Featured analysis

Latest analysis

Econographics

Aug 12, 2022

Summer reading list: Future of money edition

By Ananya Kumar

These are our top picks for your summer reading list on the future of money: everything from trying to understand the news better to what’s next in the world of innovation.

Digital Currencies Digital Policy

Econographics

Aug 3, 2022

Trading geopolitics: The US-Chinese capital markets

By Elmar Hellendoorn

Increased Chinese-Western capital market integration is just one scenario. Instead, ”strong decoupling” or “muddling through” may prove more likely.

China Economy & Business

Econographics

Aug 2, 2022

The global slowdown: Why Sub-Saharan Africa is so important

By Amin Mohseni-Cheraghlou and Naomi Aladekoba

The global community, with the leadership of the IMF and the World Bank, needs to focus on Sub-Saharan Africa. While the population in countries that have moved into the high-income and upper middle-income categories are now aging rapidly, Sub-Saharan Africa is home to one of the world’s youngest population structure. In addition to lifting hundreds of millions of people out of poverty in this region, sustained and inclusive growth over the next two decades in Sub-Saharan Africa could contribute to the growth in the global economy.

Africa Economy & Business

Econographics

Jul 28, 2022

Keeping everyone in the club: How sanctions complicate the Bretton Woods Institutions’ job

By Mrugank Bhusari, Maia Nikoladze, Amin Mohseni-Cheraghlou

With a voting majority at the Bretton Woods Institutions, the G7 and EU can collectively ask the institutions to comply with their sanctions. This is complicating the IMF and World Bank's functions.

Economy & Business European Union

Econographics

Jul 28, 2022

When does an economy enter recession?

By Charles Lichfield, Sophia Busch

US GDP growth was negative for two consecutive quarters, fulfilling textbook definitions of a recession. Regardless of definition, this period of contraction is different from previous periods with a much tighter labor market.

Economy & Business Macroeconomics

Econographics

Jul 26, 2022

Slow growth exacerbates China’s financial stability risks

By Hung Tran

China's slowing growth, if left unchecked, will threaten its small- and medium-sized banks. This "Achilles' heel" of its banking system will be further weakened by spreading problems in the property sector.

China Economy & Business

Econographics

Jul 14, 2022

The Euro at parity with the USD: Implications for the global economy

By Hung Tran

The difficult challenges facing the Euro Area and actions taken to calm inflation in the US make it difficult for the EA and other countries to undertake their own policy measures to counter the looming stagflation and recession threats.

Economy & Business Europe & Eurasia

Econographics

Jul 13, 2022

Ukraine needs more international support

By Hung Tran and Charles Dallara

As the war in Ukraine becomes severely protracted, the international community by advancing Ukraine’s proposed roadmap to end the war and clarifying its economic policies in response to Russian aggression.

Economy & Business European Union

Econographics

Jul 13, 2022

Emerging markets need new engines of growth

By Niels Graham

External tailwinds such as trade, interest rates, and commodity prices propelled emerging market growth throughout the 2000s. However, as the global macroeconomic backdrop shifts these conditions are increasingly becoming headwind risks.

Economy & Business Macroeconomics

EconoGraphics

Jun 30, 2022

Global Sanctions Dashboard: Russia default and China secondary sanctions

By Charles Lichfield, Maia Nikoladze and Castellum.AI

Russia's default on sovereign debt; EU oil ban; China secondary sanctions threat; Middle Eastern illicit networks

China East Asia

Content

Econographics

Jul 31, 2026

The infrastructure for tokenized bank deposits is beginning to take shape

By Hung Tran

Tokenized bank deposits remain modest in scale and largely limited to fragmented, bank-specific networks. Yet recent pilots suggest that the infrastructure needed for cross-border use is beginning to emerge.

Digital Currencies Digital Policy

Econographics

Jul 27, 2026

Why banning open-source AI is a bad idea

By JP Schnapper-Casteras

The best response to capable Chinese open models is not to make US developers less capable. It is to build better, safer, more competitive US models—open and closed.

Artificial Intelligence China

Econographics

Jul 23, 2026

Kenya wants to monetize its data. But at what cost?

By Aadyaa Maddi, Karen Sowon, and Giulia Fanti

As data becomes a strategic resource, Kenya wants to cash in. But without stronger safeguards on consent, privacy, and valuation, its data strategy could become a cautionary tale.

Africa Digital Policy

Econographics

Jul 23, 2026

Mexico can turn USMCA pressure into an industrial opportunity

By Ernesto Stein, Phil Lovegren

Mexico’s record exports mask an uncomfortable reality: its fastest-growing industry—data processing machines—relies overwhelmingly on Asian inputs. A carefully redesigned USMCA could help the country move up the value chain.

Economy & Business Financial Regulation

Econographics

Jul 22, 2026

The US just threatened new tariffs on Canada. Here’s why they may not work.

By Madeline Chalecki

The latest escalation in the US-Canadian tariff standoff highlights the limits of using trade restrictions as a negotiating tool—and the risks of getting trapped in a cycle of retaliation.

Americas Trade and tariffs

Econographics

Jul 20, 2026

Germany is finally waking up to the China challenge. And Beijing is gearing up to respond

By Jessie Yin

As Berlin confronts the effects of the China Shock 2.0, the EU will need to proceed strategically. After all, Beijing has expanded its economic statecraft toolkit to counter the EU's anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties.

China Economy & Business

Econographics

Jul 10, 2026

Inside the power struggle over Venezuela’s debt restructuring

By Bart Piasecki

As Venezuela prepares to restructure $240 billion in debt, a high-stakes contest over oil revenues is unfolding—one that could reshape creditor recoveries, US-China competition, and the country’s economic future.

Economy & Business Fiscal and Structural Reform

Econographics

Jul 7, 2026

A weak yen spells trouble for Japan—at home and abroad

By Hung Tran

Japan’s weak yen is not a market anomaly. Structural capital outflows, shifting investment patterns, and dollar strength are keeping pressure on the currency—and creating potential new tensions with Washington.

Economy & Business Japan

EnergySource

Jul 2, 2026

With US sanctions temporarily lifted, is Iranian crude back on the menu?

By Lize de Kruijf, Chloe O’Connor

The US-Iran deal waives sanctions on Iranian oil sales, but Washington will need further steps to meaningfully shift global crude trade and ensure clearer visibility into Iranian oil transactions.

Dollar Dominance Energy & Environment
The flags of Canada, the United States, and Mexico

EconoGraphics

Jun 30, 2026

The five stages of a USMCA shakeup

By Madeline Chalecki

While the agreement may survive at the end of negotiations, years of uncertainty, tariffs, and prolonged talks could reshape North American trade.

Americas Economy & Business