The Intelligence from The Economist

Rises and false: markets v the economy

08 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

How can stockmarkets be so healthy when many businesses are so unwell? We look at the many risks that are clearly not priced in. China’s documentary...

Hitting a Vlad patch: 20 years of Putin

07 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

As Russia’s leader marks two decades in power, he faces almighty headwinds—not only covid-19 but also cut-price oil and an increasingly leery citi...

Disarming revelation: a chance at a global ceasefire

06 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Many were shocked when armed groups heeded a call for a global ceasefire; given a squabble at the UN it would now be shocking if those pockets of peac...

Degrees of separation: universities and covid-19

05 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Many universities were on thin ice financially before the pandemic. Now, with foreign travel slumping and distancing measures the norm, a global recko...

Lives v livelihoods: Africa’s covid-19 tradeoffs

04 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

As Nigeria tentatively lifts its lockdown today, we examine the decisions African leaders face: pandemic policies may do more harm than the pandemic i...

Nature, or nurtured? A politicised virus-origin hunt

01 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Scientists may soon understand how the new coronavirus got its start; that could help head off future outbreaks. In the meantime, politicians are clou...

Submerging markets: developing economies and covid-19

30 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The pandemic is hitting emerging markets particularly hard, and the crisis is likely to widen the gap between the strongest and the weakest among them...

Those who can, teach! The case for reopening schools

29 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The world’s students are falling behind and lockdown is only exacerbating prior disparities in their progress; we examine a compelling back-to-schoo...

First, pass the post: Ohio’s vote-by-mail experiment

28 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The state’s all-postal primaries vote could be seen as a trial run for November’s presidential election. Might voting by mail be the least-bad opt...

End transmission: covid-19 in New Zealand

27 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The country is aiming for complete elimination of the coronavirus; so far, so good. But renewed freedom within its borders requires that virtually no ...

Unsteady states: America’s piecemeal reopening

24 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Some governors are co-ordinating mutual lockdown plans, others are already reopening their states. That haphazardness bodes ill in the absence of wide...

Rakhine and ruin: insurgency in Myanmar

23 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The Rohingya genocide was just one of many sectarian flashpoints in Rakhine state; now a slick separatist insurgency is getting the better of Myanmar’...

Held in cheque: corporate payouts and covid-19

22 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Even before the pandemic, companies were accused of returning too much money to shareholders. As a recession looms, dividends and share buy-backs shou...

Symbols’ status: arrests in Hong Kong

21 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Authorities have re-ignited tensions by arresting some of the democracy movement’s most prominent figures—and Beijing seems to be piling more pres...

Restarting Europe’s engine: Germany’s lockdown lightens

20 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Non-essential businesses are opening; schools soon will be, too. The country’s fortunes are down to a mix of science-minded leadership, functional f...

Gross domestic plummet: China’s historic contraction

17 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The covid-19 pandemic has caused the country’s first GDP dip in more than four decades. What struggles still lie ahead for the world’s second-larg...

This sequestered isle: Britain’s covid-19 response

16 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The prime minister is still convalescing; Parliament is still finding ways to meet virtually. Meanwhile questions are growing about how the government...

The gloves are on: South Koreans vote

15 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s legislative elections in South Korea are the world’s first to take place amid the covid-19 crisis. How have masked campaigners managed, an...

Dis-Kurti-ous: intrigues in Kosovo

14 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

We speak to Albin Kurti, a reformist prime minister, after his ouster—and ask how American officials may have played a role in his downfall. Gloomy ...

Opening arguments: Europe’s cautious restart

13 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

This week, some European countries are beginning to switch their economies back on, but leaders face a grim trade-off between economic health and publ...

The fascists and the furious: remembering the 43 Group

10 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Many have forgotten that, even after the second world war, a fascist movement held sway in Britain. Our culture editor recounts the tale of the group ...

What Viktor’s spoiled: ten years of Orban

09 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Under Hungary’s shape-shifting prime minister the country has essentially become a dictatorship—and it seems there is little the European Union ca...

Movement at the epicentre: Wuhan’s lockdown lifts

08 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

People are spilling from the Chinese metropolis where the global outbreak took hold. But controls actually remain tight, and authorities’ attempts t...

States’ evidence: Brazil’s messy covid-19 response

07 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

President Jair Bolsonaro still dismisses the disease as “just the sniffles”, so state and local authorities—and the country’s vast slums—hav...

An app for that: covid surveillance

06 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

To keep track of the spread of covid-19, some governments are turning to digital surveillance, using mobile-phone apps and data networks. We ask wheth...

Trough to peak: how high will American unemployment go?

03 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The coronavirus pandemic has sent America’s mighty jobs machine into screeching reverse. How bad might the labour market get? Covid-19 is just one r...

