Populism

A new economic playbook for policymakers

The London Consensus offers hope that a fresh policy approach can help push back against authoritarian populism

Unemployed steelworkers in America’s Rust Belt did not get the economic lift promised during US President Donald Trump’s first term.

Deliveroo politics

Don’t buy the conventional wisdom that populists are winning because democracy is not

Interest rates may trend lower near term, but there are substantial risks of much higher interest rates over the longer term.
SENSE & CENTS

Mega trends could drive more elevated interest rates over the longer term

High trade tariffs and weak sovereign credit will exert upward pressure on interest rates 

An empty bar in Santiago, Chile. The Chilean economy, once the wonder of Latin America, has barely been growing in recent years, and the investment boom of the 1990s and 2000s is long past.
THE BROAD VIEW

Chile’s unhappy success

Why are voters flocking to right and left-wing populists ahead of this year’s presidential election?

Karol Nawrocki is a former boxer, whose presidential campaign featured videos of him in the boxing ring and shooting range.

Why are today’s strongmen so obsessed with muscle?

Poland’s new president has the most important qualification for a national populist leader – a love of physical strength

Migrants on a boat arriving at the Canary island of El Hierro. Tens of millions of people are likely to flee Africa and Latin America in the coming years, driven by political and economic challenges and climate change.

How has the 21st century gone so wrong?

The first quarter of this century will soon be behind us, and the record is grim

Blaming “neo-liberalism” for the political earthquakes that may, among other events, lead to the election of far-right politician Marine Le Pen in France, sounds like an appealing theory.
THINKING ALOUD

It’s the culture, stupid

Shift to the Right has less to do with economics

Poland is an example of where centrism has worked, with Prime Minister Donald Tusk leading a coalition of centre-left, centrist and centre-right parties.

Why political centrists must rediscover their passion

They need to be clear about what opposing populism does and doesn’t mean

Few business leaders are thrilled at the prospect of Donald Trump, a self-described “Tariff Man”, triumphing in the US elections in November, even with his talk of slashing red tape.

How to handle populists: a CEO’s survival guide

Western businesses are learning to live with volatile electoral politics around the world

Activists at a rally in Indonesia. The key to defang identity politics is to transmit a fundamental message to voters: the government is working for you, not for elites of some kind or for friends in the party establishment.

Economic policies and identity politics

Tackling nativist populism calls for a strategy for reform that could weaken its appeal