Globalisation

Review: The hollow promise of ending GDP worship

3 Feb 2017

Switching from the touchstone of economics to broader measures of value would be more truthful and could make the world a fairer place, Lorenzo Fioramonti argues. But his optimistic vision overlooks the inevitability of growth and integration – and humans' competitive drive.

Trump can teach May about the art of the deal

25 Jan 2017

A trade pact between the UK and the United States could be helpful to both. The faster it comes, the less comprehensive it would be. Yet what an accord between the two leaders might lack in scope would be made up for by the creation of a clear loser: Europe.

Review: A prophet for the age of endarkenment

18 Nov 2016

John Gray foresaw the Trump era. "Enlightenment's Wake", published in 1995, predicted that grand ideas would be replaced by ethnic and religious conflict, authoritarian regimes and great power rivalries. Still, the newly-relevant book offers some hope for despairing liberals.

A divided town in a divided Britain

7 Nov 2016

Life is getting better, by many measures, in Hull. Yet the northern British city voted overwhelmingly to leave Europe, and its citizens aren’t sorry they did. Brexit is often seen as a conflict between progress and disenfranchisement, but it isn’t. One town can have both.

Hadas: The left behind can’t blame globalisation

31 Oct 2016

Has the rise of cheap labour in poor countries harmed unskilled workers in rich lands? Sure, but it’s a new twist of an old story - technological unemployment. Even though the problems are fairly easy to solve, governments continue to fail many of the latest losers.

Globalisation needs better cheerleaders

13 Sep 2016

Free trade and capital flows are often blamed for disadvantaging workers in the West. A new study suggests they have not all fared as poorly as many believe, and that domestic policies can make a difference. Still, statistics and studies alone won’t shake globalisation’s bad rap.