Finance and economics | ButtonwoodTurning a profit from political news is a lot harder than it looksPhotograph: Satoshi Kambayashi Jul 25th 2024To meet the world’s biggest news junkies, head not to Washington or Westminster. Instead, make your way to a trading floor, where information from every corner of the globe must be parsed the instant it emerges....

Finance and economics | Heterodox thoughtA combative Marxist economist with White House influenceAmerica’s Ralph Miliband?Photograph: Avalon Jul 25th 2024In a video clip that has gone viral recently, Kamala Harris quotes her mother asking her whether she thought she had just fallen out of a coconut tree. The probable Democratic nominee for president...

Finance and economics | Breaking the greenbackAll come with their own drawbacksPhotograph: Travis Constantine Jul 25th 2024|Washington, DCIn September 1985, eight months after Ronald Reagan, America’s 40th president, began his second term, finance ministers and central bankers from America, Britain, France, Japan and West Germany met at the Plaza Hotel...

Finance and economics | China’s reservesVast new holdings of grain, natural gas and oil suggest trouble aheadPhotograph: Getty Images Jul 23rd 2024Over the past two decades China has devoured enormous amounts of raw materials. Its population has grown bigger and richer, requiring more dairy, grain and meat. Its giant industries have been ravenous for...

Finance and economics | War economyPrices have risen 172% in Russia’s biggest cities over the past three yearsPhotograph: Alamy Jul 22nd 2024Mortgages used to be a tough sell in Russia. Decades of Soviet propaganda, which denounced credit as an unbearable burden, had an effect. Even after the end of communism, Russians still referred to mortgages as...

Finance and economics | Broken recordModerates want to limit numbers. Radicals want mass deportations. What will be the economic consequence?Photograph: Getty Images Jul 21st 2024Immigrants are increasingly unwelcome. Over half of Americans favour “deporting all immigrants living in the US illegally back to their home country”, up from a third in 2016....