No port of call: coronavirus may sink the cruise industry

02 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Cruise ships had been enjoying a golden era—until covid-19 came along. The pandemic has been a catastrophe for the industry. Stranded passengers hav...

Wishful thinking: America’s offer to Venezuela

01 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The Trump administration makes Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro an offer he seems sure to refuse: an end to sanctions in return for power-sharing and ele...

In need of Comfort: New York's covid-19 crisis

31 Mar 2020

Contributed by Lukas

New York is at the centre of America’s—and the world’s—coronavirus crisis. The metropolis has also been caught in a damaging three-way politic...

Containment or complacency? Covid-19 in Japan

30 Mar 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Japan has reported a relatively low number of coronavirus cases. But concern is growing. The Olympics have at last been postponed and infections are o...

Life sentences? Prisons and covid-19

27 Mar 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Outbreaks among inmates are all but inevitable. Efforts at prison reform that were already under way will get a boost, because now they will save live...

Going to townships: covid-19 threatens Africa

26 Mar 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Governments across the continent have had a head start, but that will not address some worrying systemic problems many of them share. Ventilators are ...

Fiscal firepower: governments’ covid-19 aid

25 Mar 2020

Contributed by Lukas

As American lawmakers reach a deal on the country’s largest-ever rescue package, we examine how planners are balancing the health of their citizens ...

Trial, trial again: the race for covid-19 treatments

24 Mar 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The world’s scientists are swiftly identifying drugs that may help with the pandemic, and setting out on the long road toward a vaccine. Ethiopia’...

Continental shift: covid-19 grips Europe

23 Mar 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The novel coronavirus is spreading around the world, but its grip on Europe is curiously tight; we ask why, and what to expect next. We pay a visit to...

Lessons unplanned: school shutdowns spread

20 Mar 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Schools are closing down as covid-19 measures take hold; we look into the social, economic and educational costs for a world thrust into distance lear...

Pandemic, meet politics: the US-China spat

19 Mar 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Prior tensions have blunted the chances for a co-ordinated response to covid-19—and both countries are fighting a grand ideological battle alongside...

Drawbridges up: lockdowns and covid-19

18 Mar 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Borders are closing; suggestions to stay home are becoming mandates. We examine how the national responses to covid-19 have varied, and how they may b...

Same old song, and Gantz: fresh coalition talks in Israel

17 Mar 2020

Contributed by Lukas

He has four weeks to form a government, but Binyamin Netanyahu’s rival Benny Gantz is likely to find that the battle lines from three inconclusive e...

Flight risk: airlines and covid-19

16 Mar 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Travel restrictions that are proliferating worldwide may represent an existential threat to many airlines. How long the pandemic lasts will determine ...

Coming two terms with it: Putin’s power grab

13 Mar 2020

Contributed by Lukas

A resetting of the clock on the Russian leader’s tenure will almost certainly pass into law. That sets up a standoff with a public swiftly losing fa...

Stimulating discussion: policy responses to covid-19

12 Mar 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Britain’s central bank made an emergency cut and released a budget with a whopping £30bn ($38bn) stimulus; we discuss what countries are doing, or ...

Hollywood moment: Harvey Weinstein’s sentencing

11 Mar 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The disgraced producer’s conviction may seem a clear-cut win for the #MeToo movement, but it’s as yet uncertain just how much will change outside ...

When in Rome...stay put: Italy on lockdown

10 Mar 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The unexpected expansion of quarantine measures are a look into the near future of many countries, each facing different social and epidemiological tr...

A day without women: a vast strike in Mexico

09 Mar 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Millions of women will stay home today, protesting against rising levels of violence against them. In the Netherlands, a criminal trial begins in the ...

Nevertheless, she persisted: the futility of restricting abortion

06 Mar 2020

Contributed by Lukas

America’s Supreme Court is again tussling with the age-old question of abortion rights. Internationally the picture is very different; abortions are...

Testing times: the world responds to covid-19

05 Mar 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Our journalists explore the variance in both policy and preparedness among different countries and regions that are dealing with coronavirus outbreaks...

Joe through a rough patch:Biden’s super Tuesday

04 Mar 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The former vice-president stormed a raft of primaries yesterday, setting up a two-horse race to the Democratic nomination. What happens next, though, ...

Caught in the middle: Idlib’s humanitarian disaster

03 Mar 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Turkey sees the fall of Idlib as an existential threat; Russian-backed Syrian forces see the province as the last redoubt of troublesome rebels. Milli...

EU’ve heard this one before: Brexit trade talks

02 Mar 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Once again, Britain’s negotiators are talking tough, threatening a no-deal scenario as a long series of trade talks begins in Brussels. They’ve go...

