In recent weeks, the US dollar has reached 20-year highs against key foreign currencies, and all-time highs against the Chinese renminbi and the British pound. What is sustaining the greenback’s surge, and what are its most significant consequences?

Imposing a one-off tax on energy companies’ extraordinary profits might seem like a no-brainer at a time of soaring inflation, but the idea has more than a few detractors. As policymakers in a growing number of economies move ahead, we asked PS commentators whether they are right to do so.

Ukraine’s current counteroffensive, in which its forces have regained control of some 3,400 square miles (8,800 square kilometers) of the country’s territory, has raised hopes that a Russian defeat is possible, if not inevitable. But while Russia’s occupation has been weakened, Ukraine’s path to victory for remains long, arduous, and rife with pitfalls.

Russia’s shutdown of its main gas pipeline to Europe has further darkened the eurozone’s already-gloomy economic outlook. With inflation soaring, a recession appearing increasingly likely, and financing conditions beginning to diverge, we asked PS commentators just how much danger the European economy is in.

As the US midterm elections draw closer, President Joe Biden and his party can tout recent major legislative victories, a strong labor market, and falling gasoline prices – and could also benefit from a backlash against controversial landmark decisions by a radically conservative Supreme Court. But although the campaign narrative may be shifting in the Democrats’ favor, America’s deep political polarization shows no sign of diminishing.

Increasingly gloomy indicators in the United States, China, and Europe have heightened fears of another worldwide economic downturn. But while the outlook for the global economy is clearly deteriorating, we asked PS commentators whether the current widespread pessimism might be overdone.

Many argue that the combined effects of the 2008 global financial crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic, Sino-American decoupling, and Russia’s war against Ukraine have dealt an irreversible blow to three decades of open trade and burgeoning supply chains. How should policymakers and businesses respond to the apparent demise of globalization, and what new paradigm might replace it?

A toxic mix of mutual distrust and rising nationalism – with Taiwan the immediate flash point – has brought Sino-American relations to their lowest point in decades. While neither China nor the United States appears to want a military conflict, we asked PS commentators whether the two powers might nonetheless stumble into one.

Months of high inflation, both in the United States and globally, have fueled intense debates about both root causes and potential solutions. Here, Jason Furman of Harvard University and James K. Galbraith of the University of Texas, Austin, offer opposing perspectives on what has become the year’s biggest economic-policy challenge.

Recent data from the United States, the eurozone, and other major economies suggest that policymakers are losing their grip on price stability. Given rising inflationary expectations and the increasing threat of recession, what options do central banks and governments have – and how worried should the rest of us be?

The record-high temperatures across the northern hemisphere this summer offer yet another preview of what lies in store as global warming continues. With the need to tackle extreme heat becoming ever more urgent, especially in poorer countries, we asked PS commentators whether and how the world can cope.

By the time scandal-plagued Prime Minister Boris Johnson finally called it quits, most of those who helped him gain control of the Conservative Party and lead the United Kingdom out of the European Union had abandoned him. But Johnson’s personal peccadilloes explain neither why he fell nor why his three-year stint in power has left behind a political vacuum.