Free exchange
Our economics column offers rigorous analysis, insights into global trends and policy debates
Finance and economics
Americans are wrong to wish for an era of stable bipartisanship
Even though political instability is an economic threat
Finance and economics
Xi Jinping really is unshakeably committed to the private sector
He balances that with being unshakeably committed to state-owned enterprises, too
Finance and economics
How much cash should be removed from the financial system?
Undoing quantitative easing provokes fierce debate
Finance and economics
The economics of the tennis v pickleball contest
Don’t hate the new players—or the new game
Finance and 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 and economics
Does motherhood hurt women’s pay?
Two new studies suggest not—at least in the long run, and in Scandinavia
Finance and economics
Why global GDP might be $7trn bigger than everyone thought
The discovery has perturbed Chinese officials
Finance and economics
Why any estimate of the cost of climate change will be flawed
Temperature fluctuations are unpredictable. Humans are even more so
Finance and economics
Shrinking populations mean less growth and a more fractious world
Politicians must act now to avert the worst
Finance and economics
Diego Maradona offers central bankers enduring lessons
Recent years ought to have reduced the importance of a skilful feint. They have not
Finance and economics
Could America and its allies club together to weaken the dollar?
China would not be happy
Finance and economics
Working from home and the US-Europe divide
Americans are no longer the rich world’s great office drones
Finance and 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 and economics
What will humans do if technology solves everything?
Welcome to a high-tech utopia
Finance and economics
Daniel Kahneman was a master of teasing questions
How a psychologist transformed economics