Jeffrey Sachs on Geography and the Wealth of Nations

Geography and the wealth of nations
https://www.youtube.com/live/8GYePkuNbKQ 

Related:

Winning the Trade Wars: Radical Rerouting | FT Rethink
https://youtu.be/2Egzwt9siFI

‘Dalifornia’ - China’s Laid-Back Capital

What I Learned in ‘Dalifornia,’ China’s Laid-Back Capital of Doing Nothing
https://www.wsj.com/world/china/what-i-learned-in-dalifornia-chinas-laid-back-capital-of-doing-nothing-2fd1266d
A trend among China’s youth of fleeing the rat race and doing the bare minimum has prompted concern in Beijing. But most young Chinese do want to work. 

Geopolitical Shocks Hit Gulf Economies

Gulf Economies, Torn by War in Iran, Desperately Need a Return to Normal
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/11/02/business/iran-war-gulf-economies.html
States like Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates that have worked to rebalance from a dependence on energy have seen growth plunge in a year of strife.  

Chinese EVs and the Global Automarket

‘This Is a Knife Fight’: Inside China’s Ruthless EV Blitz Upending the World
https://www.barrons.com/articles/china-ev-blitz-gm-ford-stock-b73ce2bf
China has so much excess capacity to manufacture inexpensive, feature-laden electric vehicles and hybrids that it threatens car companies—and car stocks—everywhere. 

The Modi Era

Narendra Modi and the battle for India
https://www.economist.com/briefing/2026/10/29/narendra-modi-and-the-battle-for-india
India’s strongman has changed the country for good and ill. Now he is facing one of his sternest tests yet. 

China Moves Up the Value Ladder

Welcome to the new ‘Made in China’
https://www.reuters.com/graphics/CHINA-ECONOMY/TRADE-OBJECTS/moparrmewva/
A new wave of Chinese exports is rewriting what it means to be made in China. Textiles, furniture and cheap electronics are being joined by a new generation of high-tech, high-quality products once associated with Japan, Europe or the United States. 

Related:

A Tale of Two Chinas
https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/china-real-estate-crash-highlights-uneven-prosperity-and-regional-disparities-by-kenneth-rogoff-2026-10
China’s economy is deeply unbalanced, with a battered real-estate sector, weak consumption, and stark regional disparities coexisting with dynamic tech and export sectors. But provided that political stability is maintained, China could continue to be a global powerhouse even as hundreds of millions of its citizens remain poor.

China's AI Bubble Has Already Popped

AI stock bubble? China's has already popped
https://www.reuters.com/world/china/china-ai-bubble-has-already-burst-2026-10-26/
https://www.reuters.com/video/watch/idRW338827102026RP1/ 

Lula’s Challenges

Why Brazil Can’t Hide from Its Debt
https://youtu.be/UgYnjB2es2s

Five economic challenges facing Brazil's re-elected President Lula
https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/five-economic-challenges-facing-brazils-re-elected-president-lula-2026-10-26/

Brazilian Markets Convulse After Unexpected Election Result
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/10/26/business/brazil-stock-markets-election-lula.html
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s re-election victory prompted a sharp reversal in financial markets that had expected his opponent to win. 

 
Lula faces a fiscal reckoning after Brazil's market rout
https://www.ft.com/content/0231b234-14dc-4ff0-8263-e1063b0a25d5
 
Brazil's weird economy needs serious reform
https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2026/10/22/brazils-weird-economy-needs-serious-reform 

Another Crash Landing for Brazil’s Economy?
https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/brazil-fiscal-deterioration-under-lula-will-carry-high-domestic-costs-by-gene-frieda-2026-10
Brazil’s floating exchange rate, high foreign-exchange reserves, strong commodity exports, and debt denominated predominantly in its own currency reduce its exposure to a balance-of-payments crisis. Nonetheless, continued fiscal deterioration under President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva will carry high domestic costs.

Tata's Future

A Battle for Control of India’s Biggest Business Empire
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/10/21/business/tata-india-boardroom-fight.html
A boardroom fight, an attempted veto and government intervention have plunged the Tata Group, one of India’s most revered institutions, into a fight over its future.  

Resource Constraints

The End of Abundance
https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/emerging-economies-must-recognize-need-for-fiscal-dominance-by-v-anantha-nageswaran-2026-10
The decades ahead will be shaped by a contest for natural resources, making the world more prone to stagflation and handing the levers of policy back to governments. Emerging economies that are rich in people but poor in resources will be the most acutely affected but can take practical steps to strengthen their resilience. 

Economic Growth and Social Progress

Asia's giants turned growth into social progress, Japan kept progressing with an economy that barely moved, and the US went the other way.
https://movingfrontiers.substack.com/p/social-progress-index 

Indonesia's Economic Woes

Indonesian Stocks Plunge on Threat to Drop Market from Major Indexes 
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/10/16/business/indonesia-stocks-economy.html
The potential downgrade by MSCI, an influential index provider, adds to a deepening crisis of investor confidence in the economic policies of Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto. 

‘A Ticking Time Bomb’: An Economic Crisis Looms in Indonesia
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/10/19/business/indonesia-economy-stocks.html

China’s Economic and Policy Challenges

China’s investment in transport infrastructure has peaked
https://www.economist.com/china/2026/10/29/chinas-investment-in-transport-infrastructure-has-peaked
Has it built too many expressways and high-speed rail lines?

