Finance & economics

Buttonwood

Why investors should still avoid Chinese stocks

The debate about “uninvestability” obscures something important

Hammered

China’s property crisis claims more victims: companies

Unsold homes are contributing to a balance-sheet recession

C-BAM!

Europe’s green trade restrictions are infuriating poor countries

Only the poorest can expect help to cushion the blow

The other wall

How America learned to love tariffs

Protectionism hasn’t been this respectable for decades

Buttonwood

Why have markets grown more captivated by data releases?

Especially when the quality of statistics is deteriorating

Free exchange

Can the world’s most influential business index be fixed?

Two cheers for the World Bank’s new global business survey

When the smoke clears

Can markets reduce pollution in India?

An experiment in Gujarat yields impressive results

Worst-keg scenario

Could war in the Gulf push oil to $100 a barrel?

Missiles are flying over a region that supplies a third of the world’s crude

Keeping up with the neighbours

How bond investors soured on France

They now regard the euro zone’s second-largest economy as riskier than Spain

Buttonwood

Can Andrea Orcel, Europe’s star banker, create a super-bank?

An interview with the boss of UniCredit

Free exchange

Why economic warfare nearly always misses its target

There is no such thing as a strategic commodity

Unaccountable accounts

A tonne of public debt is never made public

New research suggests governments routinely hide their borrowing