Pulse: Spotlight


The Third Rail: Navigating the Geopolitical Power Grid in 2024

January 23, 2024

Joel Ross, who writes the legendary Wall Street newsletter The Ross Rant, sent me a question after reading Karim Pakravan’s recent guest post on EconVue+. Given all the geopolitical trends and events now underway, what is my conclusion about the state of the world, and what does that mean for people trying to make decisions in the new year? 

Wishing our world for a peaceful 2024

While I studied at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore, our founding dean and senior diplomat Professor Kishore Mahbubani optimistically told us, “War, after centuries of being a scourge for humanity, is now becoming a sunset industry.” Unfortunately, nowadays that “sunset industry” is reviving, from the Russia-Ukraine war to the Israel-Hamas war.

The Sinocization of America

The Economics of Violence - What's wrong with Chicago?

I live in Chicago so my out-of-town friends assume that I must be well-acquainted with violence. Luckily that is not the case. Despite Chicago’s reputation, our city’s travails are hardly unique in urban America. Our particular crisis in leadership predates Covid, and it does not look like real change is coming anytime soon.

On Friday, Mayor Lori Lightfoot left City Hall for the last time. It was not a fond farewell.

The War of the Words: December 2022 Spotlight

Demonization and its economic consequences, and a peek ahead to the 118th Congress

Change of Edge - EconVue Spotlight October 2022

Are central banks overreacting to inflation? Are we in for a positive surprise?

Hidden Damages: August Spotlight 2022

Is Covid just a dress rehearsal? What have we learned about living with our biological and geopolitical adversaries?https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2022/08/19/long-covid-brain-effects/

Parallel Universes: EconVue Spotlight April 2022 - Has the 4th Estate Eaten Up the Other Three?

Most Russian experts and military strategists I follow doubted Putin would invade Ukraine. I agreed with their rational arguments, but here we are. I’m reminded of the Haruki Murakami novel 1Q84. The heroine alights from her taxi and gradually discovers that she is living in a world where everything is almost the same, except there are two moons. Since Covid began, I doubt I’m alone in feeling that I have somehow gotten off at the wrong stop, and am living in a hellishly perverse alternative universe.

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