Playing with fire: Democrats may get Bern

28 Feb 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Bernie Sanders's rise in the Democratic primaries has echoes of Donald Trump’s road to the Republican nomination. He has already changed the tone of...

Delhi melee: India’s citizenship protests

27 Feb 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Violence in the country’s capital is the worst in decades. The unrest pits the ruling party’s Hindu-nationalist agenda against citizens proud of I...

Clash pipe: Canada’s widening protests

26 Feb 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Successive governments have overlooked the concerns of indigenous peoples, and that has elevated a small gas-pipeline protest into a national conflagr...

Mitigating circumstances: coronavirus spreads

25 Feb 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Global markets tanked yesterday as governments reported startling rises in covid-19 cases. Our correspondents around the world assess countries' diffe...

Peace-meal: ceasefire in Afghanistan

24 Feb 2020

Contributed by Lukas

For now, a “reduction in violence” is holding, and a long-awaited agreement hangs in the balance. But can the Taliban and the country’s governme...

Clerical era: Iran’s elections

21 Feb 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In a bid to unite a fractious populace, hardliners barred half of the parliamentary candidates; by silencing moderates, the plan will suppress turnout...

Uncut emerald: Ireland’s unification prospects

20 Feb 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Spurred on by demographic shifts, Brexit and the success of the Sinn Fein party in this month’s election, the once-unthinkable idea of Irish reunifi...

Many hands light of work: China’s 170m migrant workers

19 Feb 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Strict controls meant to contain the spread of the coronavirus are affecting many of the country’s villages. Our correspondent visits migrant worker...

A friend of mines: America’s explosive policy turn

18 Feb 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The Trump administration’s stance on anti-personnel landmines worries many—but also speaks to a future in which the rules of war are uncertain. Br...

The snails of justice: the International Criminal Court

17 Feb 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Sudan’s transitional government has pledged to hand over the country’s brutal former leader to the ICC—could justice for the court’s most-want...

Another man’s Treasury: Britain’s cabinet upheaval

14 Feb 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The dramatic departure of the head of the Treasury reveals Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s desire—and that of his wily chief aide—to take firm ho...

Defence on the defensive: NATO under scrutiny

13 Feb 2020

Contributed by Lukas

It’s not just President Donald Trump piling pressure on the alliance. As defence ministers meet in Brussels, we examine one of the longest-lasting d...

Bern turn: New Hampshire’s primary

12 Feb 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Bernie Sanders and Pete Buttigieg led the pack in New Hampshire. Two candidates have exited the race, and a potential spoiler is yet to compete. Argen...

Christian Democratic disunion: Germany’s political upheaval

11 Feb 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Chancellor Angela Merkel’s hand-picked successor is out of the running. The ruling CDU party must now pick a new leader and a path in dealing with t...

Trust the process? China’s coronavirus response

10 Feb 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The Communist Party is exuding an aura of complete control over the outbreak, but our correspondent finds an undercurrent of distrust. International h...

From out of left field: Ireland’s election

07 Feb 2020

Contributed by Lukas

After the adulation, the discontent. Voters are abandoning the party of the young, progressive leader Leo Varadkar, with many supporting Sinn Fein, a ...

Imperfect call: Trump’s exoneration

06 Feb 2020

Contributed by Lukas

A predictable outcome in President Donald Trump’s Senate trial will have unpredictable effects on executive power and congressional oversight—but ...

Address change: the State of the Union

05 Feb 2020

Contributed by Lukas

President Donald Trump seemed to be going out of his way to rankle Democrats while he pitched his tenure as a change from American decline to American...

An app-polling delay: Iowa’s caucus chaos

04 Feb 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Technical glitches and “inconsistencies” threw America’s first Democratic caucuses into disarray. That will have political consequences, irrespe...

Economic contagion: Hong Kong

03 Feb 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Hong Kong’s GDP report released today reflects the squeeze that enormous protests at home and economic headwinds on the mainland have put on the ter...

When one door closes: Brexit day

31 Jan 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The costs of leaving the European Union are likely to outweigh the benefits. But as Britain re-aligns itself in the world, those benefits should be se...

Viral hit: the costs of China’s lockdown

30 Jan 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Our correspondent travels to the border of the locked-down Hubei province, finding among the people a mixture of resignation, fear and distrust. Was t...

They went that Huawei: Britain’s crucial 5G call

29 Jan 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Facing pressure from both China and America on allowing Huawei into its next-generation network, Britain opted to fully appease neither—and that wil...

Showpiece in the Middle East: Trump’s “ultimate deal”

28 Jan 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Palestinian leaders have already rejected the American administration’s peace plan. But the proposal is nevertheless politically useful, both for Bi...

Spread bet: China’s coronavirus quarantine

27 Jan 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In Hubei province and increasingly across China, new-year celebrations are muted. Authorities are trying to contain the outbreak with an unprecedented...

