Barcelona – The financial crisis, credit crunch, and ensuing economic downturn have severely damaged the credibility of financial markets, i…

As the United States prepares to celebrate the inauguration of its first African-American president, it showcases again one of the best aspe…

Amman – Wasted time is always to be regretted. But in the Middle East, wasting time is also dangerous. Another year has now passed with litt…

MOSCOW – “Owing to the harsh economic situation, it was decided to cut off the light at the end of the tunnel as a temporary measure.” That …

SALZBURG – As war loomed over Kosovo ten years ago, Germany’s then foreign minister, Joschka Fischer, explained that the principle that had …

MUNICH – “Where is Angela?” is the question The Economist asked when Nicolas Sarkozy, Gordon Brown, and José Manuel Barroso met to prepare…

BRUSSELS – The euro is celebrating its tenth anniversary against the background of the most difficult economic climate since its birth. The …

With barrages of Kassam rockets being launched daily on Israeli towns from the Hamas-ruled Gaza strip and Israeli politicians competing over…

BERKELEY – A decade ago, the 2008 Nobel laureate in economics, Paul Krugman, wrote a little book entitled The Return of Depression Economic…

STOCKHOLM – Europe has made an ambitious commitment to scale up its aid to Africa, and Africa’s challenges call for that greater engagement.…

LONDON – So what does 2009 hold in store for us? As ever, the unpredictable – a terrorist atrocity or a rash decision by a national leader –…

PRINCETON – Karl Marx has returned, if not quite from the grave then from history’s dustbin. German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrück recentl…

WASHINGTON, DC – Since its Islamist revolution of 1979, Iran’s hardline leadership has relentlessly painted America as a racist, bloodthirst…

LONDON – Economics, it seems, has very little to tell us about the current economic crisis. Indeed, no less a figure than former United Stat…

OXFORD – Central banks can stop worrying about inflation. Price deflation is far more likely in the near term. But temporary deflation need …

PARIS – Will the year 2009 and the beginning of Barack Obama’s presidency mark the beginning of a new era in transatlantic relations, or wil…

WASHINGTON, DC – Science and technology changed agriculture profoundly in the twentieth century. Today, much of the developed world’s agricu…

POZNAN – The current economic crisis cast a pall over climate change talks held this month in Poland.  While negotiators hoped for concrete …

MOSCOW – “Google violates its ‘don’t be evil’ motto.” To Google’s credit, if you Google that sentence, you can find reference to a debate on…

NEW YORK – At a time when the headlines are filled with financial crises and violence, it is especially important to recognize the creativit…

MEXICO CITY – This month, Mexico’s Felipe Calderón celebrates his second anniversary as president. Calderón took office in December 2006 und…

PARIS – The riots that have rampaged across Greece may have many causes, but one that is rarely mentioned is the fracturing of the Greek lef…

PRINCETON – Throughout his tenure as South Africa’s president, Thabo Mbeki rejected the scientific consensus that AIDS is caused by a virus,…

WASHINGTON, DC – America’s opening to China by Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger in 1971-1972 was a historic breakthrough. Less famous, but …

NEW YORK – The latest macroeconomic news from the United States, other advanced economies, and emerging markets confirms that the global eco…