Take a median income location, have grid reliability problems, along with cheap solar and adoption skyrockets. Watch as this pattern replicates in multiple Asian countries because of LNG shortages.

Britain has the highest borrowing costs among G7 economies • High perceived political risks, weakened public finances and stubbornly high inflation fuel yields • This is huge reversal from just five years ago, when UK borrowing costs were around G7 average www.ft.com/content/49fe...

www.ft.com/content/7d3a... Europe must prepare for ‘long-lasting’ energy shock, EU warns

Occurs to me that in the age of robotics, the age old joke — the only thing Microsoft could make that wouldn’t suck is a vacuum cleaner — might actually come to pass.

C'était un 3 avril. Quelque part sur la sixième avenue à New-York. Le 1er appel mobile le 3 avril 1973 Martin Cooper, un employé de Motorola appelle son concurrent chez Bell. L'ère de la téléphonie mobile s'ouvrait. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_...

Oh my god www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-...

One of the very few benefits of Brexit was the end of these BRUSSELS GONNA DO THIS ONE THING THAT WILL ENRAGE DAILY MAIL READERS stories. Now we get Brexit *and* the bendy bananas bullshit. Worst of both worlds. www.bbc.com/news/article...

In my latest piece for Carnegie, I explain why GDP growth in economies that mainly operate under hard budget constraints is not comparable to GDP growth in countries, like China, in which a large part of the economy operates under soft budget constraints. carnegieendowment.org/china-financ...

Sorry what ?

L'étalement urbain. #sprawl Un phénomène non maîtrisé, qui accentue notre dépendance énergétique. Qui remet en cause nos équilibres géographiques, dans des sociétés développées et metropolisées. #Dublin #Irlande #cartaquarelle

Strong recommend

People say Trump has no war strategy, but his strategy is quite clearly a criminal one of destroying Iran's civilian infrastructure (and killing a bunch of people in the process) unless they capitulate. We -- the United States of America -- are a rogue state and global pariah.

My new book with Stephen Broadberry on economic warfare and sanctions in history is available here www.cambridge.org/core/books/e... @warwickecon.bsky.social @cagewarwick.bsky.social

With Gulf supplies drying up, discounts on Iranian oil are evaporating • Chinese teapot refineries used to get discounts of $18-24/barrel of Iranian Light against Brent • Factoring in freight costs, Iranian Light delivered to China is now more expensive than Brent www.economist.com/finance-and-...

Russian business sentiment has it its lowest point since 2022 • High interest rates, sanctions and labour shortages are weighing on sentiment • Russia's GDP (officially) contracted by 2.1% year on year in January, the first drop since 2023 www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

It was fun being among the replication team (and co-author)

Cette fois-ci, c'est le grand jour : "Utiliser l'histoire" sort aujourd'hui. En partant des références historiques hasardeuses - ou carrément mensongères - des politiques, un petit retour sur ce qu'on sait et à ce qu'on ne sait pas de quelques questions d'histoire, récente ou non.

📃 Nouveau billet de blog OFCE 💡 "Non, l’État ne profite pas de la hausse du pétrole" par @xtimbeau.bsky.social www.ofce.fr/blog2024/fr/...

Very good thread:

Well this is really cheerful open.substack.com/pub/paulkrug...

Glioblastoma is among the most intractable, lethal forms of cancer--and one with personal relevance, as it killed my closest childhood friend at 37. (Time between diagnosis and death: 4 months.) Over the last few yrs, there's been signs of successful treatments--and now the hope for a vaccine.

😱 Pénurie d'hélium à prévoir en conséquence de la guerre en Iran qui touche aussi un site quatari. Le Qatar produit 30% du total mondial d’environ 190 millions de m3 d'hélium ... et lorsque la production de gaz naturel liquéfié s'arrête, la production d'hélium cesse également ! (1/2) #sciences

🔵 Our euro, your solution. Comment renforcer le rôle international de l’euro ? Nouvelle Note du CAE, de Hélène Rey et @ludovicsubran.bsky.social : dans un contexte de fragmentation géopolitique, l’euro pourrait en profiter à condition de lever ses contraintes structurelles. 📘 Lire : urlr.me/eSqMP3

US-induced oil shortage is magnifying Cuba's economic crisis • Venezuela, Mexico and Russia used to supply Cuba with ~60,000 barrels of oil per day • Since January flows have dropped because of Maduro's arrest and US tariff threats on countries supplying Cuba www.economist.com/the-americas...

