Thinktank says Australia won’t be able to avoid economic disruption if Chinese economy is forced into hard landingAustralia’s federal government must focus on building new free trade agreements and give up the dream of a budget surplus if the country is to withstand the impact of a hard landing by the Chinese economy, according to a new report.The risks to China’s economy are growing – among them the US-China trade war, colossal corporate and household debts, and the mounting political crisis in Hong Kong – placing the leadership in Beijing under increasing pressure to sustain the growth that has propelled it to superpower status in the past three decades.Related: China's yuan hits 11-year low as trade tensions grip marketsRelated: Hong Kong businesses fear protests will push economy into recession Continue reading...

Representatives from 34 women’s organisations call on the new prime minister to use the spending review to demonstrate that he is serious about ending austerityWomen’s organisations welcomed the chancellor’s promise this year that “austerity is coming to an end”. The 2019 spending review is a significant test of what that promise will mean in real terms, particularly for women, who have borne the brunt of austerity policies since 2010. But an end to austerity must mean more than simply an end to budget cuts. After nearly a decade of chronic underfunding, our public services are in crisis. For “just about managing” families, continuing as they are for the next few years certainly won’t feel much like the end of austerity.Women – particularly the poorest women, BAME women and disabled women – suffered most from cuts to public services and social security because they are generally poorer, more likely to use public services, more likely to work in the public sector and more likely to increase unpaid work when services are cut. Women and those on lower incomes need to see a marked improvement in public services and a rise in living standards more generally, if the promise of end to austerity is going to ring true. Our public services and social security system need meaningful investment to actively reverse and repair the damage done since 2010. Spending on social infrastructure, such as health, education, care and specialist women’s services builds the social and human capital that is just as important to future productivity as investment in say, transportation networks. After all, it is not just roads but high-quality childcare and reliable healthcare that enable parents to work. Continue reading...

Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news, as fears of a no-deal Brexit hit the pound

Business leaders voice alarm over economic impact, as sterling falls to six-day lowThe pound has fallen sharply after Boris Johnson announced plans to suspend parliament for five weeks before the Brexit deadline, raising the chances of a no-deal exit from the EU.Sterling was under sustained selling pressure on Wednesday morning, falling by more than a cent against the US dollar to trade below $1.22, and by almost as much against the euro, to €1.0964.Actively pursuing a no-deal Brexit … is tantamount to actively pursuing a recession Continue reading...

Britain will be hunting for trade deals at the worst possible time, says ex-Bank economist

Competition to sell mortgages is strong, but vendors are in no mood to cut and runThese are tough times to be an estate agent. A period of rocketing prices in the middle of the decade has made residential property expensive. Buyers are unable or unwilling to pay the prices demanded by sellers and with unemployment low sellers feel in no need to adjust their expectations downwards.The result is a flat market with next to no house price inflation. Or so it seemed before the release of the latest UK Finance figures for mortgage lending, which showed approvals at a 28-month high. Boom times are back for the housing market. Continue reading...

Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news

In the final part of a series on the prospects for a downturn, the Guardian speaks to a construction firm owner in south London

The fund’s loan agreement with Ecuador will worsen unemployment and povertyWhen people think of the damage that wealthy countries – typically led by the US and its allies – cause to people in the rest of the world, they probably think of warfare. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis died from the 2003 invasion, and then many more as the region became inflamed.Related: Brexit: EU ‘would block trade deal if Britain reneged on bill’Related: White House insists Trump not having second thoughts on China trade warMark Weisbrot is the co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington and the president of Just Foreign Policy. He is also the author of Failed: What the ‘Experts’ Got Wrong About the Global Economy Continue reading...

Trump expressed his optimism about China hours after he sent mixed messages on the tariff warDonald Trump, facing pressure to scale back a US-China trade war contributing to a global economic slowdown, claimed Monday that serious talks will begin soon.Trump said his trade negotiators had received two “very good calls” from China on Sunday. But a spokesman for China’s foreign ministry said on Monday that he didn’t know what calls Trump was talking about. Continue reading...