China’s Export Boom Masks Deep Economic Problems at Home
https://www.wsj.com/world/china/chinas-export-boom-masks-deep-economic-problems-at-home-945833ac
Even as China makes strides in areas such as AI, much of its domestic economy is dragged down by gloomy consumer sentiment and a real-estate slump.

China’s Weakening Economy Is Creating a Lost Generation
https://www.wsj.com/world/china-economy-gen-z-f9058941
Young people are watching their bright futures disappear as the country’s job losses pile up and the milestones of adulthood slip further away.
 
Xi’s Superpower Ambitions Fuel a Dangerous Debt Spiral in China
https://www.wsj.com/world/china/xis-superpower-ambitions-fuel-a-dangerous-debt-spiral-in-china-edad4f9f
Chinese leader Xi Jinping is presiding over a dangerous spiral of debt that is strangling the economy at home and damaging trade partners around the world.
 
A Stronger Renminbi Is No Quick Fix for Global Imbalances
https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/chinese-currency-weakness-symptom-not-cause-of-global-imbalances-by-kai-guo-2026-10 

The Hidden Policies That Power China’s Export Boom
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/10/06/business/china-exports-currency.html
Huge tax breaks and a weak currency sustain exports, widen the government budget deficit and complicate the country’s efforts to rebalance its economy. 

China Is Offering Half Measures to Its Mounting Economic Problems
https://www.wsj.com/world/china/china-is-offering-half-measures-to-its-mounting-economic-problems-3074211f
Beijing is pursuing big technological advances while shunning painful policy measures needed to fix the broader economy.

China is giving its economy a big shot in the arm
https://www.economist.com/briefing/2026/10/01/china-is-giving-its-economy-a-big-shot-in-the-arm
A massive infrastructure scheme may give the country a sorely needed boost—and help rebalance the world economy. 

India's Private Healthcare Sector Boom

Global private equity fuels Indian healthcare’s push into smaller cities
https://www.ft.com/content/09cde3c2-26d3-4390-8fc0-f6292561a5bf
Hospitals flush with foreign money are expanding rapidly and filling gaps in public infrastructure. 

Is There an Investment Boom in Africa?

The Two Africas
https://www.foreignaffairs.com/africa/two-africas
Who Will Benefit from the Continent’s Investment Boom? 

Shifting Fortunes - EM versus DM Debt

Rich Countries Are Now on Front Lines as World’s Risk Map Shifts
https://finance.yahoo.com/economy/policy/articles/rich-countries-now-front-lines-110000008.html  
 
Related:
https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/european-debt-crisis-risks-risen-064109209.html 

Development Finance

Development Finance Needs More Than One Currency
https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/chinese-renminbi-lending-developing-countries-by-justin-yifu-lin-and-yan-wang-2026-10
For many developing countries, renminbi-denominated loans offer a credible, increasingly accessible, and cost-effective alternative to borrowing in dollars. Now that the stability and predictability of US economic policies and institutions are in question, the Chinese currency is becoming more attractive.
 
Rating Africa on Its Own Terms
https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/new-africa-credit-rating-agency-could-mark-turning-point-for-the-continent-by-hannah-wanjie-ryder-2026-10
For decades, African countries' borrowing costs have been largely determined by major credit-rating agencies whose methods overlook key features of these economies' institutions and markets. The new Africa Credit Rating Agency could mark a turning point, challenging how the continent’s credit risk is graded and priced.
 
African governments launch rating agency to challenge global ‘big three’
https://www.ft.com/content/7811d98a-7693-4596-a0f8-7329ed293116
AfCRA aims to end ‘Africa premium’ that policymakers say has been imposed by Moody’s, S&P Global and Fitch Ratings. 

A Financial Crisis in Turkey

Explainer: How Turkey's investment fund bubble burst
https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/how-turkeys-investment-fund-bubble-burst-2026-10-02/
Regulators ordered the liquidation of 131 funds managed by seven asset managers as politicians, former officials and celebrities piled in. Turkish authorities alleged that some funds were being used for market manipulation.  

Globalization and Capital Taxation

Bachas, Pierre, Matthew Fisher-Post, Anders Jensen, and Gabriel Zucman. 2026. "Globalization, Capital Taxation, and Development: Evidence from a Macrohistorical Database." American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 18 (4): 509–49.
https://www.aeaweb.org/articles/pdf/doi/10.1257/app.20240746
This paper builds and analyzes a new global macrohistorical database of effective tax rates on capital and labor in 154 countries. We establish a new stylized fact: While effective capital tax rates fell in developed countries between 1965 and 2018, they rose in developing countries after 1990. Multiple country-, sector-, and firm-level research designs suggest that trade openness contributed to this rise by increasing the share of output produced in corporations and larger firms, where effective capital taxation is higher. In contrast to a common view, globalization appears in many countries to have supported governments' ability to tax capital. 

India's Southern Tech Capitals

Bloomberg Wall Street Week Reports:
Bangalore: Can India’s IT Capital Survive Its Own Success?
https://youtu.be/dEe4A3O9OmI 
Why India’s Big Tech Companies Are Betting on Hyderabad
https://youtu.be/zDLi0cQKxEU