026
» The world is teetering on the edge of a cliff. Russia, China, and the United States are using their military and economic power in the ruthless pursuit of power and domination. In doing so, they have ruptured an international system that for 80 years was characterised by rules, institutions, and a measure of cooperation.
Is the Iran war America's Suez or its Gallipoli?
Oped, Yanis Varoufakis, Published on 21/04/2026
» When Egypt closed the Suez Canal for five months in 1956, it triggered events that shrunk the global standing of Britain's pound sterling, inaugurated the petrodollar age, and demonstrated how a small country can inflict serious damage upon the economic power that had subjugated it decades earlier.
Opening Hormuz is the easy part, restoring oil flow is not
Reuter's columnist Ron Bousso, Published on 20/04/2026
» LONDON - The stop-start shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz underscores the profound uncertainty hanging over the world’s most critical oil and gas chokepoint. But one thing is already clear: even if the guns fall silent, flows through the narrow waterway will take months – and possibly years – to recover to pre-war levels.
Crypto push undermines US power
Oped, Jayati Ghosh, Published on 20/04/2026
» The Ouroboros, the ancient image of a serpent devouring its own tail, has long symbolised self-defeating strategies. It is thus an apt metaphor for US President Donald Trump's current policies. His reckless and illegal war against Iran is the clearest example, but his administration's enthusiastic embrace of crypto currencies represents a subtler, slower-burning expression of the same self-destructive tendency.
Car scheme doubts
Oped, Editorial, Published on 20/04/2026
» The government's planned "old car for new" scheme, a campaign to provide a subsidy and soft loans to accelerate electric vehicle adoption, marks a policy push to advance the transition towards net zero. In principle, the direction sounds good.
Putting today's news on the map
Roger Crutchley, Published on 19/04/2026
» One of the few positive outcomes of the present Iran conflict is the impact it has had on geographical knowledge of the area amongst people around the globe. Every day millions switch on the television or their phones and the first thing they are likely to be greeted with is a map of the Middle East.
Hormuz crisis reveals energy resilience gap
News, Laura Carvalho, Published on 18/04/2026
» The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has triggered what the International Monetary Fund calls a "global yet asymmetric" rupture, disrupting the flow of roughly one-quarter of oil, one-fifth of liquefied natural gas, and one-third of fertiliser supplies. Energy and fertiliser prices have risen, supply chains have rerouted, and financial conditions have tightened unevenly around the world.
Chinese economy turns a corner
News, Stephen Jen, Published on 18/04/2026
» China has turned a corner, finally. Five years after Beijing began cracking down on its bloated property sector, its economy is now on a much more sustainable path anchored in high-quality growth -- and the correction has left far fewer scars than many feared.
The war and its likely consequences
Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 17/04/2026
» As the joint attack between the United States and Israel against Iran that resulted in a wider regional conflict in the Middle East approaches its two-month mark, the directions of the war remain precarious while some of the longer-lasting consequences appear evident. Unsurprisingly, the war has been detrimental and damaging for all states and societies concerned, not just within the affected region but the wider world. Already we can start counting some of the long-term costs.