When I was growing up, Gigg Lane glowed with local charm. Now the club’s plight may be prophetic for a neglected regionThe threatened expulsion of small town Bury from the English Football League – which could happen if the owner, Steve Dale, does not conclude a sale of the club by 5pm on Tuesday – has been a touch more emotional for me than many of the football traumas I have investigated as a journalist over the past 20 years. I grew up in north Manchester, five miles down the road, and went to school in Bury. Twice a day I used to pass the club’s Gigg Lane ground and wonder at it from the top of the 35 bus: a proper football home, bedded in with all its history behind a pleasing line of trees.In these crisis-stricken months for Bury, a club founded in 1885, many people have rightly pointed with bewilderment to English football’s violent inequalities; to Manchester City and United 10 miles away, owned by overseas billionaires, making multimillionaires of their players and managers. Supporters have despaired at the gaping holes in football’s governance, its painfully limited “fit and proper persons test” for owners, so long campaigned for but that still fails to protect beloved clubs from needless ruination.Since the coalition government formed in 2010, Bury council has suffered cuts of £85m, 61% of its annual budgetRelated: Bury’s fate is a parable for the state of modern football | Anthony Clavane Continue reading...

Investors seek safe havens such as US treasuries and gold as US-China standoff continuesThe yuan has fallen to its lowest level in 11 years as the US-China trade war continued to grip markets.The Chinese currency sunk below to 7.1500 a dollar, the lowest rate since February 2008, on Monday after Washington and Beijing confirmed further tit-for-tat tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars worth of imports.Related: Is a global recession coming? Here are seven warning signsRelated: Here are the reasons for Trump's economic war with China Continue reading...

Tweaking inflation targets is not an adequate response to the challenges facing major economiesThe world’s central bankers and the scholars who follow them are having their annual moment of reflection in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. But the theme of this year’s meeting, “challenges for monetary policy”, may encourage an insular – and dangerous – complacency.Simply put, tweaking inflation targets, communications strategies, or even balance sheets is not an adequate response to the challenges now confronting the major economies. Rather, 10 years of below-target inflation throughout the developed world, with 30 more expected by the market, and the utter failure of the Bank of Japan’s extensive efforts to raise inflation suggest that what was previously treated as axiomatic is in fact false: central banks cannot always set inflation rates through monetary policy. Continue reading...

Donald Trump has admitted he may rethink his deepening trade war with China after criticism from fellow world leaders at the G7 summit in Biarritz. Asked at a working breakfast with Boris Johnson if he had had second thoughts about the standoff, the president replied: 'Yeah, sure. Why not? … I have second thoughts about everything'

In the first part of a series assessing warning signs of economic downturn, the Guardian visits a hotel in Scotland

The US-China trade war, jitters in Germany and Brexit uncertainty point to a slump

The G7 thought it had solved Africa’s problems, but rising child poverty is a ticking time bombTime was when Africa dominated gatherings of the G7. In the period between two summits held in the UK – Birmingham in 1998 and Gleneagles in 2005 – the talk was of little else. There was public activism and it led to political action.In part, that was because the big developed countries were enjoying a spell of low-inflationary growth and could look beyond their own problems to see a bigger picture. There was the occasional financial panic, but the G7 thought the problems of economic management had largely been solved and all that was needed was a bit of tinkering by technocratic central bankers.Related: The Observer view on Syria and the west’s shameful failure to act | Observer editorialRelated: 'I fear for the children': the families battling to beat the odds in Kibera – photo essay Continue reading...

Philip Lowe speaking at meeting of central bank chiefs in US says political turbulence is prompting economic jittersWith the trade war between the United States and China spiralling, and world leaders gathering in France for the G7 summit, Australia’s central bank governor Philip Lowe has issued a stark warning that there is only limited capacity to protect the global economy from “a period of major political shocks”.Lowe used a contribution at the closing session of a retreat for central bankers in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, to argue that political shocks, like the trade dispute which imperils global growth, the turbulence created by Brexit, and protests in Hong Kong, were “turning into economic shocks”.Related: Tim Wilson challenges Reserve Bank to justify effectiveness of interest rate cutsRelated: The no-growth future: has Australia’s economy finally run out of luck? Continue reading...

Economists have long said bank holidays are bad for the economy. But perhaps the opposite is trueAt the memorial service given for Denis Compton in 1997, the great England cricketer’s former county captain delivered a eulogy. In it, JJ Warr regaled the Westminster Abbey congregation with tales of sporting derring-do, but also talked about the off-field work ethic of his old friend during the introduction of the three-day week in 1974. Warr recalled asking Compton what he thought of Ted Heath’s new regime, when the batsman supposedly replied: “I am not going to work an extra day for anybody.”The tale is an obvious favourite among Lord’s members during those brief passages of play when consciousness calls. But what is rarely discussed is how the anecdote suggests there was an extra talent in Compton’s locker, aside from the colossal sporting gifts that brought him a Test batting average of 50, league and FA Cup winners’ medals with Arsenal, and a putative world record for running out teammates. Compton, it seems, may also have been ahead of his time as a right-on, left-leaning economist.It looks as though the demand side accounts for up to half of the collapse in productivity growth we've seen Continue reading...

