Markets

Since injecting more than $2 trillion into the financial system through three rounds of quantitative easing, the U.S. Federal Reserve is gradually realising that their experiment to kick-start the economy with near-zero interest rates has failed. Contemplating an exit strategy...

Since 2000, Japan has managed to offset its shrinking labour force with increased worker productivity – at a rate higher than most other advanced economies. But, Japan’s productivity gains are soon reaching its limits and the nation must once again...

Over the past week or so, a series of market shocks managed to throw investor confidence worldwide off balance. Although individually, none of these tremors were relatively big deals, collectively, they shook both investors and economists – and may ultimately...

The funeral of former British PM Margaret Thatcher saw a nation divided in hatred and love for one of the most iconic world leaders of modern times. While, Inner London today is one of the richest parts of the entire...

Although oil often provides an abundance of riches to producing nations, declining production capabilities, coupled with the volatility of oil prices, can lead some exporters down a road to financial collapse. Egypt, Syria, Yemen and the former Soviet Union have...

In a system in which almost all the growth is driven by increases in investment, and in which an increasing share of investment is being wasted on factories, bridges, real estate, airports, and other projects that have little or no...

A large proportion of Asian countries are currently at the top of the working-age population hump. For them, the window of opportunity to prepare for an older population will close within the next decade. But how can Asian countries take...

The last few years have highlighted the declining potency of long-standing growth models. Today, some of the biggest world economies struggle to create ample, well-paid and secure jobs amid a secular re-alignment of the global economy. This is a challenge...

Despite persistent deflation and tepid economic growth, things are looking up for Japan under the new Prime Minister. Shinzo Abe’s Keynesian-inspired reform programme is essentially a replay of what Takahashi Korekiyo achieved in the 1930s, when Japan escaped the Great...

With many of the world’s major emerging economies now moving towards a stagflation-lite situation, where inflation sticky at high levels but with growth decelerating or stagnant, can leaders find the correct policy response?Here is an update on several emerging markets...

  As a result of monetary expansion and fiscal stagnation in the advanced world, the BRICS countries are no longer immune to the debt crises that have plagued the developed economies. But contrary to what the critics may believe, the...

Following the 2008 financial crisis, it is almost inconceivable to think that America today represents the greatest hope for the global economy. Yet, with Europe struggling to restore growth, China facing a hard landing if critical structural reforms are postponed,...

  In his inaugural address last Sunday, Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke about the "Chinese Dream", in which the mainland will restore its role as the largest economy worldwide. But unlike their predecessors, Xi and his fellow leaders can no...

Expansionary central bank policies have, in recent months, helped investors shrug off troubling political uncertainties in order to spark a recovery in global financial markets. Nonetheless, some have called the market rally “one of the most unloved” in history –...

This where we stand, and it's a fairly bleak view: Peak oil is almost here, and nothing new (with the possible but unlikely exception of Iraq) is coming online anytime soon and while the clock is ticking – forward movement...