International

Global inequality—both between countries and within them—has been shaped by a complex mix of economic, technological, political and environmental forces over the past four decades. Some trends reduced differences across countries, notably rapid growth in China and parts of Asia; others sharply widened income and wealth gaps inside most advanced and many emerging economies. Understanding the drivers helps explain why wealth and income cluster in the hands of a few while large populations remain vulnerable.Core economic driversStrong returns on capital relative to overall expansion The dynamic underscored by Thomas Piketty—showing that capital yields can outstrip economic growth—remains pivotal. When returns…

Inflation does not originate only from domestic demand or wage pressures. Open economies routinely absorb price pressures originating overseas. Imported inflation occurs when increases in the prices of goods and services from other countries, or shifts in exchange rates and global supply conditions, transmit into domestic prices. Understanding the channels, conditions, and policy implications helps businesses, policymakers, and households manage exposure and respond effectively.Main channels of imported inflationExchange rate pass-through: When the domestic currency depreciates, imported goods become costlier, and retailers, manufacturers, and service providers that rely on foreign inputs frequently shift these elevated expenses to consumers, pushing overall inflation…

Relying on a single energy supplier means that a household, business, community, or country obtains most or all of its energy—electricity, natural gas, heating fuel, or critical components for renewable systems—from one source. That source may be a single company, a single foreign country, a single fuel type, or a single supply chain node. Dependence concentrates risk: supply interruptions, price spikes, operational failures, policy shifts, or geopolitical events affecting that supplier can have outsized effects on consumers and systems.Forms of Reliance on a Sole SupplierSingle company or utility: A region served mainly by one dominant provider responsible for delivering electricity,…

Global interest rates set by major central banks and reflected in international bond yields shape the cost of money worldwide. That transmission matters for everyday prices—mortgages, rents, food, energy, and consumer credit—even when domestic central banks set local policy. This article explains the transmission channels, gives concrete examples and numbers, and outlines how households, firms, and policymakers experience and respond to global rate changes.Key transmission channelsGlobal interest rates influence local living costs through several linked channels:Exchange rates and import prices: Higher global rates, especially in reserve currencies, attract capital to those currencies. That can depreciate local currencies, raising the local-currency…

Weak or incomplete environmental data is a pervasive challenge for governments, regulators, and companies trying to enforce climate rules. Weak data can mean sparse measurement networks, inconsistent self-reporting, outdated inventories, or political and technical barriers to access. Despite these limits, regulators and verification bodies use a mix of remote sensing, statistical inference, proxy indicators, targeted auditing, conservative accounting, and institutional measures to assess and enforce compliance with climate commitments.Types of data weakness and why they matterWeakness in climate data emerges through multiple factors:Spatial gaps: scarce monitoring stations or narrow geographic reach, often affecting low-income areas and isolated industrial zones.Temporal gaps:…

Public debate often associates energy storage with lithium-ion batteries, and understandably so, as these batteries have driven swift progress in grid flexibility, electric vehicles, and decentralized energy systems. However, achieving a full energy transition demands a diversified suite of storage technologies. Distinct storage methods offer different durations, capacities, costs, environmental impacts, and grid-support functions. Viewing storage as a one-technology issue can lead to technical mismatches, economic drawbacks, and lost chances to strengthen resilience.What “storage” must deliverEnergy storage serves more than one purpose. Systems are evaluated based on:Duration: spanning milliseconds to seconds for frequency regulation, minutes to hours for peak shifting,…

A high-level leadership transition within Israel’s intelligence community is unfolding amid ongoing tensions with Iran. Early expectations about the conflict’s outcome have not materialized, raising questions about strategy, decision-making, and the future direction of regional security policies.A substantial shift is unfolding across Israel’s intelligence network even as the nation remains deeply immersed in its prolonged, intricate standoff with Iran. Central to this evolution is the imminent installation of Roman Gofman as the new director of Mossad, Israel’s foreign intelligence service. His entry follows weeks of persistent hostilities that have failed to produce the rapid political change some officials once expected.…

Global supply chains are larger and more connected than ever, yet they regularly feel brittle. Disruptions that once would have been localized now ripple across continents. That fragility is not just a series of bad events; it is the product of structural choices, changing risk landscapes, and incentives that prioritize cost efficiency over redundancy. Understanding why requires looking at concrete disruptions, systemic drivers, and the realistic trade-offs firms and governments face when trying to harden supply lines.High-profile shocks that exposed weak linksCOVID-19 pandemic: Factory closures, workforce shortages, and volatile demand between 2020 and 2022 led to widespread scarcities in medical…

Debt stands as a potent fiscal limitation, and when nations, institutions, or households shoulder substantial debt loads, their capacity to deploy resources swiftly and effectively in the face of pandemics, climate-related catastrophes, refugee surges, or financial upheavals becomes severely weakened; operating through several channels that include shrinking fiscal room, elevating borrowing costs, imposing austerity via conditional measures, and triggering coordination breakdowns among creditors, debt amplifies these pressures during crises, transforming localized strain into extended global fragility.How debt restricts crisis response capabilities: the underlying mechanismsLoss of fiscal space: High debt service obligations (interest and principal repayments) divert government revenue away from…

Vulnerable countries—those with limited capacity to absorb climate shocks, high exposure to sea-level rise, drought, floods or heat, and constrained fiscal space—require large and sustained financing to adapt and to transition to low-carbon development. Financing for climate action in these settings comes from multiple streams, each designed to address different risks, timelines and types of projects. Below is a practical map of how that financing is structured, who provides it, the instruments used, common barriers, and examples of successful approaches.Why financing matters and what it must coverClimate finance in vulnerable countries must cover both adaptation (protecting lives, livelihoods and infrastructure)…