The health of the nation depends on not acquiescing in the folly of no deal, however tempting it may be to retreatI have a message for the many people I encounter who have given up reading anything about Brexit: I feel your pain! I sympathise with those who say: “I am fed up; why don’t they just get on with it?” Unfortunately, they could not be more mistaken.“Getting on with it” would be – well, allow me to quote a recent leading article in my journalistic alma mater, the normally restrained Financial Times. A fortnight ago, the FT warned: “The UK is careering towards the precipice, with dire implications for its economy, security, and the union of nations it comprises. It is now parliament’s duty to prevent the British government from visiting a calamity on its own country on October 31.”I wonder whether Merkel was reflecting that there might be a need for another Berlin airlift – but this time from Berlin to London? Continue reading...

University College London report warns of significant legal, economic and social disruptionA no-deal Brexit would seriously disrupt the free flow of commercially valuable data between Europe and the UK, leaving companies across the finance, hospitality, manufacturing and technology sectors facing “immense” extra costs, according to a new study by University College London.The report, to be published this week, says potential problems post-Brexit with data transfers have received “minimal attention” in the debate over the UK’s exit from the EU, but could turn out to be as serious to the economy as more visible issues relating to cross-border trade. Continue reading...

UK prime minister says two countries risk being blamed for global economic downturn

President ‘hereby orders’ US firms to seek alternative locations and suggests Fed Chair is an ‘enemy’Donald Trump escalated his attacks on China on Friday, bumping up tariffs on Chinese imports and ordering US companies to leave China.Trump’s announcements on Friday – all on Twitter – came after the president launched another blistering criticism of the Federal Reserve chairman, Jerome Powell, asking: “Who is our bigger enemy, Jay Powell or [China’s] Chairman Xi?”Our Country has lost, stupidly, Trillions of Dollars with China over many years. They have stolen our Intellectual Property at a rate of Hundreds of Billions of Dollars a year, & they want to continue. I won’t let that happen! We don’t need China and, frankly, would be far........your companies HOME and making your products in the USA. I will be responding to China’s Tariffs this afternoon. This is a GREAT opportunity for the United States. Also, I am ordering all carriers, including Fed Ex, Amazon, UPS and the Post Office, to SEARCH FOR & REFUSE,....Related: Can the Fed's chair shake off the wolves of Wall Street and White House?As usual, the Fed did NOTHING! It is incredible that they can “speak” without knowing or asking what I am doing, which will be announced shortly. We have a very strong dollar and a very weak Fed. I will work “brilliantly” with both, and the U.S. will do great... Continue reading...

PM recommends former chancellor in phone call to Donald Trump

On Friday the US president ‘hereby ordered’ companies to halt business with China, among other attacks – how did we get here?

Rolling coverage of economics, business and markets as the US president retaliates against China after Beijing unveiled fresh tariffs on American goods

Move puts additional 5% and 10% on imports in latest tit-for-tat between top two economiesChina has unveiled retaliatory tariffs against about $75bn (£60bn) worth of US goods, putting up to 10% on top of existing rates in the latest tit-for-tat in the dispute between the world’s top two economies.The salvo from China on Friday comes after the US unveiled tariffs on an additional $300bn of Chinese goods, including consumer electronics, scheduled to go into effect in two stages on 1 September and 15 December.US President Donald Trump Trump has often repeated that China pays for US tariffs on its goods. 'We have billions of dollars coming into our treasury from China. We never had 10 cents coming into our treasury; now we have billions coming in' he said on 24 January 2019. On 5 May he tweeted: 'For 10 months, China has been paying Tariffs to the USA.' Continue reading...

