The world this week

Politics
Business
KAL’s cartoon
This week’s cover
Leaders


Goldman sags
The humbling of Goldman Sachs
The struggle to reinvent a firm trapped by its own mythology

Polycrisis or polyrecovery?
The world economy’s inflation problem is easing
But recession is still likely

Rescue and repeat
China’s property slump is easing, but the relief will be short-lived
Without reforms, the sector is doomed to cycles of boom and bust

Handouts and arms races
What should Britain’s industrial strategy be?
Money matters a lot less than decent government

Debt on the Nile
To save Egypt’s economy, get the army out of it
Donors should not keep bailing out a state that enriches men in khaki
Letters

On Poland and Germany, Turkey, physical education, Britain’s economy, historical inflation, Prince Harry, retirement
Letters to the editor
By Invitation


American politics
Brian Deese, John Podesta and Jake Sullivan on the Inflation Reduction Act
Briefing


Vampire squib
How Goldman Sachs went from apex predator to Wall Street laggard
Its attempts to diversify out of volatile businesses and into consumer lending have disappointed
Asia


India’s opposition
Relaunching Rahul Gandhi, again
May the force be without you
The Philippines’ new president rewires the war on drugs
Kiwi politics
Jacinda Ardern’s successor is unveiled
Full metal jacket
Indonesia embraces resource nationalism
Banyan
The Rohingyas long for their homes in Myanmar, but cannot go back
Corruption and covid-19
An anti-graft drive brings down Vietnam’s president
China


A cuddlier China?
China is trying to win over Westerners and private firms
Tense as ever
Does China’s softer tone extend to Taiwan?
Itching to hitch ’em
Chinese singles face the heat over the holiday
Chaguan
What a new drama series reveals about China
United States


Red meat and greet
Congress is gridlocked. America’s statehouses are very much not
Florida’s woke wars
Ron DeSantis wants to limit free speech in the name of free speech
Trillion-dollar chicken
There is no easy escape from America’s debt-ceiling mess
Footloose
A shortage in America creates opportunities for nurses with wheels
Cop city
A violent dispute is impeding police reform in Atlanta
Lexington
What Edward Hopper saw
Middle East & Africa


Pyramid scheme
A crisis of confidence in Egypt
No cheques please, we’re Kuwaiti
A populist plan to pay off private debts is another sign of Kuwait’s ills
Fluent in empathy
A white, gay, Zulu-speaking mayor is shaking up South African politics
A family business
Togo promises development, not democracy
Deals on wheels
Why bicycles are crucial to Congo’s cross-border trade
The Americas


Ready for relaunch?
As Lula takes over, Brazil’s economic prospects are looking up
El Chapo: the sequel
A trial in New York exposes US-Mexican counter-narcotics tensions
Middle-income trap
A new generation of Argentine musicians is topping the charts
Europe


Plain sailing
After a steady first 100 days, choppier waters await Giorgia Meloni
The great Panzerwende
What Western tanks should give Ukraine in the next round of the war
Germany’s armed forces
The state of the Bundeswehr is more dismal than ever
Bouncing back
Spain’s economy is recovering from the pandemic, but problems persist
French obesity
France sees a surprising surge in obesity
Charlemagne
Experience from a past crisis suggests Europe should shake off any complacency
Britain


Pulling the plug?
Britain’s carmaking industry is increasingly under threat
The architecture of fun
Britain is beginning to protect its 1970s leisure centres
Birds of a Pennyfeather
Rishi Sunak’s hapless government
Bedlam
Britain has fewer hospital beds than almost any other rich country
Sick or retired
Illness is stopping Britons from coming back to work
How was it for you?
How to conduct a sex survey
Bagehot
Blat, the Soviet art of getting by, comes to Britain
International


Education in a can
Most children in poor countries are being failed by their schools
Business


Bulldozed
Big business is in for a rough earnings season
Picking on winners
Hindenburg’s critique of the Adani empire
Bartleby
The curse of the corporate headshot
The too-much-of-everything store
Can Amazon deliver again?
Gadfly season
Elliott and fellow activist investors take on big tech
Schumpeter
How will Satya Nadella handle Microsoft’s ChatGPT moment?
Finance & economics


Dare to dream
How the world economy could avoid recession
Gaucho, grilled
Argentina and Brazil propose a bizarre common currency
Buttonwood
When professional stockpickers beat the algorithms
Overheated and overvalued
What inflation means for the Big Mac index
Religious investing
Christians fight about how to serve God and mammon
Disaster relief
Can China fix its property crisis?
Free exchange
Have economists misunderstood inflation?
Science & technology


Out of ’cyte, out of mind
Neurons are not the only brain cells that think
Fertility testing
Hormone tests for women’s fertility seem not to work
Insect repellents
A better way of keeping mosquitoes at bay is under development
Surveillance technology
Wi-Fi signals could prove useful for spies
Archers and heart rates
How to measure how stress affects athletes’ performance
Culture


The future of energy
How much innovation is necessary to see off fossil fuels?
Travels in the Balkans
Kapka Kassabova traverses a landscape that time forgot
Panoramic fiction
Love, loss, history and exile in Aleksandar Hemon’s new novel
World in a dish
How to eat to 100
Heady times
England’s 17th century was a ferment of ideas and revolution
Back Story
A Broadway musical updates “Some Like It Hot”
Economic & financial indicators

Indicators
Economic data, commodities and markets
Graphic detail


Labour markets
Where have all America’s workers gone?
The Economist explains


The Economist explains
What makes Germany’s Leopard 2 tank the best fit for Ukraine?
Obituary


Sacredness in Suffolk
Ronald Blythe recorded the passing, and continuance, of rural life