The case for and against responding to investors' tantrums The federal reserve is changing direction. In December it predicted that it would raise the federal funds rate twice in 2019, to 2.75-3.0%. In March it thought it would hold rates steady instead. Investors now think there is a one-in-five chance that it will cut rates at its meeting on June 19th, and a 95% chance that it will do so by Se..
Principles on debt transparency endorsed at a G20 summit may help In 2016 the government of Mozambique confessed to secret debts of $1.4bn, or 11% of GDP, mostly as loan guarantees for state-backed companies. Growth faltered, the currency slumped and foreign donors pulled back. The results have been "devastating", says Denise Namburete, a civil-society activist, describing health centres that ha..
His most enduring legacy will be within the profession For a half-century Martin Feldstein was everywhere you looked in American economics. He was astoundingly prolific columnist, sometimes churning out several a week, for several newspapers, on the big economic stories of the day. He was a fixture at conferences and seminars and the teacher, for two decades, of Harvard university's introductory..
The original flaw may be technical, not political Almost two years ago Arvind Subramanian, then India's chief economic adviser, published a little-noticed passage in the finance ministry's annual economic survey. The previous two years posed a "puzzle", he wrote. India had reported miracle growth in GDP (averaging 7.5%) despite miserable growth in investment, exports and credit. He looked for co..
Europe works in strange ways "The longest lunch in history" is how Jonathan Powell, an adviser to Tony Blair, a former British prime minister, has described the appointment of the first head of the European Central Bank (ECB) in 1998. The French, keen to have their man in the job, had convinced the Germans that Wim Duisenberg, a Dutchman, should serve only half of his eight-year term before maki..
Better to fight the next one than the last With a deep voice and physique of a former American-football player, Greg Hayes, boss of United Technologies Corp (UTC), does not seem like the soft sort. But the ego is delicate. As he told Schumpeter in February while explaining his decision to carve UTC, a conglomerate dating back to the 1920s, into three parts, it was hard for him emotionally to acc..
The electric-car firm is enduring a rough patch At Tesla's annual shareholders meeting on June 11th Elon Musk was as ebullient as ever. But its shares, which started the year above $300, have plunged close to $200 and its bonds recently traded at an all-time low of close to 80 cents on the dollar. Deliveries of the Model 3, the firm's mass-market electric vehicle (EV), fell by over a fifth in th..
But that doesn't mean action against big tech is on the way If we will not endure a king as a political power, we should not endure a king over the production, transportation and sale of any of the necessaries of life." Advocates of a muscular approach to antitrust often quote the words of John Sherman. In 1890 the senator urged Congress to pass the antitrust act that carries his name. On June 1..
Cloud computing could do for gaming what Netflix did for films More than 70,000 gamers, developers and publishers descended on Los Angeles to goggle at each other's wares and show off their own at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), which began on June 11th. This year big publishers like Ubisoft and Square Enix used the annual video-game jamboree to show off previews of new games. Keanu Reev..
No longer just in Africa, but in Europe and America too A few years ago Jeff Bezos made a prediction. By 2018 his e-commerce empire, Amazon, would be delivering items by drone. Prime Air has yet to launch. But startups are making progress - mostly in health care, where they are vying to tap into a lucrative, $70bn global market in health-care logistics. As they deal with regulators and investors..
Workers may need ways of organizing themselves The debate about the future of work tends to divide commentators into two camps. The optimistic case is that technology may cause temporary disruption but will ultimately result in economic growth and thus more jobs. Combine harvesters reduced the need for agricultural labourers and personal computers eliminated the typing pool, but the displaced wo..
Blame rising inequality and globalisation If they think their ranking on rich lists is too low, American tycoons fume. German ones kick up a fuss when their looks suspiciously high, explains Heinz Durr. when a magazine called him a billionaire a few years ago, Mr Durr rang the editor to remonstrate. The reporters had double-counted his ownership of Homag, a maker of wood-processing machines that..
The territory's people look like losing a security dear to them This is a story told in tears. The most obvious were those streaming from the eyes of protesters in the shadows of Hong Kong's glass-walled office towers, while police tried to disperse them with tear gas, as well as plastic bullets, water hoses and clubs. The protesters had gathered late on June 11th to try to stop a debate in Hong..
A fragile state may disintegrate unless its factions are made to talk The burst of optimism in Sudan did not last long. In April, after months of mass protests, a tyrant was deposed. President Omar al-Bashir, who had ruled for 30 years, was ousted in a bloodless coup. No one was sorry to see him go. Mr Bashir had unleashed genocide in the western region of Darfur, his violent oppression drove th..
The leading candidates to be prime minister are proposing reckless policies Britain's conservatives like to think they are the party of economic competence. Although they have overseen some debacles in recent decades, they have typically had a clear vision for the British economy. In the 1980s, under Margaret Thatcher, they deregulated markets, privatized state-run industries and encouraged home..