Dec 10th 2024 A re you smarter than a ten-year-old? New data suggest that a shockingly large portion of adults in the rich world might not be. Roughly one-fifth of people aged 16 to 65 perform no better in tests of maths and reading than would be expected of a pupil coming to the end

Dec 10th 2024 A re you smarter than a ten-year-old? New data suggest that a shockingly large portion of adults in the rich world might not be. Roughly one-fifth of people aged 16 to 65 perform no better in tests of maths and reading than would be expected of a pupil coming to the end

Dec 9th 2024 D onald Trump, a man not renowned for the length of his attention span, likes simple formulas. Scott Bessent, his nominee to be treasury secretary, has one: “3-3-3”. He wants to cut America’s federal budget deficit to 3% of GDP, lift annual economic growth to 3% and boost the country’s oil and gas

L ending from China posed a dilemma to leaders in cash-strapped poor countries. In the 2010s, as the Belt and Road Initiative (bri) got going, China began to invest vast sums in overseas infrastructure. All told, throughout the initiative’s first decade, officials disbursed hundreds of billions of dollars to 150-odd countries. They helped build pipelines

Dec 5th 2024 W hat do Barron Trump, son of the president-elect; some Islamic charities in Britain; and America’s legal cannabis industry have in common? This is not a set-up for a bad joke. Rather, all have been at the sharp end of a rise in “debanking”, having lost or been refused access to the

W hen things got tough, European finance ministers used to sigh and say that at least they were not Greek. Today, some would struggle to make such a comment. On December 2nd the yield on Greek bonds fell below that on French ones, indicating investors thought it safer to lend to Greece than France. The

W hen economists explain the financial crisis that hit the “tiger economies” of Indonesia, Malaysia and South Korea, among others, in 1997, some reach for the term “crony capitalism”. A cosy relationship between governments and firms distorted markets. The ensuing currency crises can be blamed on close ties between businesses, banks and politicians, rather than

Dec 5th 2024 S ince American states started to legalise sports betting in 2018, the industry’s explosive growth and omnipresent advertisements have drawn widespread attention. But although America was one of the last big economies to allow legal wagering, similar trends are evident elsewhere. In most markets around the world, online betting, mostly on sports

Dec 5th 2024 | Singapore O verlooking the ocean atop Singapore’s glitzy Marina Bay Sands casino, the Chinese Communist Party is out of sight but, for at least a few patrons, probably not out of mind. Earlier this year the Chinese embassy in the city-state sought to “solemnly remind” its citizens that gambling while abroad

L ending from China posed a dilemma to leaders in cash-strapped poor countries. In the 2010s, as the Belt and Road Initiative (bri) got going, China began to invest vast sums in overseas infrastructure. All told, throughout the initiative’s first decade, officials disbursed hundreds of billions of dollars to 150-odd countries. They helped build pipelines