Toil and troubleReligious competition was to blame for Europe’s witch huntsMany children are still persecuted as alleged witches in Africa for similar reasonsAug 31
Cementing relationsHas BRICS lived up to expectations?The bloc of big emerging economies is surprisingly good at keeping its promisesJul 27
Crash courseHow to interpret a market plungeWhether a sudden sharp decline in asset prices amounts to a meaningless blip or something more depends on mass psychologyFeb 6
Dynamic do-overRepublicans grouse about tax models they once supportedWhen the experts say tax reform will not pay for itself, the party ignores the expertsDec 1
Job-stealing robotsWhy scan-reading artificial intelligence is bad news for radiologistsGood news for patients is bad news for medical professionalsNov 29
The Nobel prize in economic sciencesRichard Thaler’s work demonstrates why economics is hardIt is difficult to model the behaviour of creatures as irrepressibly social as humansOct 11
The 2017 Nobel prizesThe Nobel in economics rewards a pioneer of “nudges”Richard Thaler becomes one of very few behavioural economists to receive the discipline’s highest honourOct 9
Not so novelBitcoin is fiat money, tooWhat Charles Kindleberger has to say about cryptocurrenciesSep 22
Unwinding QEThe case against shrinking the Fed’s balance-sheetThe Fed has announced it will shed assets, but not how manySep 20
America’s labour marketIs there a wage growth puzzle in America?Weak wage growth suggests the economy is not at full employmentSep 1
Budgetary crystal ballsThe hubris of ten-year budgetsNo policymaker can accurately predict the futureAug 4
Immigration economicsA new paper rekindles a tiresome debate on immigration and wagesBut commentators on both sides seem to miss the pointJun 12
Because I said soWhy the Fed is likely to raise rates, despite low inflationLike a parent teaching a child it means business, the Fed may feel it must hike to preserve its credibility with financial marketsJun 6
Saving the euro areaEurope inches closer to a plan for fixing its financial flawsA new European Commission proposal moves in a mostly useful directionJun 2