Report on global imbalances handed in yesterday to President Emmanuel Macron for the G7 written with Gita Gopinath, Axel Weber and Chon-En Bai. jp.diplomatie.gouv.fr/fr/rapport-s...

Isfahan is a city with over 2,500 years of continuous history. The US and Israel are bombing one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the region. Over 2 million people live there. I’ve only heard from my family once since the war began and this is their city, Isfahan, tonight. #Iran

Europe's regulation of business leaves much to be desired. But its strict competition rules are not among the problem. Weakening them to allow for "European champions" to emerge would be a step in the wrong direction.

📽️ WHY are diesel prices rising so fast? Well, partly because this is the worst oil supply shock in modern history. And partly because of an obscure decision taken by politicians decades ago. My latest mega primer on the economic consequences of war in the Gulf👇 youtu.be/q1AOuUsXd70?...

Much more than wine, China has turned into the world's #1 beer-drinking country. In 2024, China consumed 22% of the world's beer (down from 27% in 2013). The shares of Brazil (8%) and Mexico (6%) have been steadily rising. In contrast, the shares of the US, Germany, and the UK have plummeted.

All of southern Lebanon ordered evacuated south of the Zahrani river on March 12. The order for south of the Litani is explicitly open-ended, like the 2025 orders in Gaza that preceded the IDF's demolition on the ground of almost all buildings in the evacuated areas. Includes the city of Tyre.

À propos des travaux d’Adrien Bilal : www.challenges.fr/politique/cl...

Après la Russie et le Qatar, il n’est pas impossible que la coupe du monde aux usa soit encore pire pour la liberte de la presse open.substack.com/pub/sporting...

The bill was devised by Itamar Ben Gvir, who wore noose-shaped lapel pins in the run-up to the vote. Ben Gvir was convicted in 2007 of racist incitement against Arabs and support for the Kach group, a designated a terrorist organization by both Israel and the United States. He wrote the law.

More than 100 Palestinian detainees have already died in Israeli custody since October 2023. Dozens are still disappeared. Over 9,300 Palestinians sit in Israeli detention right now, including 350 children. Hundreds could face execution under this law.

Israel abolished the death penalty for ordinary crimes in 1954. Today they voted to bring it back — exclusively for Palestinians.

BREAKING: Israel's Knesset has passed a law to execute Palestinian detainees. Death by hanging. Mandatory sentencing. No pardon. 90 days to carry out. It applies through military courts with a 96% conviction rate. It does not apply to Israelis.

People do not appreciate what a vast, fundamental sea change batteries are bringing to the electrical system.

“Although the war could shape the global economy in different ways, all roads lead to higher prices and slower growth”. www.imf.org/en/blogs/art...

La fiche de FIPECO fipeco.fr/fiche/La-cro... sur l'évolution des dépenses publiques a été mise à jour avec les données publiées par l'Insee sur les comptes de 2025

The main cup and ring marked stone slab near Lordenshaws hillfort in Northumberland, with the Simonside ridge behind. Late Neolithic or early Bronze Age #StandingStoneSunday

A new contender for best headline

The dramatic and sustained fall in Sauternes vineyard prices: between 1991 and 2023, Sauternes vineyard prices declined by more than 90%, representing a compound average growth rate of -7% per year. In contrast, the avg price for Bordeaux AOP vineyards is now more than four times higher.

Another possible addition to the “not good” scenario.

Ad to run a wine ad in Playboy, 1985. "Because PLAYBOY men are proven purchasers. In the past six months, they accounted for 16.5 percent of all American dinner and table wines and 18 percent of all imported dinner and table wines consumed by men." Hard to believe.

I’d describe the timing of this as “not great”. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...