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  1. Satirical cartoon of Elon Musk as a gluttonous king. Fabio Moderno
    0

    SpaceX Is the New East India Company

    Alessio Terzi & Stefano Marcuzzi

    Although SpaceX is not about to rule over foreign subjects, as the chartered companies founded in the early modern era did, it, too, is operating beyond the reach of any sovereign. And like its predecessors, it has already accumulated immense powers that governments will struggle to reclaim.

    consider lessons from the three-century era when corporate monopolies operated beyond the reach of sovereigns.

    Further reading

  10. Illustration of person using AI to craft language. Moor Studio/Getty Images
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    Using AI to Test Policy Language

    Monica de Bolle

    Markets respond not only to policy announcements but also to who makes them and how they are framed. As a set of experiments with Claude suggests, the right message, delivered at the right moment by officials with the authority to follow through, can influence market behavior and political outcomes as much as the policy itself.

    shows how the technology can enable governments to frame their policies better.

    Further reading

  11. Image for <em>PS Quarterly: The Declaration Heard Round the World</em> is almost here.

    PS Quarterly: The Declaration Heard Round the World is almost here.

    In this issue of PS Quarterly—available exclusively to Premium subscribers—Danielle Allen, Sarah M.S. Pearsall, Steve Pincus, and other leading thinkers examine the impact, limitations, and legacy of America’s founding document, and consider where US democracy is headed 250 years later.

    Subscribe to PS Premium now

  1. The Key Forces Now Shaping Markets and Geopolitics

    Ian Bremmer thinks the next few years will be defined by unrestrained AI development and heightened global tail risks.

  2. The Living Ghosts of Violent Radicalism

    Ian Buruma sees in the last gasp of far-left militant movements a partial explanation for the far right’s rise.

  3. Europe’s Competitiveness Bogeyman

    Daniel Gros argues that surging Chinese exports are not the reason why EU industry is struggling.

  4. Pete Hegseth’s Dangerous Call to Arms in Asia

    Thitinan Pongsudhirak lambasts the US defense secretary for pushing a muddled proposal that risks undermining regional peace.
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Latest

  1. Labourers work on the construction of a railway bridge spanning the Ganges River in Prayagraj, India, on December 10, 2024. Workers are positioned on the bridge structure and surrounding construction site as the large infrastructure project progresses across the river. Sanjay Kanojia/AFP via&nbsp;Getty Images

    The Future of Development Finance Is Not Primarily About Money

    Jun 9, 2026 Tanu M. Goyal & Shekhar Aiyar use India’s experience to show that multilateral lenders should focus on knowledge and technology transfers.

  2. French President Emmanuel Macron greets Nigerian President Bola Tinubu during an official state visit meeting in Paris, France. Antoine Gyori/Corbis/Corbis via&nbsp;Getty Images

    Nigeria’s Perilous French Gambit

    Jun 8, 2026 Adekeye Adebajo warns that the country’s embrace of a neocolonial order could leave it weaker, poorer, and isolated.

  3. Silhouetted high-rise buildings under construction in Mexico City at sunset, with cranes and unfinished towers set against an orange and fading blue sky, forming a dense urban skyline that reflects ongoing development. Guillermo Arias/AFP via&nbsp;Getty Images

    Autocracy Is Fueling Mexico’s Fiscal Deterioration

    Jun 8, 2026 Guillermo Ortiz sees a direct link between the Morena party’s efforts to consolidate power and recent ratings downgrades.

  4. A gas station price sign at a Shell station in Los Angeles, California, displays gasoline prices above $6 per gallon. The image illustrates rising fuel costs amid ongoing Middle East tensions and shipping disruptions in the Gulf of Hormuz. The photo was taken on May 4, 2026, as the national average gas price reached $4.45 per gallon and California prices exceeded $6 per gallon. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

    The Trump Economy Is Bad News for Republicans

    Jun 8, 2026 Desmond Lachman sees all the metrics that matter most to ordinary Americans deteriorating ahead of the midterm election.

  5. Satirical cartoon of Elon Musk as a gluttonous king. Fabio Moderno

    SpaceX Is the New East India Company

    Jun 8, 2026 Alessio Terzi & Stefano Marcuzzi consider lessons from the three-century era when corporate monopolies operated beyond the reach of sovereigns.

Trending

  1. The Mismeasurement of Europe’s Productivity

    May 29, 2026 Philippe Aghion, et al. rebut the Nobel laureate economist Paul Krugman's recent claim that the gap with the US is a statistical mirage.

  2. The Pope Should Have Gone Further on AI

    May 28, 2026 Daron Acemoglu identifies the flawed and dangerous assumptions about AI that are guiding the technology’s design.

  3. The Tech-MAGA Breakup Is Coming

    May 29, 2026 Stephen Holmes thinks the deepest fissure opening up in Donald Trump’s political base runs through the US electrical grid.

  4. When Markets Run on Empty

    Jun 5, 2026 Mohamed A. El-Erian warns that the willingness to keep spending will eventually outpace the ability to do so.

  5. AI and Its Discontents

    May 26, 2026 PS Commentators see reasons to doubt market expectations of big productivity gains and even bigger profits.

OnPoint is our suite of subscriber-exclusive content. Get long-read commentaries, thematic deep dives, interviews with world leaders, and much more. Learn more.  

