Aug 24th 2019

What are companies for?

The world this week

Leaders

Big business, shareholders and society

What companies are for

Competition, not corporatism, is the answer to capitalism’s problems

Betting on black

Asian governments are the biggest backers of the filthiest fuel

Even as private investors are shunning coal, states are throwing cash at it

Cathay’s mayday

Why China’s assault on Cathay Pacific should scare all foreign firms

China can get its way in corporate boardrooms but hurts itself with its pressure tactics

Budget before ballot

Now is not the time for an election in Italy

A snap poll could make the debt-laden country’s budget woes worse

Take aim

Germany needs fiscal stimulus. Here’s how to do it

The economy needs both permanently higher investment and a temporary boost

Letters

On the Amazon, BlackRock, Toni Morrison, e-scooters, HR, dry cleaning

Letters to the editor

Briefing

What are companies for?

Big business is beginning to accept broader social responsibilities

Pursuing shareholder value is no longer enough, it seems

United States

Immigration policy

What do Donald Trump’s immigration raids accomplish?

Party politics

Rural Minnesota’s Democratic voters are shifting allegiances

Pushed out

New research probes eviction’s causes and consequences

Abortion battles

What explains Donald Trump’s war on late-term abortions?

The Americas

A dam mess

A secret hydropower deal with Brazil causes a political crisis in Paraguay

Darkness on the edge of town

Forest fires in the Amazon blacken the sun in São Paulo

Chocolate rush

Why the Mexico City marathon attracts so many cheats

Bello

Argentina’s crisis shows the limits of technocracy

Asia

Down and dirty

Asia digs up and burns three-quarters of the world’s coal

Independence day

Violent protests rack the Indonesian provinces of Papua and West Papua

Tsai’s prize

America angers China with a sale of fighter jets to Taiwan

Social crooning

Karaoke with colleagues is no longer compulsory in South Korea

Silence or the grave

India’s justice system does far too little to protect witnesses

Banyan

When India’s government abuses power, the media cheer

China

Property and protest

The turmoil in Hong Kong stems in part from its unaffordable housing

Betting on red

Why Macau is impervious to the turmoil in Hong Kong

Chaguan

China’s thin-skinned online nationalists want to be both loved and feared by the West

Middle East & Africa

The net tightens

A $2bn loan scandal sank Mozambique’s economy

Vanquishing the virus

Africa is on the verge of being declared polio-free

La vache qui vit

Many Egyptians miss their deposed president, Hosni Mubarak

Compromise in Khartoum

A power-sharing deal in Sudan paves the way for civilian rule

No refuge

Politicians are stoking anti-refugee sentiment in Lebanon

Europe

Salvini’s gamble

Matteo Salvini hopes elections will make him Italy’s prime minister

Arctic antics

Greenlanders say Donald Trump should have asked them first

Work in progress

Employment in southern Europe: better, but fragile

Butting back

An ancient beast returns to Transylvania

Charlemagne

Historical memorials are not enough to stop anti-Semitism in Europe

Britain

Searching for students

The winners and losers of England’s great university free-for-all

Tanker geopolitics

What Britain’s release of an Iranian tanker says about its post-Brexit foreign policy

Lip-stick it to the man

The drag queens of England are booming, thanks to unexpected new fans

Capital fright

London’s mayoral race shows Tory disregard for the capital

In one ear, out the other

Boris Johnson’s awkward first meetings with European leaders

On a wing and a prayer

A British anti-knife drive comes home to roost

Wales watching

An act of vandalism sparks more talk of independence in Wales

Bagehot

The Downing Street Policy Unit, Boris Johnson’s brain

International

Under cover

The poor, who most need insurance, are least likely to have it

Business

Tick tock

Boeing’s troubles cost the aerospace industry $4bn a quarter

Back on the Street

GE finds friends on Wall Street

Wings clipped

Cathay Pacific’s fate rattles multinationals in Hong Kong

Can get some satisfaction

How to keep your customers happy

Growing smartly

Cerebras unveils the world’s chunkiest AI chip

Funny business

What companies can learn from comedians

Mea culpa

Thomas Middelhoff reflects on failure in German business

Schumpeter

Vodafone’s search for the G-spot

Finance & economics

L’étranger

Tidjane Thiam’s overhaul of Credit Suisse is paying off

Digital services tax

France is giving unilateralism a go

At any rate

China’s interest-rate revamp highlights the slow march of reform

Buttonwood

The Japanification of bond markets

Love at first byte

Apple and Goldman Sachs launch their credit card

Multinational companies

Who wins from foreign investment?

Free exchange

The onset of a downturn is as much a matter of mood as of money

Science & technology

Space

Gravitational astronomy proves its maturity

Books & arts

The Rock and a hard place

In America, art is helping prisoners adapt to life outside

The price of power

A life of David Ben-Gurion, Israel’s founding father

Nobody’s child

Edna O’Brien’s new heroine is abducted by Boko Haram

Johnson

A new book spells out the magic of language

Graphic detail

A cellar’s market

Burgundy wine investors have beaten the stockmarket

Obituary

Hoisting the sails

Obituary: Steve Sawyer died on July 31st

Economic Indicators

Economic data, commodities and markets