The Economist

Este archivo solo abarca los artículos del periódico incorporados a este sitio a partir del 1 de diciembre de 2006.

Nota informativa: The Economist es una publicación semanal con sede en Londres que aborda la actualidad de las relaciones internacionales y de la economía desde un marco global. Fue fundada en 1843. Tiene implementado un «muro de pago» por lo que es necesario suscribirse para tener acceso a todos sus contenidos. Más información en su página de suscripción.

MundoOriente Próximo

Over the past 30 years I have worked in war zones around the world as a surgeon treating casualties resulting from conflict, including in Syria, Yemen, Afghanistan and Iraq. War wounds, the effects of fragments from blast injuries and gunshot wounds require a special set of skills to manage.

At times there are mass casualties, and some of the patients I have seen over more than 30 war missions had overwhelming injuries that even the best units in the world would struggle to treat. The majority of injuries, though, could be dealt with using the resources at hand. Most patients at least had a good chance of arriving at a hospital within a timeframe that allowed them to have the best surgical decision-making.…  Seguir leyendo »

Europa, , ,

The war between Russia and Ukraine has been catastrophic for both countries. With neither side enjoying an overwhelming advantage and their political positions completely at odds, the fighting is unlikely to end soon. One thing is clear, though: the conflict is a post-cold-war watershed that will have a profound, lasting global impact.

Four main factors will influence the course of the war. The first is the level of resistance and national unity shown by Ukrainians, which has until now been extraordinary. The second is international support for Ukraine, which, though recently falling short of the country’s expectations, remains broad.

The third factor is the nature of modern warfare, a contest that turns on a combination of industrial might and command, control, communications and intelligence systems.…  Seguir leyendo »

Europa,

The results of the local elections held on March 31st are a milestone in Turkey’s history. With most local power now entrusted to the political opposition by voters, Turkey is no longer devoid of options; its trajectory is firmly set towards democracy again.

Despite unfair competition, especially in the allocation of state resources to the ruling party and its candidates and government control of the media, the opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), of which I am a member, emerged victorious. In Istanbul, government officials and the president actively campaigned to support my opponent in the mayoral election. We won even though other opposition parties, which had allied themselves with the CHP in last year’s elections, abandoned our coalition and ran their own candidates.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAsia

The India I grew up in had just secured its independence and was struggling to meet essential needs like food, fuel and foreign exchange. It is now the world’s second-largest food producer, measured by calorie content, and a net food exporter. India still imports fuel but is increasingly harnessing solar and wind power. Foreign-exchange reserves are at an all-time high. India is now the world’s fifth-largest economy and some analysts predict it could be the third-largest by 2027.

In the past, during negotiations with the multilateral organisations and investors, India would often be described as a country of great potential that would remain one.…  Seguir leyendo »

ReflexionesSocial

More than two decades have passed since we published an academic paper linking the legalisation of abortion to the enormous decline in American crime since the 1990s. The underlying theory is straightforward. Children who are unwanted at birth are at risk of a range of adverse life outcomes and commit much more crime later in life. Legalised abortion greatly reduced the number of unwanted births. Consequently, legalised abortion will reduce crime, albeit with substantial lags.

Our paper created much controversy, which was further stoked by a chapter on the topic in the best-selling book “Freakonomics”, written by one of us with Stephen Dubner, published in 2005.…  Seguir leyendo »

InternacionalOrden Mundial

The debate about America’s nuclear deterrent breaks along two lines. One views the discussion through the lens of arms control. The other focuses on the level of deterrence required in a world in which America will soon face two potential adversaries with nuclear forces as big as its own: Russia and China.

Arms-controllers are concerned with remaining within the limits of New START, an arms-reduction treaty between America and Russia which took effect in 2011, and with negotiating further reductions in warheads. For those more concerned with deterrence, that approach misses the key questions: “Why do we have nuclear weapons?” and “How has the international security environment changed since New START entered into force?”.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAsia,

What lies at the far reaches of the universe? This is a question that science has yet to answer, but most young people in China today already have an answer. According to them, at the end of the universe is not the Milky Way, the Andromeda Galaxy or the Canes Venatici Constellation, but a government job.

