Analytical long-form
Each essay tackles a single question — argued, sourced, edited slow.
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South Korea vs Argentina: Two Economies That Started Together and Ended Worlds Apart
In 1960 the two countries had similar income per head. By 2024 one was four times richer. The story is mostly institutions, not natural resources.
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The Middle-Income Trap: Why Some Countries Stop Getting Rich Around $12,000
The pattern is real, but the explanation is contested. A look at Brazil, Turkey, Malaysia, Mexico — and the handful that escaped.
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The 1970s Inflation Crisis and What It Actually Teaches About the 2020s
The two episodes share a number on the CPI release but almost nothing else. Mistaking them costs central banks credibility.
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Why Countries Get Rich: The 1960–2025 GDP Per Capita Divergence Explained
Over 65 years the income gap between the richest and poorest economies widened, not narrowed. The mechanisms are not what intro textbooks suggest.
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How Oil Shocks Rewire Economies: From the 1973 Crisis to Russia, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela
Crude price spikes do not just raise pump prices. They re-pattern fiscal politics, current accounts and central bank decisions for a decade.
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The Dollar Standard After Bretton Woods: Why the System Survived Its Own Collapse
Nixon ended gold convertibility in 1971. Fifty years later the dollar's share of global reserves is still 58 percent. The puzzle is durability, not collapse.
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Population Collapse Is an Economic Story: Japan, Korea, Italy and the Future of Growth
Working-age population peaks before total population peaks. By the time the headline number falls, the macro impact is a decade old.
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Debt Crises Have a Pattern: What 50 Years of Sovereign Defaults Reveal
The sequence of warning signs — current account, FX reserves, short-term debt — repeats. The political reaction window is shorter than it looks.
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Why Some Democracies Grow Faster Than Others: Governance, Corruption and GDP Since 1996
Regime type explains less of growth variation than governance quality. The data on WGI scores and per-capita growth is messier than political theory allows.
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The Rise and Fall of Export-Led Growth: Germany, China, Japan and the Limits of Surplus Economies
A current account surplus is one country's claim on another. When too many large economies run them at once, the system pushes back.
