Free exchange
Our economics column offers rigorous analysis, insights into global trends and policy debates
Finance & economics
Why Black Friday sales grow more annoying every year
Nobody is to blame. Everyone suffers
Finance & economics
What Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders get wrong about credit cards
Forget interest rates. Rewards are the real problem
Finance & economics
Economists need new indicators of economic misery
Existing measures of discomfort are failing to predict elections
Finance & economics
Big Macs, strawberry jam and the wealth of nations
Alan Heston, a pioneer in comparing economies, died on October 25th
Finance & economics
Greenland faces one of history’s great resource rushes—and curses
The territory sits on an astounding number of critical minerals
Finance & economics
An economics Nobel for work on why nations succeed and fail
Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson and James Robinson tackled the most important question of all
Finance & economics
Can the world’s most influential business index be fixed?
Two cheers for the World Bank’s new global business survey
Finance & economics
Why economic warfare nearly always misses its target
There is no such thing as a strategic commodity
Finance & economics
Why the Federal Reserve is split on the future of interest rates
Jerome Powell began with a big cut. What comes next?
Finance & economics
What the history of money tells you about crypto’s future
The thread from shipwrecks and sheep flocks to digital currencies
Finance & economics
An American sovereign-wealth fund is a risky idea
Donald Trump’s latest proposal has worryingly broad support
Finance & economics
Why Oasis fans should welcome price-gouging
There are worse things in life than paying a fair price
Finance & economics
Vast government debts are riskier than they appear
A provocative new paper gets central bankers talking at Jackson Hole
Finance & economics
Artificial intelligence is losing hype
For some, that is proof the tech will in time succeed. Are they right?