Unlike in 2008, we now face the consequences of three potential negative supply shocksThere are three negative supply shocks that could trigger a global recession by 2020. All of them reflect political factors affecting international relations, two involve China, and the United States is at the centre of each. Moreover, none of them is amenable to the traditional tools of countercyclical macroeconomic policy.The first potential shock stems from the Sino-American trade and currency war, which escalated this month when Donald Trump’s administration threatened additional tariffs on Chinese exports, and formally labelled China a currency manipulator.It is easy to imagine how today’s situation could lead to a full-scale implosion of the open global trading system Continue reading...

Amid mass demonstrations and a trade war, financial observers say the city’s slowdown could deepenHong Kong is a free marketer’s dream. The tiny island has a GDP bigger than many industrialised countries, low tax and abundant cheap labour, and is a world-class financial centre boasting a stock market with a total value of more than £2.5tn.No wonder then that the city’s most powerful vested interests are showing signs of nerves after 11 weeks of street protests that have paralysed the city, prompting its biggest political crisis since the handover to China in 1997 and threatening to push it into recession. Even worse, some observers believe the standoff could destroy Hong Kong’s cherished entrepot status and send it on a journey of no return into China’s orbit.Related: China's state media accuses worker at UK consulate 'of visiting prostitutes'The bigger concern is more to do with Hong Kong’s image as a stable business environment" Continue reading...

Trump may howl for stimulus but the put-upon Federal Reserve chief Jerome Powell has his hands tiedDonald Trump is not known for his love of 12th-century English history but there are echoes of the clash between Henry II and Thomas Becket in the president’s troubled relationship with Jerome Powell, the chair of the Federal Reserve.If Powell feels beleaguered as he prepares to make the most important speech in his 18 months in the job, on Friday, then that’s hardly surprising. The world’s most powerful banker has Wall Street and the White House on his back, both howling for more stimulus.Related: Trump raises pressure on Federal Reserve to cut interest rates Continue reading...

In terms of community needs, pubs, corner shops and libraries are as important as theatres and art galleries, writes Colin TweedyAditya Chakrabortty (The blackouts summed up a crisis of our public spaces, 14 August) vividly describes a crisis that is pervading the social fabric that holds people together. The loss of public parks, libraries, pubs, and the hollowing out of our town and village centres, is destroying the communities that politicians of all colours want to support. Chakrabortty calls for the setting up of a social infrastructure commission to audit what we have and help protect what we are losing. I could not agree more that such a commission is a vital first step.For 28 years I ran the charity Arts & Business, which advocated private funding for the nation’s culture. I grew to realise that often the arts are imposed on communities in a top-down (albeit well-meaning) way that fails to address the real social needs of the community. Pubs, corner shops and libraries are as important as theatres and art galleries – it must not be an either/or. I now run the Built Environment Trust and its home, the Building Centre. Here we have observed the rapid erosion of the physical fabric, both public and private, of our built communities, playgrounds, shops, cinemas, playing fields, even park benches. Continue reading...

Disappointing data from US, UK and Germany raises concerns over the global economy

Our economic health is much more subject to conniptions in China and the US than before the GFCAustralia’s economy has long been linked with that of the United States. While we are now much more dependent upon China, the increasing heated trade war between those two nations is a great danger to not only our economy growth, but also the projections for budget surpluses so desired by the Morrison government.On 2 March last year, Donald Trump, perhaps fresh off of watching yet another 10 hours of Fox News, decided to take to Twitter to share with us his economic wisdom.When a country (USA) is losing many billions of dollars on trade with virtually every country it does business with, trade wars are good, and easy to win. Example, when we are down $100 billion with a certain country and they get cute, don’t trade anymore-we win big. It’s easy!Related: Trump adds a dismal dimension to the US-China trade dispute | Jeffrey Frankel Continue reading...

Debt held by public is expected to reach 95% of GDP in next 10 years, the highest level since just after the second world warUS federal debt will top $1tn next year even as Donald Trump explores tax cuts and other giveaways that are only likely to increase the deficit.According to figures released by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) on Wednesday the US national debt is growing faster than expected and will reach $960bn for the 2019 fiscal year, which ends 30 September, and $1tn for the 2020 fiscal year.Obama is the most profligate deficit & debt spender in our nation’s history. Doubled debt (cont) http://t.co/O4hKAX2iUm Continue reading...

