The perils and rewards of economies in rehab
Dec 5th 2019A RECENT EDITION of “The Joe Rogan Experience”, a popular podcast, features the comedian Artie Lange. Mr Lange is an engaging personality who, as he candidly admits, has battled with drugs and gambling. Not long out of his umpteenth period in rehab, he is working in stand-up again. “This business keeps taking me back,” he says with something like amazement.Forgiveness for recidivists is found outside show business, too. In July the IMF approved a $6bn bail-out for Pakistan. As the fund acknowledged at the time, with something like weariness, Pakistan is back in rehab less than three years after completing its previous programme. But the fund has not abandoned it. And nor have investors. Pakistan is enjoying a flood of foreign capital on the promise of reform. The Karachi stock index is up 25% since the start of October.Choose us for news analysis that respects your time and intelligenceSubscribe to The EconomistWe filter out the noise of the daily news cycle and analyse the trends that matterWe give you rigorous, deeply researched and fact-checked journalism. That’s why Americans named us their most trusted news source in 2017Available wherever you are—in print, digital and, uniquely, in audio, fully narrated by professional broadcastersThis website adheres to all nine of NewsGuard‘s standards of credibility and transparency.ORContinue reading this articleRegister with an email address