In this article on the  Foreign Affairs website, Japan expert and EconVue contributor Richard Katz argues  that China has been delinking an increasingly softer stance on economic ties with Japan, even as political ties between the two countries between increasingly brittle. 

As the World Economic Forum meets this week in Davos, Switzerland, attendees are discussing the biggest risks facing the global economy.

s global demand for energy grows and prices rise, a city’s energy consumption becomes increasingly tied to its economic viability, warns the author of The Very Hungry City. Austin Troy, a seasoned expert in urban environmental management, explains for general readers how a city with a high ‘urban energy metabolism’ – that is, a city that needs large amounts of energy in order to function – will be at a competitive disadvantage in the future. 

Yale author Lyric Hughes Hale reads The Carbon Crunch by Dieter Helm and asks some troubling questions regarding  humanity’s attitude to itself. Are the arguments concerning climate change underpinned by a belief in our own indestructibility? Do we appreciate the precariousness of our global political, economic and environmental situation? Is humanity suicidal?

Even if we are spared destruction by war, our lives will have to change if we want to save life from self-destruction. 

– Alexander Solzhenitsyn, 1978 Harvard Commencement Address

In the next installment of her regular column, top economic commentator and What’s Next? author Lyric Hale discusses the European Union’s economic troubles and how they compare with the early crises of the US’s federal system. In both cases, she argues, political unity is invaluable to ensure the success of these overarching economic projects. But as recent developments in Europe unfold, it is clear that political consensus is an increasingly unlikely prospect.

Author article by Lyric Hughes Hale

In the next installment of her regular column, top economic commentator and What’s Next? author Lyric Hale discusses the European Union’s economic troubles and how they compare with the early crises of the US’s federal system. In both cases, she argues, political unity is invaluable to ensure the success of these overarching economic projects. But as recent developments in Europe unfold, it is clear that political consensus is an increasingly unlikely prospect.

Author article by Lyric Hughes Hale

In the next installment of her regular column, top economic commentator and What’s Next? author Lyric Hale discusses the shocking exploitation of the growing, mostly black, US prison population by private corporations and the government profiting from prison labour. Hale traces this disturbing practice to the slave trade, and an unclosed constitutional loophole that continues to be exploited today.

Author article by Lyric Hughes Hale

In the next instalment of her regular column, top economic commentator and What’s Next? author Lyric Hale discusses social media and its new role as a catalyst for political movements. Looking in particular at the failures of the Arab spring, Hale highlights the difficult realities that lie behind the twitter rhetoric.

Author Article by Lyric Hughes Hale

In the next instalment of her regular column, top economic commentator and What’s Next? author Lyric Hale discusses how the growing infrastructure of cloud servers, data centres and undersea fibre optic cables is having an enormous influence on the economic and political development of countries, particularly in Africa.

Author article by Lyric Hughes Hale

In the next instalment of her regular column, top economic commentator and What’s Next? author Lyric Hale discusses why an international floor on interest rates is crucial if we want to ensure a steady return to a healthy global economy.

Article by Lyric Hughes Hale