Central banks have been caught out by the sudden upturn in inflation. In the United States, CPI inflation is now 6.2%. The Federal Reserve’s preferred measure of inflation, core PCE, has risen to its highest level in 30 years. And inflation is well above target in many industrialized countries. …

The US is about to elect a president in the most divisive political atmosphere of our lifetimes. Whoever wins will face the unenviable task of trying to bring America together. In Britain, the government faces a similar test of uniting the country, whatever the outcome of its negotiations with the…

Next week marks the 50th anniversary of the Nobel Prize in Economics, as it has come to be known. It was first awarded in 1969 by the Swedish central bank as an addendum to the other, much older, Nobel prizes (and is correctly known as the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of…