Observing changing attitudes about government jobs among young people in China over the course of the past four decades of the reform era can reveal the deep-seated changes that have taken place in the structure of Chinese society.

During the early days of the reform era in the 1980s, there were three categories of government jobs for urban residents: the collective positions (jiti bianzhi), the general positions (quanmin bianzhi) and the cadre positions (ganbu bianzhi).…  Seguir leyendo »

ReflexionesNuevas Tecnologías,

Generative artificial intelligence (AI) is rewriting the disinformation playbook. There is no better place to study this than Taiwan, which, the Swedish Varieties of Democracy Project finds, is subject to more disinformation from abroad than any other democracy. China has greatly increased the scope and sophistication of its influence operations on the island using cutting-edge AI. We conducted fieldwork during the elections in Taiwan in January, meeting organisations on disinformation’s front lines. We saw in their experience the signs of how AI could disrupt this global year of elections.

One such sign is the rise of AI-powered video, in particular deepfakes—content created to convince people of events that did not occur.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAsia

A dark shasow of creeping authoritarianism looms over India as it prepares for its 18th general election. The incumbent Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government of Narendra Modi is set to win a third term and surveys show that the prime minister’s personal popularity is at an all-time high. But his governance, built on aggressive centralisation, legitimised by a cult of personality and undergirded by an exclusionary Hindu-nationalist ideology, is eroding India’s democracy. If unchecked, the consequences for the country’s political, economic and social fabric will be grim.

The most striking evidence of this is the fact that the space for the political opposition, media, academia and civil society to freely express their views is fast shrinking.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAmérica,

Sadly, for America and the world, neither candidate in this November’s election is fit to be president. Polling shows voters did not want a rematch between Joe Biden and Donald Trump, but that’s what they’re getting.

A president’s most important national-security responsibility is to identify the risks and opportunities facing America, and to craft ways to thwart the threats and advance the country’s interests. Whether because of incompetence, fading mental capabilities or, worst of all, succumbing to domestic political pressures, Mr Biden and Mr Trump have repeatedly proven unable to perform this mission. For years both have fared poorly at distinguishing friend from foe, a pretty low bar even for neophytes, let alone those seeking another turn in the Oval Office.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAsia,

I grew up in an India that was a proud liberal democracy saddled with an illiberal, over-regulated economy that micro-managed private enterprise. We called it the Licence Raj. I worked for a company that made Vicks VapoRub. One year there was a flu epidemic and sales of Vicks went through the roof. At the end of the year a summons arrived from the government, claiming my company had broken the law: sales had exceeded the production of Vicks authorised in our licence. It was a criminal offence, we were told.

I was asked to appear at a hearing before a government official.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoOriente Próximo

As I step into the role of prime minister-designate of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) under excruciating and unprecedented circumstances, I am acutely aware of the monumental challenges that lie ahead. The Palestinian people find themselves at yet another critical juncture, facing a tragic confluence of crises that are testing our resilience and ingenuity, qualities we have proved we possess in abundance time and time again.

There are, however, at least a couple of differences this time: the injustices are more horrific than ever, and they are on global display.

At this pivotal moment, Palestinians and the international community are more galvanised and determined to create real change than perhaps ever before.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoOriente Próximo

As circumstances change, the Israeli left must reconsider its stand on the war on Gaza. So should liberal supporters of Israel abroad.

During the first weeks of the war, following the October 7th atrocities, many on the Israeli left, myself included, refused to call for an immediate ceasefire. We were, even then, well aware of the tremendous suffering and loss among innocent Palestinians, and critical of some of the ways in which the war was conducted. Still, many of us were convinced—justifiably, I still think—that the October 7th attacks and their aftermath left Israel with no reasonable alternative to a large-scale military action in Gaza, despite its horrendous price.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoÁfrica

The conversation on reforming the global financial architecture has often felt more like Africa against the rest of the world, but the tide is turning. Governments north and south agree that there is something fundamentally wrong with the system and it must be fixed. As the leaders of Ghana, Kenya and Zambia, we have first-hand experience of the precarious financial situation facing many African countries, especially when it comes to debt and development finance. And we are all too familiar with the flaws in the system that is in place to confront these challenges.