President launches new attack on Jerome Powell, the man he picked to run US central bankDonald Trump has stepped up the pressure on the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates with his most personal attack yet on Jerome Powell, the man he handpicked to run the US central bank.Ahead of a crucial speech by Powell in Jackson Hole on Friday, the US president compared the Fed chairman to a golfer who was unable to putt and said he had let the country down.Doing great with China and other Trade Deals. The only problem we have is Jay Powell and the Fed. He’s like a golfer who can’t putt, has no touch. Big U.S. growth if he does the right thing, BIG CUT - but don’t count on him! So far he has called it wrong, and only let us down.........We are competing with many countries that have a far lower interest rate, and we should be lower than them. Yesterday, “highest Dollar in U.S.History.” No inflation. Wake up Federal Reserve. Such growth potential, almost like never before!So Germany is paying Zero interest and is actually being paid to borrow money, while the U.S., a far stronger and more important credit, is paying interest and just stopped (I hope!) Quantitative Tightening. Strongest Dollar in History, very tough on exports. No Inflation!.........WHERE IS THE FEDERAL RESERVE? Continue reading...

UK borrowing is rising faster than expected this year, as government spending outpaces income

Changes in capitalism’s structure have moved faster than the policies required to domesticate them, and liberal democratic governments are scrambling to catch upIs contemporary capitalism compatible with liberal democracy? The glib answer, though not wrong, is that it had better be. There are no known examples of fully socialized economies with a liberal democratic regime. The more considered answer is that it can be, but only with the public policies that make it so.The relationship between liberal democracy and capitalism changes over time, as do the policies needed to make them mutually supportive. Not for the first time, changes in the structure of capitalism have lately moved faster than the policies required to domesticate them. Liberal democratic governments are scrambling to catch up.Completing secondary education and receiving at least some post-secondary training is now economically essential. To make this necessity a reality, public policy will have to do more—from pre-school to college--to break the link between family background and educational attainment.Public policy should do more to resist growing regional disparities. Traditional regional subsidies are the equivalent of blood transfusions, keeping patients alive without restoring them to health. Instead, governments should ensure that all regions have the building blocks of economic growth—education, transportation, finance, information, and infrastructure.In most advanced societies, economic concentration is increasing, limiting competition, innovation, and entrepreneurial opportunities. Europe has taken the lead in resisting these negative trends, and other market economies should follow suit. Consumer prices are no longer an adequate guide to anti-trust policies, if they ever were.Wages for lower-skilled occupations in advanced economies will be limited by wages for these jobs in less-developed societies. Higher productivity helps, but not enough. Public policy must step in, with higher minimum wages, increased wage subsidies, and universal opportunities for workers to share in rising business productivity and profits.The excesses of globalization must also be reined in. Capital mobility should be limited when it imposes intolerable costs on jobs, wages, and social stability in advanced economies. Trade rules should not give advantages to state-controlled economies at the expense of market economies.William Arthur Galston holds the Ezra K Zilkha Chair in Governance Studies and senior fellow at the Brookings Institution

Climate emergency and population growth blamed for deteriorating water quality, with ‘cocktail of chemicals’ changing as countries become richerThe planet is facing a mounting and “invisible” water pollution crisis, according to a hard-hitting World Bank report, which claims the issue is responsible for a one-third reduction in potential economic growth in the most heavily affected areas.The study, which assembled the world’s largest database of water pollution, assesses how a combination of bacteria, sewage, chemicals and plastics suck oxygen from water supplies and transform water into poison for people and ecosystems.Related: ‘Nothing to worry about. The water is fine’: how Flint poisoned its people Continue reading...

Without pass, exporter’s goods could be held up at UK ports and airports after 31 OctoberThe government will allocate customs passes to thousands of businesses over the next two weeks to prevent goods being held up at the UK border in the event of a no-deal Brexit.The chancellor, Sajid Javid, said giving unique customs numbers to 88,000 exporters was part of the Treasury’s £2.1bn of extra no-deal preparations and would “ease the flow of goods at border points and support businesses to trade and grow”. Continue reading...

President tweets demand for 1% reduction and more QE as markets look to central banks to bolster global economyStock markets have been boosted by the growing prospect of more stimulus measures by central banks and governments across the world as Donald Trump heaped more pressure on the Federal Reserve to slash interest rates.Related: Warning signs for global economy: the countries spooking investors.....The Fed Rate, over a fairly short period of time, should be reduced by at least 100 basis points, with perhaps some quantitative easing as well. If that happened, our Economy would be even better, and the World Economy would be greatly and quickly enhanced-good for everyone! Continue reading...

