# world economy (blogs) — RSS Amplifier Recent posts from the 3 feeds in the RSS Amplifier directory that cover world economy. Page: Feed: --- ## [Does Silicon Valley Dream of Philip K. Dick?](https://henryfarrell.net/does-silicon-valley-dream-of-philip-k-dick/) _2026-08-10 · Henry Farrell · Henry Farrell_ Silicon Valley likes to dress its ambitions in the glistening garb of science fiction from the 1950s, when authors such as Isaac Asimov and Arthur C Clarke spun tales of humanity spreading through the stars. But what kind of future are we really hurtling towards? Increasingly, it is looking much more like the one anticipated \[ \] ## [Affordability, Not Scarcity, Is the Real Energy Crisis](https://ourfiniteworld.com/2026/08/05/affordability-not-scarcity-is-the-real-energy-crisis/) _2026-08-05 · Gail Tverberg · Our Finite World_ With the recent closure of the Strait of Hormuz, many expect oil prices to spike and stay high. . . . Looking at energy data going back to 1820, low demand (affordability) has repeatedly produced financial crashes, wars, and collapses, we appear to be entering another such period. Continue reading ## [Why Oil Shortages May Bring Lower Prices–and Recession](https://ourfiniteworld.com/2026/06/29/why-oil-shortages-may-bring-lower-prices-and-recession/) _2026-06-29 · Gail Tverberg · Our Finite World_ Rather than high prices, my major concerns are recession and the disappearing availability of goods and services that we rely on. This might be similar to the empty shelves that many stores experienced in 2020 and 2021. There may also be new government restrictions, intended to work around the reduced oil supply. Continue reading ## [China and US Trade Talks: A Solution for Oil Shortages?](https://ourfiniteworld.com/2026/05/12/china-and-us-trade-talks-a-solution-for-oil-shortages/) _2026-05-12 · Gail Tverberg · Our Finite World_ President Trump of the US and President Xi of China will be meeting in Beijing on May 14-15. This meeting would seem to be the perfect time to start reorganizing the world with shorter trade routes, so that the world economy uses less fuel for transportation. Continue reading ## [AI – Putty-Putty or Hard-Baked Clay?](https://smithers.co.uk/ai-putty-putty-or-hard-baked-clay/) _2026-05-02 · Andrew Smithers · Andrew Smithers – Author_ Introduction. The world economy is currently fragile due to its imbalances, which include excessive share prices and, for several key countries, including France, Japan, the UK and the US, an unsustainable level of fiscal deficits. These are likely to be resolved by a financial crisis, whose trigger depends on two things: A large decline in \[…\] ## [Losing the Iran War May Be the Best Outcome for the World](https://ourfiniteworld.com/2026/04/02/losing-the-iran-war-may-be-the-best-outcome-for-the-world/) _2026-04-02 · Gail Tverberg · Our Finite World_ At this point, the world economy needs to make a major transition in order to deal with the inadequate level of fuels available for long-distance transportation. It is ironic that the world economy cannot make a change such as this without a war to focus our attention in this direction. Continue reading ## [A New Explanation for Tariffs and Bombings](https://ourfiniteworld.com/2026/03/02/a-new-explanation-for-tariffs-and-bombings/) _2026-03-03 · Gail Tverberg · Our Finite World_ Because of energy-related shortages that are already being encountered, national economies are beginning to act like the players in a game of musical chairs, with one too few chairs. Leaders have taken to building up armies, cutting off exports of critical minerals, imposing tariffs, and bombing other countries. Continue reading ## [The Most Important Foreign Policy Speech in Years](https://henryfarrell.net/the-most-important-foreign-policy-speech-in-years/) _2026-02-06 · Henry Farrell · Henry Farrell_ A Conversation with Ezra Klein. Beneath Carney’s analysis of what is happening is an idea I’ve been following for some time: weaponized interdependence. This idea comes from the international-relations theorists and professors Henry Farrell and Abraham Newman in their book “Underground Empire: How America Weaponized the World Economy.” The basic concept is