The world in a glance.

The counterintuitive economics of smoking

How cigarette manufacturers profit from quitters

Will America’s new sanctions on Russian oil force a peace deal?

Donald Trump raises the pressure—but he may have to go further

Can AI make the poor world richer?

It promises a level playing field. So have past technologies

Trumponomics is warping the world’s copper markets

It may not end well

Why are American women leaving the labour force?

Maybe they are becoming tradwives. Or maybe there is a more straightforward explanation

The world economy shrugs off both the trade war and AI fears

Can anything bring it down?

Indian microfinance is in trouble

A model that has lifted millions out of poverty is threatened by rising defaults

The new economics of babymaking

A postcard from one of America’s youngest towns

America’s bankers are riding high. Why are they so worried?

Their latest earnings do not represent unalloyed good news

Would inflation-linked bonds survive an inflationary default?

A thought experiment on the nearest thing to a safe asset

The Economist is hiring a Senior Producer

Our Money Talks podcast team is recruiting an experienced producer to help launch a video spin-off

America and China return to fierce trade conflict

Donald Trump threatens an extra 100% levy as rare-earth minerals prompt a fresh spat

Front-line economics: lessons from Russia’s neighbours

How to survive on the border of war

Narendra Modi’s paltry target for India’s growth

The prime minister wants a $10trn economy by 2047. He should be bolder

The most dangerous corner of a balance-sheet

Forget debt. Here is something to villainise

Why Donald Trump’s tariffs are failing to break global trade

Six months on from “Liberation Day”, things look surprisingly rosy

Welcome to Zero Migration America

Closed borders will make the country smaller, poorer and less innovative

Credit markets look increasingly dangerous

A pair of bankruptcies highlight the risks

The AI talent war is becoming fiercer

How other countries hope to challenge America

Will Dubai’s super-hot property market avoid a crash?

Despite fears of a reckoning, its fundamentals look solid

How to spot a genius

In an age of artificial intelligence, the human kind is increasingly important

Russia’s besieged economy is clinging on

The good times have firmly come to an end, but wage growth remains strong

Ukraine faces a $19bn budget black hole

Without funding, the country will be left vulnerable

Meet Donald Trump’s aid agency

Or is it a sovereign-wealth fund in disguise?

Why American bondholders are jumpy about inflation

The Federal Reserve prepares to cut interest rates in tricky circumstances

Chinese trade is thriving despite America’s attacks

The rest of the world is willing to be “ripped off”

China turns crypto-curious

But would the country’s leaders really want stablecoins to succeed?

Gambling or investing? In America, the line is increasingly blurred

Bet on stocks in a prediction market run by a sports-betting firm and a futures exchange

How Trump’s war on the Federal Reserve could do serious damage

Just consider what happens if inflation starts to rise again

The Economist’s finance and economics internship

We invite applications for our Marjorie Deane scheme

Even as China’s economy suffers, stocks soar. What’s going on?

The Shanghai composite is defying gravity

Trump “fires” Lisa Cook, escalating his war on the Federal Reserve

There is little precedent: no Fed governor has been dismissed for cause before

Trump’s interest-rate crusade will be self-defeating

The president’s threats loomed over this year’s Jackson Hole conference

Fear the deficit-populism doom loop

Politicians, particularly in Europe, are in a terrible bind

Trump’s trade victims are shrugging off his attacks

And China is gaining in the process

In praise of complicated investing strategies

To understand markets, forget Occam’s razor

How America’s AI boom is squeezing the rest of the economy

Beware the data-centre takeover

Where has the worst inflation problem?

We update our entrenchment measure

Growth-loving authoritarians are failing on their own terms

In Asia, East Africa and the Gulf leaders now face an unpleasant choice

Ivy League universities are on a debt binge

The borrowers, including Harvard, Princeton and Yale, benefit from a “prestige premium”

Want better returns? Forget risk. Focus on fear

A recent study suggests a new paradigm for asset pricing

America’s fertility crash reaches a new low

Even once-fecund states are having fewer children

Trump will not let the world move on from tariffs

Six charts show the damage to America, its trading partners and its consumers

Uncovering the secret food trade that corrupts Iran’s neighbours

Oil and terrorism are not the country’s only exports

Japan’s dealmaking machine revs up

Private equity is enjoying a renaissance in an unlikely place

Europe averts its Trumpian trade nightmare

A deal with America chooses certain tariffs over risky retaliation

Who’s feeling the pain of Trump’s tariffs?

Foreign companies are sharing the load. For now

What economics can teach foreign-policy types

Hegemons should care about even puny countries

Where will be the Detroit of electric vehicles?

A fierce battle is under way in China

Want higher pay? Stay in your job

America’s cooling labour market is bad news for those who move about