Markets

  Scientists have discovered a vast reservoir of groundwater located within Africa, which is said to contain a hundred times the amount of water found on the continent’s surface. But while the news has already sparked excitement across the once...

The honeymoon for the ECB's new president Mario Draghi has turned out to be brief. The trouble is that the eurozone has an austerity strategy, but no growth strategy – and, without that, all it really has is a recession...

Libertarian paternalism, or “soft paternalism”, is a political philosophy which states that government can nudge citizens into making decisions that are good for themselves, while offering complete freedom to individuals to make up their own minds. The problem is that...

What nerve the eurozone has. On one hand, it prides itself as a highly successful and integrated sovereign currency bloc that lives within its means. Yet, at the same time, eurozone members vehemently insist that the IMF is obliged to...

China’s economy is grossly imbalanced, and for years many academics have been talking about an imminent rebalancing. For now, it is clear is that China’s rebalancing act will not be automatic. Rich as China may be, weaknesses in China’s economic...

The rise of emerging markets to prosperity and global influence will be short-lived unless the challenges to longer-term economic growth are addressed. But, a massive increase in the number of competent and motivated leaders and professionals will be needed in...

In order to be a bank that serves the world’s needs and addresses global challenges, the World Bank needs internal reforms congruous to a changing world order. To find relevance, the World Bank needs to be a truly global institution...

The global community will face two important decisions in Washington, DC this month; they must decide on how to proceed with the European debt crisis as well as on whom to pick as the next World Bank president. Yet, complacency,...

A Scottish vote in favour of independence in a referendum would end the country’s 307-year intermarriage with England. But it would also have huge economic, political and psychological repercussions for the whole of the UK. Scotland has always been the...

Given centuries of turmoil in China, today’s leaders will do everything in their power to preserve political, social, and economic stability. That is why they removed Bo Xilai, the powerful Party Secretary of Chongqing, just before a major conference that...

Having reduced the risk of a relapse into recession, the US economy is now able to move on its own power, albeit gingerly. Consequently, the question on most people’s minds today is whether the US economy is ready not just...

Bailouts appear to be the medicine du jour prescribed across Europe for debt-stricken nations. Large-scale purchases of government bonds by the ECB also seem to be the only focus of creditors and political leaders. But the true key to resolving...

  Neoclassical economics has led us into a cul-de-sac. Although alternatives do exist, neoclassical thought has been so deeply entrenched into our finance ministries, economics departments, banks and other financial institutions, until a widespread belief has now materialised: that fictions...

The world is afraid. Increasing concerns about a military conflict between Israel and Iran has created a “Fear Premium”, which has seen the price of oil soar to nearly $125 per barrel – even as the global oil supply remains...

In the next 20 years, China will face serious economic challenges: Rising inequality, environmental degradation, external imbalances, as well as an aging society, all present major risks to China’s future. With the nation heading for an inevitable slowdown, can its...