that over time, \[ \] ## [Understanding Deglobalization: The Role of Diesel and Jet Fuel](https://ourfiniteworld.com/2026/02/02/understanding-deglobalization-the-role-of-diesel-and-jet-fuel/) _2026-02-02 · Gail Tverberg · Our Finite World_ While international trade grew as a percentage of GDP between the 1960s and 2008, it has been basically flat since then. Now the shortages of diesel and jet fuel are forcing the international trade percentage to start falling to a lower level. Continue reading ## [2026: Expect a very uneven world economic downturn](https://ourfiniteworld.com/2025/12/31/2026-expect-a-very-uneven-world-economic-downturn/) _2025-12-31 · Gail Tverberg · Our Finite World_ The Maximum Power Principle strongly suggests that even as limits are hit, the world economy cannot be expected to collapse all at once. Instead, the most efficient producers of goods and services will be able to succeed as long as resources are available, while less efficient producers will tend to fall by the wayside. Continue reading ## [Stocks ranked by what execs say (Sponsored)](https://crawlproof.com/a/r4D5wH038BkY) _2025-12-31 · **Sponsored**_ Evidence-backed watchlists from earnings calls and filings, cited to real transcripts—not guesses. ## [Too many promises; too few future physical goods](https://ourfiniteworld.com/2025/12/04/too-many-promises-too-few-future-physical-goods/) _2025-12-04 · Gail Tverberg · Our Finite World_ The world is filled with financial promises, including loans, pensions, and even the market value of stocks. So far, the system seems to be working, but in a finite world, it is hard to believe that the system will work indefinitely. Governments can create money simply by adding more promises, but they cannot create goods and services in a similar fashion. Continue reading ## [A lack of very cheap oil is leading to debt problems](https://ourfiniteworld.com/2025/10/31/a-lack-of-very-cheap-oil-is-leading-to-debt-problems/) _2025-10-31 · Gail Tverberg · Our Finite World_ The economy needs a strong middle class to maintain the buying power needed to purchase goods such as vehicles, motorcycles, and new homes, to keep the price of oil up. Prices must be both high enough for producers and low enough for consumers. Continue reading ## [Coming to Terms with Fiscal and Trade Deficits](https://smithers.co.uk/coming-to-terms-with-fiscal-and-trade-deficits/) _2025-10-25 · Andrew Smithers · Andrew Smithers – Author_ Published in: American Affairs, Fall 2025 / Volume IX, Number 3 John Maynard Keynes recognized that countries with persistent cur­rent account surpluses posed a threat to the world economy, but no agreement was reached at Bretton Woods, nor in any subsequent discus­sions, on how countries might be dissuaded from running them. The burden of accommodating \[…\] ## [How Civil Society Can Beat Trumpism: NYT](https://henryfarrell.net/nyt-how-civil-society-can-beat-trumpism/) _2025-10-15 · Henry Farrell · Henry Farrell_ The struggle over regime change is about whether the aspiring authoritarians can subdue civil society. Their strategy is to play divide and conquer, rewarding friends and brutally punishing opponents. They win when society cracks, creating a self-enforcing set of expectations, in which everyone shuts up and complies because everyone expects everyone else to shut up \[ \] ## [What has gone wrong with the economy? Can it be fixed?](https://ourfiniteworld.com/2025/10/06/what-has-gone-wrong-with-the-economy-can-it-be-fixed/) _2025-10-06 · Gail Tverberg · Our Finite World_ I don't believe that the situation is hopeless. At the end, I discuss where we are now, relative to historical patterns, and some reasons to be optimistic about the future. Continue reading ## [The Weaponized World Economy: Cover story for Foreign Affairs](https://henryfarrell.net/the-weaponized-world-economy-cover-story-for-foreign-affair/) _2025-08-22 · Henry Farrell · Henry Farrell_ When Washington announced a “framework deal” with China in June, it marked a silent shifting of gears in the global political economy. This was not the beginning of U.S. President Donald Trump’s imagined epoch of “liberation” under unilateral American greatness or a return to the