Leaders | After the chaos

A new macroeconomic era is emerging. What will it look like?

A great rebalancing between governments and central banks is under way

For months there has been turmoil in financial markets and growing evidence of stress in the world economy. You might think that these are just the normal signs of a bear market and a coming recession. But, as our special report this week lays out, they also mark the painful emergence of a new regime in the world economy—a shift that may be as consequential as the rise of Keynesianism after the second world war, and the pivot to free markets and globalisation in the 1990s. This new era holds the promise that the rich world might escape the low-growth trap of the 2010s and tackle big problems such as ageing and climate change. But it also brings acute dangers, from financial chaos to broken central banks and out-of-control public spending.

This article appeared in the Leaders section of the print edition under the headline “What next?”

What next? A special report on the world economy

From the October 8th 2022 edition

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