In word and deed, China is easing economic policy
BEN BERNANKE, the former chairman of America’s Federal Reserve, entitled his memoir “The Courage To Act”. But a lot of what central bankers do these days is talk. They talk about what they are doing, will do and might do. In central banking, words can speak louder than actions.Listen to this storyYour browser does not…
The difficulties of policing remote work
Dec 11th 2021AS OFFICE LIFE approaches some sort of new normal, remote working is here to stay. Employers enjoy cost savings as they spend less on desks and floor space. For employees the promise is of time saved: spared of their commute, they can get their work done and focus on their families and hobbies.…
The economics of a new China-Laos train line
IN THE LATE 1860s, French sailors who had set off from Saigon to find the source of the Mekong river encountered the precipitous Khone Falls between Laos and Cambodia, and realised that the waters would be impassable for larger trading vessels. Their dreams of reaching the riches of southern China by river were dashed. Quixotic…
Two key questions for the European Central Bank
Dec 11th 2021CENTRAL BANKERS in Frankfurt may be feeling a little discombobulated. Having struggled to revive too-low inflation for the best part of a decade, they now find themselves hoping that too-high inflation will die down. Since the pandemic struck, the European Central Bank (ECB) has bought nearly €2trn ($2.3trn) in government bonds in order…
Myanmar’s generals want Aung San Suu Kyi locked up forever
Dec 11th 2021THE GUILTY verdicts that a court in Naypyidaw, Myanmar’s capital, handed down to Aung San Suu Kyi on December 6th were both cruel and farcical. One charge had to do with Ms Suu Kyi breaching coronavirus restrictions at a campaign rally last year. Sentence: two years in prison. The second charge—for which, a…
Many North Korean women outearn their husbands, but still do the chores
BEFORE SHE fled south six years ago, Kim Eun Kyoung spent her days in one of North Korea’s many informal markets. She sold household goods and illicit South Korean TV dramas. In the evening, she did the housework and looked after her daughter. She says her husband worked just a few hours a day at…
The Muslim Brotherhood is tearing itself apart
WHEN HASSAN AL-BANNA founded the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt nearly a century ago he implored his followers to seek “self-sacrifice, not personal advantage”. Today, though, they are struggling to comply. The oldest and once-powerful Islamist movement has been tearing itself apart. Leaders in Istanbul and London exchange insults, accuse each other of corruption or, worse,…
The Gulf states offer citizenship to a select group of foreigners
Dec 9th 2021DUBAI AND MANAMAONE DAY soon Kamal will have to leave. The Indian expat has done office jobs in Bahrain since the 1990s. They paid well enough to put his kids through school and provide a modest nest-egg. Retirement beckons. Yet he finds the prospect unsettling. It means a one-way ticket back to a…