What’s it good for? Putin’s Ukraine calculus
More Russian troops piling in. Embassy staff pulling out. American forces on alert and sober diplomacy still on the docket. We examine Vladimir Putin's ways, means and motivations. The Omicron variant...
25 Jan 202222min
Prime mover? Mario Draghi and the Italian presidency
This week’s secretive votes will determine the next president and the current prime minister looks to be a favourite. But that move would be bad for Italy. Many African countries that are rife with re...
24 Jan 202221min
Unsustainable envelopment goals: China’s zero-covid fight
The Omicron variant is destined to test the limits of a policy that has already proved costly: consumption, growth and confidence are all flagging. The effects of Russia’s gulag did not stop when the ...
21 Jan 202220min
Heavyweight-price fight: how to beat global inflation
Shoppers across the developed world face sharply rising prices, and leaders are reaching for all manner of remedies—but that’s what central banks are for. Behind the story of Myanmar’s brutal military...
20 Jan 202224min
Drilling into the numbers: ExxonMobil
America’s biggest oil firm has long been recalcitrant on climate matters, so its new net-zero targets may seem surprising. We examine the substance of its pledges—and motivations. For an economist, ti...
19 Jan 202222min
Through deny of a needle: vaccine mandates
Austria is set to enact a bold policy of levying fines on the unvaccinated. We look at what is driving governments to such measures, and whether they will work. Japan’s shift in thinking about its gro...
18 Jan 202222min
But who’s counting? Voting rights in America
Democrats will spend the week battling for a tightening of laws on casting votes; that will overshadow Republicans’ worrying push into how those votes are counted and certified. Earthquakes remain dam...
17 Jan 202223min
His royal minus: Prince Andrew
The queen’s second son has been stripped of his titles—an apparent bid to insulate the crown from his legal troubles. But dangers to the prince and to the monarchy remain. A blockade of Mali, intended...
14 Jan 202223min
