Finance & economics

Keeping the flame alive

China’s last boomtowns show rapid growth is still possible

All it takes is for the state to work with the market

Hotting up

What the war on tourism gets wrong

Visitors are a boon, if managed wisely

Buttonwood

Why investors are unwise to bet on elections

Turning a profit from political news is a lot harder than it looks

Heterodox thought

Revisiting the work of Donald Harris, father of Kamala

The combative Marxist economist focused on questions related to growth

Breaking the greenback

Donald Trump wants a weaker dollar. What are his options?

All come with their own drawbacks

China’s reserves

Why is Xi Jinping building secret commodity stockpiles?

Vast new holdings of grain, natural gas and oil suggest trouble ahead

War economy

How Vladimir Putin created a housing bubble

Prices have risen by 172% in Russia’s biggest cities over the past three years

Broken record

The rich world revolts against sky-high immigration

Moderates want to limit numbers. Radicals want mass deportations. What will be the economic consequence?

Tokyo drift

Japan’s strength produces a weak yen

Currency meddling will prove futile

Results season

At last, Wall Street has something to cheer

Consumer banks, on the other hand, are starting to suffer

Free exchange

Americans are wrong to wish for an era of stable bipartisanship

Even though political instability is an economic threat

Buttonwood

Why investors have fallen in love with small American firms

The Russell 2000 puts in a historic performance