  1. Illustration of person using AI to craft language. Moor Studio/Getty Images
    0

    Using AI to Test Policy Language

    Monica de Bolle

    Markets respond not only to policy announcements but also to who makes them and how they are framed. As a set of experiments with Claude suggests, the right message, delivered at the right moment by officials with the authority to follow through, can influence market behavior and political outcomes as much as the policy itself.

    shows how the technology can enable governments to frame their policies better.
  2. Illustration of hands manipulating direction of an arrow. ismagilov/Getty Images
    10

    The Mismeasurement of Europe’s Productivity

    Philippe Aghion, et al.

    The recent claim by a leading economist that the productivity gap between Europe and the US is a statistical mirage is demonstrably wrong. It is also dangerous to the extent that it lends support to those who claim that no major change in European growth and innovation policy is required.

    rebut the Nobel laureate economist Paul Krugman's recent claim that the gap with the US is a statistical mirage.
  3. Illustration of hand holding coins with floating question marks. Cristina Gaidau/Getty Images
    4

    Keynes, Minsky, and the Economics of Uncertainty

    William H. Janeway

    Since the 2008 global financial crisis, mainstream economics has devoted more attention to how a complex financial system interacts with an equally complex real economy. Current macroeconomic and financial conditions show why this shift in focus is necessary.

    considers what two of the 20th century's most original economic thinkers can tell us about the current moment.
  4. Chinese President Xi Jinping inspects People’s Liberation Army troops during the 2015 Victory Day military parade in Beijing, demonstrating military strength and centralized state authority. Xinhua Liu Chan/Getty Images
    4

    Was Xi Jinping Inevitable?

    Steve Tsang asks why decades of rapid economic growth ended up pushing China back toward totalitarianism.
  5. German Army Leopard 2A6 main battle tank firing during a Bundeswehr capability demonstration on May 4, 2026 near Munster, Germany, observed by German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius, highlighting Germany’s military modernization and expansion efforts. Morris MacMatzen/Getty Images
    2

    The Missing Linchpin of European Hard Power

    Ana Palacio warns that the EU lacks the authority to decide how its growing defense capabilities are to be used.
  6. A woman places a flower at a monument in memory of Zumbi dos Palmares, a leader of resistance against slavery in Brazil, during Black Awareness Day celebrations in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on November 20, 2017. Leo Correa/AFP via Getty Images
    0

    How Slaves’ Resistance Secured Liberal Democracy

    Jake Subryan Richards reflects on how the struggle against slavery in the Americas produced new visions of freedom and collective life.

Broad historical developments, together with recent policy changes, are reshuffling the economic and financial deck, injecting uncertainty into many markets, and putting a premium on economic security. The result will be new winners and losers within households, communities, professions, industries, markets, and regions – and across the global economy.

Learn more
Image for Winners & Losers

Opinion that Moves

  1. Desmond Lachman The Trump Economy Is Bad News for Republicans
  2. Alessio Terzi, et al. SpaceX Is the New East India Company
  3. Philippe Legrain The ECB Should Not Raise Interest Rates Yet
  4. Mohamed A. El-Erian When Markets Run on Empty

  1. Adekeye Adebajo Nigeria’s Perilous French Gambit
  2. Guillermo Ortiz Autocracy Is Fueling Mexico’s Fiscal Deterioration
  3. Ian Buruma The Living Ghosts of Violent Radicalism
  4. Thitinan Pongsudhirak Pete Hegseth’s Dangerous Call to Arms in Asia

  1. Tanu M. Goyal, et al. The Future of Development Finance Is Not Primarily About Money
  2. Stephen Holmes Putting American Science on a MAGA Leash
  3. M. Niaz Asadullah, et al. How Measles Came Roaring Back
  4. Christina Sarah Hauser, et al. How to Encourage Deceased Organ Donation

  1. Paula Carvalho Pereda The Right Incentives for Climate Action
  2. Saliem Fakir The Economic Path to Climate Justice
  3. Giulio Boccaletti Can the Climate Crisis Unite Europe?
  4. Bruno Bouygues, et al. Sustainable Economies Will Own the Future

  1. Antara Haldar The Pope and the AI Profiteers
  2. Gabriela Ramos, et al. Digital Sovereignty Is in the Fine Print
  3. Samuel W. Ugwumba, et al. The Promise and Limits of African Data Sovereignty
  4. Stephen Holmes The Tech-MAGA Breakup Is Coming

  1. Michael R. Strain AI Must Not Encroach on Human Dignity
  2. Peter Singer The Pope’s AI Vision and Its Limits
  3. Anne-Marie Slaughter, et al. The Intelligence That AI Is Missing
  4. Ruth Khasaya Oniang'o, et al. Taking Women Farmers Seriously

Africa’s economic rise is a world-changing development, but the sources of its emerging strength – and lingering weaknesses – are little understood. W…

  1. Adekeye Adebajo Nigeria’s Perilous French Gambit
  2. Moussa Faki Mahamat The Iran War Is Fueling a Global Debt Shock
  3. Samuel W. Ugwumba, et al. The Promise and Limits of African Data Sovereignty

Today’s media landscape is littered with landmines: open hostility from illiberal and autocratic regimes, mounting censorship in countries such as Hungary, Turkey,…

  1. Amy Brouillette Media Capture Failed in Hungary-and America Could Be Next
  2. Frederik Obermaier, et al. The Deafening Silence on Offshore Wealth
  3. Anya Schiffrin, et al. Europe Must Make AI Firms Pay for Training Data

A selection of insightful commentaries written by female contributors on issues affecting women and girls.

  1. Ruth Khasaya Oniang'o, et al. Taking Women Farmers Seriously
  2. Eleni Yitbarek , et al. Why Gender Inequality Still Haunts the Economy
  3. Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga, et al. The Next UN Secretary-General Must Be a Woman