Ill-judged: Poland’s rule-of-law crisis

24 Jan 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Poland's government has been trying to nobble the courts for years. Now the European Union is intervening, and the outcome could undermine the union i...

On the right track: a trend in diplomacy

23 Jan 2020

Contributed by Lukas

When conflict-resolution efforts falter in official channels, there are unofficial ones. We ask why “Track 2”—allowing well-meaning third partie...

Justin time, again: Trudeau’s second term

22 Jan 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Canada’s prime minister now leads a minority government, and has lost support in the country’s west. We ask what he must do, and how, with his wea...

Can I get a witness? Impeachment

21 Jan 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The rules are set, battle lines drawn and the outcome is all but assured. We ask why the Senate trial of President Donald Trump seems so sewn up. A de...

Tripoli crown: the battle for Libya

20 Jan 2020

Contributed by Lukas

This weekend’s peace talks in Berlin were a good start, but the situation is still ripe for a longer, messier proxy war. More than a million people ...

Address the problem: the global housing blunder

17 Jan 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Badly run housing markets are linked to broader ills, from financial crises to the rise of populism. The first problem? The conviction that home owner...

Set for life? Putin’s power-grab

16 Jan 2020

Contributed by Lukas

After Russia’s president proposed vast constitutional change, the whole government resigned. It seems to be another convoluted power-grab by Vladimi...

Going through a phase: US-China trade deal

15 Jan 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Negotiators will sign a “phase one” pact today—but the trickiest issues remain unresolved, and plenty of tariffs will stay in place. Will the de...

A Biden by their decision? Democrats debate

14 Jan 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The race for the Democratic nomination looks much like it did a year ago—but previous contests prove that once voting starts, momentum can reshuffle...

Tsai of the times: Taiwan’s defiant election

13 Jan 2020

Contributed by Lukas

China has been getting more aggressive in its claims over the island, but voters have made it clear just how much they favour democracy. The relentles...

Scorched-earth policies: Australia and climate change

10 Jan 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Evacuations are expanding as fast as the flames, and worse may yet be to come. We visit the fiery extremes that climate change is making more likely. ...

Will you still feed me when I’m 62? Macron’s pension fight

09 Jan 2020

Contributed by Lukas

He won a landslide victory campaigning on it, but like French presidents before him Emmanuel Macron is struggling to push through his grand pension re...

Return fire: Iran’s missile attacks

08 Jan 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Attacks on bases that house American troops seem a dramatic retaliation to the killing of Iranian commander Qassem Suleimani—yet both sides seem to ...

Two heads aren’t better than one: Venezuela

07 Jan 2020

Contributed by Lukas

After chaotic scenes in the National Assembly, it seems the country’s legislature has two leaders. Has Juan Guaidó’s chance at regime change run ...

The general and specific threats: Iran

06 Jan 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Killing Iran’s top military commander does not seem likely to further America’s aims for the region. What should America and its allies expect now...

Negative feedback: reversing carbon emissions

03 Jan 2020

Contributed by Lukas

It is increasingly clear that putting less carbon dioxide in the atmosphere will not be enough to combat climate change; we take a look at the effort ...

Made (entirely) in China: a tech behemoth rises

02 Jan 2020

Contributed by Lukas

No longer content just to assemble devices, Chinese firms want to design them and the infrastructure around them—and in some sectors they look set t...

Lifesaver: meet a death-row detective

24 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Death sentences are occasionally overturned in America; we meet a private detective responsible for saving many of those lives. We scour our foreign d...

Lying in states: fibbing politicians

23 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Lies and politics have always come as a pair, but the untruths keep getting bigger and more frequent; our correspondent digs into why. We speak with a...

Old China hands: ageing in the Middle Kingdom

20 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Next year, China’s median age will surpass America’s, but with just a quarter the median income; the government is nervous that China will get old...

Exclusionary rule: India’s citizenship law

19 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

The Hindu nationalist government’s latest move pointedly excludes Muslims from immigration reform. Protesters reckon that is an attack on the countr...

Marching orders: impeachment around the world

18 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

America’s impeachment battle falls along unhelpfully partisan lines—but the process has other shortcomings. We take some lessons from how the rest...

Majority rules: Britain’s new Parliament sits

17 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Now that the prime minister has a thumping parliamentary majority, Brexit is assured—but on what terms? And what other legislative shake-ups are in ...

COP out: the UN climate talks

16 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Again, the annual COP conference ran long and ended with disappointment. Why can’t countries agree on what so clearly must be done? One big contribu...

Bolt from the blue: Britain’s Conservatives triumph

13 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

A thumping win for Boris Johnson’s Tory party is more complex than it seems; the returns cast a light on changes bubbling under the surface of the c...