Biden administration’s dream of managed great-power rivalry. Instead, it was \[ \] ## [The Enshittification of American Power](https://henryfarrell.net/the-enshittification-of-american-power/) _2025-07-17 · Henry Farrell · Henry Farrell_ Back in 2022, Cory Doctorow coined the term “enshittification” to describe a cycle that has played out again and again in the online economy. Entrepreneurs start off making high-minded promises to get new users to try their platforms. But once users, vendors, and advertisers have been locked in—by network effects, insurmountable collective action problems, high switching costs—the \[ \] ## [AI as Governance](https://henryfarrell.net/ai-as-governance-2/) _2025-07-12 · Henry Farrell · Henry Farrell_ Political scientists have had remarkably little to say about artificial intelligence (AI), perhaps because they are dissuaded by its technical complexity and by current debates about whether AI might emulate, outstrip, or replace individual human intelligence. They ought to consider AI in terms of its relationship with governance. Existing large-scale systems of governance such as \[ \] ## [Tangible and Intangible Capital](https://smithers.co.uk/tangible-and-intangible-capital/) _2025-07-03 · Andrew Smithers · Andrew Smithers – Author_ Published in: World Economics • Vol. 26 • No. 2 • April-June 2025 \[original pdf\] Key Points Major changes in national accounting were introduced between 1999 and Read the full article here: pdf ## [Crypto is a threat to the US Financial System](https://henryfarrell.net/crypto-is-a-threat-to-the-us-financial-system/) _2025-05-24 · Henry Farrell · Henry Farrell_ With Dan Davies for the New York Times This has been a good week for America’s crypto interests. The Genius Act, which legitimates a kind of cryptocurrency called stablecoins, advanced in the Senate, and on Thursday, President Trump held a gala dinner for the top 220 holders of his $Trump memecoin. That doesn’t mean \[ \] ## [Non-Custodial Crypto Gateway (Sponsored)](https://crawlproof.com/a/cxqccb4Q416s) _2025-05-24 · **Sponsored**_ Accept multi-chain crypto, automated fee handling, and trustless escrow with real-time settlement. ## [The Abundance Debate We’re Not Having](https://henryfarrell.net/the-abundance-debate-were-not-having/) _2025-05-01 · Henry Farrell · Henry Farrell_ The best way to read Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson’s new book is to take the authors at their word. Abundance is what is usually called a “policy book,” but Klein and Thompson don’t quite offer a traditional policy agenda. Instead, the authors begin and end with a question that is also a concentrating lens. “Can we \[ \] ## [Reining in Our Tech God-Emperors](https://henryfarrell.net/reining-in-our-tech-god-emperors/) _2025-04-20 · Henry Farrell · Henry Farrell_ What happens to politics when the voice of the people blurs together with the voices of self-appointed god-emperors like Elon Musk? We are about to find out. More at Democracy Journal. ## [The Brewing Transatlantic Tech War](https://henryfarrell.net/the-brewing-transatlantic-tech-war/) _2025-04-03 · Henry Farrell · Henry Farrell_ How Silicon Valley Got Entangled in Geopolitics—and Lost Technology companies such as Alphabet, Meta, and OpenAI need to wake up to an unpleasant reality. By getting close to U.S. President Donald Trump, they risk losing access to one of their biggest markets: Europe. More at Foreign Affairs ## [How Share Prices Fluctuate](https://smithers.co.uk/how-share-prices-fluctuate/) _2025-01-02 · Andrew Smithers · Andrew Smithers – Author_ Published in: World Economics • Vol. 25 • No. 4 • October–December 2024 \[original pdf\] Key Points Read the full article here: pdf ## [Box X: Pensions, Savings and Investment](https://smithers.co.uk/box-x-pensions-savings-and-investment/) _2024-11-06 · Andrew Smithers · Andrew Smithers – Author_ By Andrew Smithers Published by the NIESR in their Autumn 2024 UK Economic Outlook on 6th November 2024. Introduction This box picks up on two sessions of discussion involving an invited group of those working in financial services, organised by the NIESR, and a paper I wrote setting out the key issues and explaining their \[…\]