The Economist - World News, Politics, Economics, Business & Finance

The Economist today

News analysis
China

Changes to China’s hukou system are creating new divides

The rich find it easier to move to big cities; the poor are being pushed towards small ones

Related

China’s discriminatory hukou system plagues white-collar workers, too

Middle East & Africa

What next for Mali?

Mutinous soldiers have toppled the president. They may have more trouble dealing with protesters and jihadists

Highlights
United States

Drilling in Alaska’s national wildlife refuge makes no sense

Environmentally or economically

Business

Rimac is making a big name for itself in battery-powered transport

The small Croatian firm’s low volumes belie its ambitions

From our columnists
Finance & economics

Buttonwood: Bubble-hunting has become more art than science

With the usual gauges of frothiness out of action, behavioural signals are all investors have

Daily chart

The world is losing its big old trees

Even if some new forests are growing, the remaining canopies are becoming shorter—and so less able to absorb carbon

Moreover
Asia

Urban Laotians pay handsomely for ant-egg soup

But will young people retain a taste for this nutritious tradition?

The Economist’s coverage of the coronavirus

Read now

Weekly edition

Xi’s new economy. Don’t underestimate it

August 15th 2020
Read full edition

Readers’ favourites

International

The covid-19 pandemic will be over by the end of 2021, says Bill Gates

International

America musters the world’s biggest naval exercise

Business

Big Tech is the new dividend royalty

Graphic detail

How America’s electoral college favours white voters

A ballot cast in New Hampshire is 100,000 times likelier to tip the result than one in Washington, DC

Podcasts

Sound reasoning on current affairs, business and finance, science and technology, and global issues.

Listen now

In context: Kamala Harris

United States

Why Kamala Harris was a good choice for Joe Biden

Groundbreaking and predictable, just the ticket

Podcasts

Why Joe Biden picked Kamala Harris

Our weekly podcast on democracy in America

Leaders

What Kamala says about Joe

United States

Meet Kamala Harris

Special report: The Midwest

A region with outsized punch

America’s Midwest matters out of proportion to its size, says Adam Roberts

The urban prairie

For the region to prosper, its bigger cities must flourish

Separate, downtrodden

The region has particular problems with segregation and policing

America’s Mittelstand

Advanced manufacturing can thrive, as Grand Rapids shows

From rustbelt to brainbelt

How higher education can drive prosperity

Read full report

Economist Films

Authoritative insight on news, politics, business, finance, science, technology and the connections between them.

Watch now

The world at your fingertips.

Subscribe for unlimited access to world-leading reporting and analysis.

Subscriber-only benefits

  • Full access to all Economist digital products
  • Read and listen offline on iOS and Android
  • Subscribers-only daily briefing newsletter
  • The weekly edition, in print, digital and audio
View subscription options