The complicated politics of crypto and web3
“IT’S VERY attractive to the libertarian viewpoint if we can explain it properly,” wrote Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous creator of bitcoin, in an email in 2008 to Hal Finney, a developer, describing the appeal of the “e-cash” he planned to launch. The attraction stemmed from bitcoin’s potential role as a currency free from verification by…
The latest industry to suffer labour shortages: investment banking
AFTER A DISMAL decade, bankers of all stripes had reasons to be cheerful last year. Eighteen months of soaring corporate dealmaking generated blockbuster fees for mergers and acquisitions (M&A) desks. Their counterparts in debt advisory played midwife to a deluge of newly minted bonds. Bouts of high volatility buoyed traders’ revenues. Though the dealmaking frenzy…
The trouble facing Pakistan’s new prime minister
Imran Khan’s likely successor, Shehbaz Sharif, faces economic crisis and turbulent neighboursImran khan has been clean bowled. Pakistan’s prime minister, a former captain of the national cricket team, lost a no-confidence vote in parliament shortly after midnight on April 10th, ending his nearly four years in office. He had tried just about every trick in…
Imran Khan is trying every trick in the book to stay in power
Pakistan’s prime minister has pitched his country into a constitutional crisisIF IMRAN KHAN’S opponents hoped their push to unseat him would move at the blistering pace of a Twenty20 cricket match, the Pakistani prime minister has instead dragged them into the slog of a five-day Test. Tension had been building as Mr Khan’s precariously ruling…
Arab governments are putting more taxes on the poor
Some collect more than half their tax revenue from regressive leviesLIFE IN EGYPT gets more expensive by the month. Sitting in a café on a shady street, Mahmoud, a software developer, runs through the new taxes and fees. A value-added tax (VAT) was introduced at 13% in 2016, then hiked to 14%. A few years…
The tragedy of Benghazi, Libya’s second city
No one seems willing or able to rebuild itTHE GOLD-LEAF lanterns on the railings around the tomb are modelled on those that embellish Buckingham Palace. The crenellated walls glimmer with Italy’s finest marble. A huge chandelier within hails from Egypt. The shrine to Omar al-Mukh tar, Libya’s anti-colonial scholar-cum-warrior hero, has been handsomely restored, two…
Tracking ships at sea can help catch sanction-busters
NEVER BEFORE have the activities of ocean-going vessels been under so much scrutiny. So says Oleg Ustenko, the economics adviser to Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine’s president, and a leader of a government initiative called the Russian Tanker Tracking Group (RTTG). Working with tips from a network of experts and spies, including foreign officials who contribute on…
The latest IPCC report argues that stabilising the climate will require fast action
THE WINDOW to prevent global temperatures from rising by more than 1.5°C above pre-industrial averages is rapidly closing. Decisions made this year could determine whether that target is met or whether the world overshoots it by the middle of this century and has to deal with severe climate extremes before attempting to turn the thermostat…
What bigger military budgets mean for the economy
IN THE WAKE of the war in Ukraine, military budgets around the world are about to get bigger. This is most notable in Europe, where the threat of Russian aggression looms largest. Germany, Italy and Norway, among others, have already decided to spend more on defence. America and China, the world’s two biggest military spenders,…
Consumer prices in America rise at their fastest pace since 1981
UNHAPPY ECONOMIES are often unhappy in their own ways. Today most, however, are battling a common foe: a surge in consumer-price inflation. According to figures released on April 12th, consumer prices rose by 8.5% in March in America, compared with a year earlier—the fastest pace since 1981. In Britain and the euro area consumer prices…