This Month
- Opinion
- Populism
When the numbers just don’t add up
MAGA in the US and National Rally in France are both making voters big economic promises, but their ideas have some massive holes, writes Paul Krugman.
- Paul Krugman
China’s home sales downturn slows after cities ease policy
The turn in the trajectory of new home sales may offer some relief for China’s economy, which is on track to undershoot the official growth target this year.
- Jeanny Yu and Tian Ying
June
France’s election could trigger market shockwaves, BoE warns
The Bank of England’s alert comes before Sunday’s first round of voting. Polls now show the populist right potentially closing in on a parliamentary majority.
- Hans van Leeuwen
China’s ‘Summer Davos’ highlights corporate anxiety over tariffs
A surge of cheap exports and industrial production supported by the government has propelled China’s economy this year. That’s prompted a pushback from trading partners.
- Katia Dmitrieva and Lucille Liu
- Analysis
- China
China’s unhappy consumers have even given up on shopping sales
E-commerce sales declined for the first time during the “618 festival” this year, reflecting pressures on retailers already locked in a gruelling price war.
- Casey Hall
ECB, Le Pen call for calm on turmoil-hit French markets
France’s stock and bond ructions eased after the European Central Bank counselled calm, and Marine Le Pen sought to reassure spooked investors.
- Updated
- Hans van Leeuwen
World is looking ‘more like the 1930s’, Future Fund warns
Australia’s sovereign wealth fund chief is reshaping its $200b portfolio as global risks hit a 50-year high.
- Jonathan Shapiro
China’s broken housing market and a generation ‘lying flat’
While wallets were open at last weekend’s national Dragon Boat Festival, Chinese consumers are still not spending enough to get the economy out of its housing hole.
- Jessica Sier
Why peacetime will be a problem for Putin’s banker
For Elvira Nabiullina, head of Russia’s central bank, demilitarisation could trigger the economic meltdown she’s worked so hard to prevent.
- Kate de Pury
Argentine Senate passes Milei reform bill as protests rage outside
The bill is key to overhauling an embattled economy, and includes plans for privatising public firms, granting special powers to the president and spurring investment.
- Nicolás Misculin and Eliana Raszewski
China’s mild inflation fails to quell fears over weak demand
May inflation figures point to a mixed picture for the economy as domestic consumption picks up slightly.
- Zhu Lin
- Opinion
- AI
AI could end India’s dominance in tech outsourcing
This is not the first time an industry in the country has faced an existential challenge, although the last time was 300 years ago.
- Andy Mukherjee
This physicist can prove that economics has it all wrong
J. Doyne Farmer, an American complex systems scientist says the world is more predictable than we think, and he can prove it.
- Will Dunn
- Analysis
- China’s Great Slowdown
Why won’t Xi Jinping fix China’s dreadful economy?
Explanations for Beijing’s refusal to work on deep-seated problems include denial, ignorance and ideology.
- Scott Kennedy
- Opinion
- Investing
The GameStop flurry masks the market’s underlying angst
Investors are worried that the Federal Reserve is now overly preoccupied with reducing inflation, and could be missing signs that the US economy is weakening.
- Karen Maley
May
The man who would help Trump upend the global economy
As a potential US Treasury secretary, Robert Lighthizer has more than trade policy to revolutionise.
- Edward Alden
NZ government cuts taxes even as deficit widens
The tax cuts are almost identical to the pledge Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s National Party campaigned on ahead of the October election.
- Matthew Brockett
- Opinion
- Opinion
Why inflation will be back, sooner than you think
Central banks cannot be as independent as we like to believe. And they would always rather avoid a recession than avoid inflation.
- Kenneth Rogoff
- Opinion
- Review
Why the most widely predicted recession was a no-show
US economists were misled by false signals, including a short banking crisis, an oil-price spike and resilient consumer spending.
- Edward Yardeni
- Opinion
- Letters to the Editor
Greek tragedy of austerity measures is obvious
Readers’ letters on Greece’s austerity fallout; Australia’s Pacific relations; investment in nuclear power; South Australia’s green steel advantage; the need to retain cash; Telstra’s job cuts; and the NDIS.