Between 2005 and 2024, China more than doubled its oil consumption, becoming the world’s largest crude importer and accounting for over half of the global
Political polarisation is a defining feature of modern societies (Boxell 2021). Not only does it shape elections and policy debates, but also social interactions and
Quantifying the carbon footprint of AI is an increasingly urgent task. Policymakers are debating whether the surge in electricity demand linked to AI will jeopardise
Extreme weather events – such as catastrophic floods or prolonged heatwaves – are increasing in frequency and intensity (IPCC 2021). This has sharpened the focus
Over the past two decades, Africa’s public debt landscape has undergone a profound transformation. The continent’s total public debt has risen more than fourfold since
In early 2025, ruling by emergency decree (Fayyad 2025), US President Donald Trump imposed steep and broad tariffs against the outside world in two waves.
Stablecoins – digital tokens pegged to fiat currencies – have emerged as a major innovation in crypto finance, with broad implications for payments and international
For decades, East Asia has been a paragon of economic dynamism. But today, in an era of rapid global technological advances, productivity growth in the
Monetary policy moves aggregate investment, but the underlying drivers remain unclear. This column opens the black box with a German firm survey. A one percentage