Can the Fed pull off an “immaculate disinflation”?
Past experience suggests soft landings are rareFIGHTING INFLATION gets harder the longer it is put off—and the Federal Reserve has waited quite a while. For most of 2021 the central bank said that it had the tools to slow price rises, but saw no need to put them to use. Now investors are coming to…
India grapples with the new realities of the global oil market
The question is how to pay for Russian oilNOTHING SHORT of outright war and plague is as likely to tank India’s economy as much as rising oil prices. Petroleum products made up more than a quarter of the country’s overall spending on imports last year—more than for any other big economy. Could cheap Russian crude…
South Korean millennials battle to get hold of Pokémon snacks
They may have grown up, but their tastes have not evolvedYOON SANG-SOON leaves a 7-11 in Seoul, downcast. He showed up at 11pm, after the convenience store is restocked, but the 27-year-old missed out. No matter. Earlier, after waiting an hour for a delivery van to arrive at another shop, he had found the prize…
The Taliban are pushing females out of public life
Bigotry is making Afghanistan poorerON MARCH 23rd thousands of Afghan girls headed to school for the first time in eight months, kitted out in bulging rucksacks, neatly pressed headscarves and covid-19 face masks. Within hours, they were at home in tears—and not because of playground fights or test results. In a last-minute pivot, the Taliban…
Israel hosts an unprecedented summit with Arab leaders
DAVID BEN-GURION never much believed in the prospect of peace with Arabs. When Israel’s first prime minister died in 1973, after years of retirement in Sde Boker, a sleepy kibbutz deep in the Negev desert, his country had just emerged from another war with its angry Arab neighbours. None recognised Israel’s existence. No doubt he…
Phone or tablet for grandparents?
Even if it seems simple at first glance, finding the right gift for grandparents can be quite complicated. In reality, your New Year’s Eve must perfectly combine the pleasant with the the useful. Going for a phone or tablet can be a great idea. However, which of these communication tools would be the best choice…
Invasion of the earthworms
EARTHWORMS’ BENIGN image as aerators, drainers and fertilisers of field and garden belies a darker secret. They are actually fierce competitors with other invertebrates, voraciously consuming rotting plant matter and tiny organisms such as protists, nematodes, bacteria and fungi, all of which might otherwise sustain a wide variety of soil dwellers.Listen to this story.Enjoy more…
The White House wants to close a tax loophole used by the ultra-rich
A plan to go after unrealised capital gains faces big hurdlesMOST AMERICANS want the government to impose higher taxes on the ultra-rich. Every few months or so Democratic lawmakers unveil plans for doing just that, only to stumble well before enacting them. It is not just that the wealthy can afford powerful lobbyists. The nature…
Under unprecedented sanctions, how is the Russian economy faring?
Better than you might thinkIN RESPONSE TO Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the West launched an economic war. America banned the sale of a wide range of goods to Russia; big companies pulled out by the dozen; and a number of countries together froze 60% of the central bank’s international reserves. The idea was to send…
The invasion of Ukraine has turned Japan definitively against Russia
And made a solution to their territorial dispute even more remoteTHE ARRIVAL of Russian soldiers shocked the villagers. An escape plan was hatched. The children were told to keep silent, recalls Tsunoka Yasuji, who was eight years old in 1945 when his family fled Habomai, one of four Japanese islands just north of Hokkaido that…