Despite huge profit, BHP’s Andrew Mackenzie is cautious on global outlookThe rise of nationalism and governments that interfere in markets pose a threat to the global economic system, the boss of BHP, the world’s biggest mining company, has warned.Despite announcing a 124% rise in profits to $US8.31bn (£6.84bn), helped by booming iron ore sales to China, Andrew Mackenzie said on Tuesday that there were “a number of things abroad” that were causing concern for the Anglo-Australian behemoth.Related: BHP faces fresh calls to quit Minerals Council ahead of pro-coal ad blitzRelated: G7 leaders need some clear-the-air talks rather than fake smiles | Larry Elliott Continue reading...

The move is in response to a Trump rule stating that groups receiving Title X funding could no longer provide abortion counseling

Bundesbank says summer’s slump in exports is expected to continue into the autumnGermany’s economy is heading into recession after the country’s central bank warned that a slump in exports during the summer was likely to continue into the autumn.The Bundesbank said a downturn in orders for cars and industrial equipment in the second quarter of the year was likely to continue in the third quarter, leaving the economy on the brink of a technical recession, defined as two consecutive quarters of negative GDP growth.Related: Warning signs for global economy: the countries spooking investors Continue reading...

The US roundtablers’ pledge is woolly. So it’s baby steps for now to stop Capitol Hill forcing more drastic changesMilton Friedman will be spinning in his grave at the heresy perpetrated by the US Business Roundtable. For the thick end of five decades US capitalism has been run along Friedmanite lines – namely that businesses are there to make money for their shareholders. No charitable giving, no diversity awareness. No green audits. Just making money. Period.Now some of the highest paid on the planet have appeared to ditch the idea of shareholder primacy. Sure, they say, shareholders matter but so do a range of other stakeholders: customers, employees, suppliers and communities. Workers must be treated with dignity and respect. Businesses will be run sustainably in order to protect the environment. Continue reading...

The US president’s talk of a ‘large real estate deal’ says a lot about his view of the worldGreenland, and more specifically its purchase by the US, is being actively discussed in Donald Trump’s Oval Office. But what exactly is it that makes one of the world’s most desolate places such an attractive proposition?For the president, it is the real estate deal of a lifetime, one that would secure a land mass a quarter the size of the US and cement his place in US history alongside President Andrew Johnson, who bought Alaska from Russia in 1867, and Thomas Jefferson, who secured Louisiana from the French in 1803.Related: Greenlanders: what do you think about Trump's comments about your country?About 80% of the world's largest island is covered in ice. Inuit people first inhabited it by moving from present-day Canada 4,000-5,000 years ago. It was named by Erik the Red when he led a fleet of 25 ships from Iceland to colonise it in 985 AD. Continue reading...

The Beatles kept up their pretence but world leaders must face up to their differences and find solutions to potentially corrosive threatsIn 1975 the French president, Valéry Giscard D’Estaing, had a brainwave. The great powers of the west were reeling from their first postwar recession, which had led to both higher unemployment and rising inflation. America had just suffered the twin blows of Watergate and defeat in the Vietnam war.Giscard thought it would be a good idea at this tricky time to invite the leaders of five other western powers – the US, the UK, West Germany, Japan and Italy – for an informal chat at Rambouillet, a chateau near Paris. And so the modern era of summitry was born. The G6 became the G7 when Canada joined, and for a while it was the G8 with the inclusion of Russia. Continue reading...

Without EU succour, the consequences of going it alone will be painfully feltJohn Bolton might want to tie Britain into the United States’ political orbit, but the relief with which Theresa May’s government greeted European support after the Skripal poisoning and Jeremy Hunt’s reflex request for Franco-German support in the Gulf suggest that the EU and its member states will still be important to British foreign policy even if Brexit happens.But what kind of co-operation is achievable? Continue reading...

They portray themselves as impartial and objective but a survey exposed their biases, unconscious or otherwiseMany economists put a lot of weight on the idea that their profession is unbiased and non-ideological. Over time, the discipline has focused on applying complicated maths to data, as part of a “positivist” movement seeking to claim economics as a “real science” where economists show what they have found, not what they think.Such self-perception coexisted with the critique of less mainstream economists that the profession has an ideological bias, generally rightwing. Markets work, humans are self-interested, the state messes things up, and so forth. The latest salvo from proponents of the latter view, including Ha-Joon Chang, Cambridge University’s prominent opponent of mainstream economics, comes via creative new research. Continue reading...