Free exchange
Our economics column offers rigorous analysis, insights into global trends and policy debates
Finance & economics
EU handouts have long been wasteful. Now they must be fixed
New research highlights their failures
Finance & economics
Americans are wrong to wish for an era of stable bipartisanship
Even though political instability is an economic threat
Finance & economics
Xi Jinping really is unshakeably committed to the private sector
He balances that with being unshakeably committed to state-owned enterprises, too
Finance & economics
How much cash should be removed from the financial system?
Undoing quantitative easing provokes fierce debate
Finance & economics
The economics of the tennis v pickleball contest
Don’t hate the new players—or the new game
Finance & economics
Is America approaching peak tip?
The country’s gratuity madness may soon calm, so long as Donald Trump does not get his way
Finance & economics
Does motherhood hurt women’s pay?
Two new studies suggest not—at least in the long run, and in Scandinavia
Finance & economics
Why global GDP might be $7trn bigger than everyone thought
The discovery has perturbed Chinese officials
Finance & economics
Why any estimate of the cost of climate change will be flawed
Temperature fluctuations are unpredictable. Humans are even more so
Finance & economics
Shrinking populations mean less growth and a more fractious world
Politicians must act now to avert the worst
Finance & economics
Diego Maradona offers central bankers enduring lessons
Recent years ought to have reduced the importance of a skilful feint. They have not
Finance & economics
Could America and its allies club together to weaken the dollar?
China would not be happy
Finance & economics
Working from home and the US-Europe divide
Americans are no longer the rich world’s great office drones
Finance & economics
Can the IMF solve the poor world’s debt crisis?
The fund will freeze out China if that is what it takes to offer relief
Finance & economics
What will humans do if technology solves everything?
Welcome to a high-tech utopia