The current system needs more than just adjustment—it needs an overhaul.…  Seguir leyendo »

Europa,

Around a year ago I received a letter from my alma mater: the Soviet gulag, where I spent nine years after being convicted of anti-Soviet activity, high treason and espionage, and from which I graduated in 1986. The letter was sent by Alexei Navalny from a shtrafnoy izolyator, or “shizo” for short, the most extreme type of punishment cell in the gulag. He told me he was reading my book, “Fear No Evil”, and was surprised by the similarity of our experiences.

In my nine years in prison I spent 405 days in shizo, a kind of torture by cold and hunger.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAsia

Last December, French authorities detained 303 Indians at Vatry airport. The passengers were on their way from the United Arab Emirates to Nicaragua, a hotspot for would-be migrants who pay touts to get them into America illegally. According to the Pew Research Centre, between 2017 and 2021 Indians were the fastest-growing nationality of illegal migrants entering America, with border-agency data suggesting a possible acceleration since. As the mirage of urban employment at home recedes, large numbers of Indians are risking their lives to slip into labour markets in North America, Europe and Australia.

In January 200,000 anxious Marathas—a traditionally well-to-do farming community—walked 400km from central Maharashtra to Mumbai’s outskirts.…  Seguir leyendo »

ReflexionesDemocracia

This year the world will see an explosion of electoral activity. Whether this will be a global celebration of democracy is less certain. Even leaving aside sham votes in autocracies like Russia and Rwanda, in many cases elections will simply consolidate what the late Argentinian political scientist Guillermo O’Donnell called democracies with “low-intensity citizenship”, defined by poor protection of rights and weak attachment to the rule of law. If, as the Nobel-winning novelist Gabriel García Márquez reputedly quipped, broken English is the most widely spoken language in the world, broken democracy has become the world’s most prevalent political arrangement.

The trend towards the deterioration in the quality of democracy is unmistakable.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoOriente Próximo

Oman is calling for an emergency international conference on Palestine, an initiative to match that of President George H.W. Bush when he convened the Madrid Peace Conference in 1991. Madrid set off a series of multilateral negotiations aimed at ending the Arab-Israeli conflict, which made substantial progress but were then, tragically, interrupted. We must try again.

Like all its neighbours Oman is suffering the consequences of the deepening crisis in Gaza. The prospect of further escalation threatens the entire region. So a ceasefire is a humanitarian necessity, and a strategic necessity too. The step from ceasefire to emergency conference must come swiftly and decisively.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAmérica,

Some parts of most people’s brains that are involved in higher cognitive thinking are subject to an ageing process starting from 60-70 years of age and continuing until death. In particular, there is a shrinkage of the brain’s frontal lobe and, deeper in, of an area called the hippocampus. The brain’s surface areas can also thin and nerve fibres shrink, which slows the way the brain processes information. Among the chemical changes that researchers think occur during brain ageing are a decrease of neurotransmitters, particularly dopamine, serotonin and acetylcholine, in parts of the brain.

I was a neurologist, a doctor of medicine who specialises in the brain, and a research fellow at St Thomas’s hospital, across the Thames from Britain’s House of Commons, before I became a Labour MP in 1966.…  Seguir leyendo »

ReflexionesNuevas Tecnologías

In a recent survey of North American chief executives and chief financial officers, nearly 80% listed corporate culture as one of the five most important factors driving their company’s financial performance. A growing body of empirical evidence supports their belief that culture matters—and can boost profitability.

Yet, in the same survey, an even higher number of respondents—84%—said their company’s culture is not where it needs to be. Again the data supports their intuition. The average culture rating of large employers in America on Glassdoor, a website that lets workers rate their employers, is 3.6 out of 5. Few people would be excited to eat in a restaurant or ride with an Uber driver with that kind of rating.…  Seguir leyendo »