Britain’s poor productivity record is only partly explained by less capital and poorer training, says Howard Davies. It seems Britons are badly managed too For about a quarter of a century, from the early 1960s through to the mid-1980s, the United Kingdom was, in economic terms, the sick man of Europe. Its growth rate lagged…

Businesses have yet to deal with rapid population ageing, says Denys Correll. The answer is to work longer Populations are ageing rapidly in many regions, especially in Japan and Europe. It is now a widely accepted fact. This trend has been accompanied by a worrying decline in labour force participation around the world over the…

The problem is not that the United States is spending too much, but that the rest of the world is spending too little, says Richard Cooper There are three sources of concern with the global economy right now: high oil prices, the large American current account deficit, and significant budget deficits in all the world’s…

Pakistan’s fortunes have turned around over the past five years. From international pariah to a member of the American-led coalition in the war on terror; from bankrupt state to a thriving economy. Much of this success can be attributed to Shaukat Aziz. A former investment banker, Aziz was Pakistan’s minister of finance until August 2004,…

America must now use its clout to push for peace. But, says Hanan Ashrawi, a just and lasting agreement will also require profound Palestinian reform – from within Any transition brings a degree of uncertainty and apprehension. But in this post-Arafat era, there are hopeful signs for both nation-building and peace-making. Yasser Arafat’s larger-than-life personality…

Despite expectations in the 20th century that religion was on the wane, says Karen Armstrong, fundamentalism has emerged as a backlash to secularism In the middle of the 20th century, it was generally assumed that secularism was the coming ideology and that religion would never again play a major role in world events. Today, religion…

The belief that the US cannot afford another conflict is misguided, says Ervand Abrahamian. Fuelled by mutual paranoia, the risk of war with Iran is growing The recent pledge by Iran to “suspend temporarily” the enrichment of uranium has merely postponed a likely major collision between the Islamic Republic and America – a confrontation that…

Tomorrow’s consumers will not easily be segmented. “High end” customers will sometimes buy cheap goods and “low end” seek the occasional luxury experience, say James Allen and Darrell Rigby The Campbell Soup Company has come face to face with its new competitors– and they use drive-through windows. When the $7 billion food giant enlisted scores…

The new negotiating patterns in the World Trade Organization are important not just for the pursuit of fairer farm trade, says Celso Amorim, but as a model for fairer international governance “But still mankind listened deeply To the harmony of the whole creation, And aligned every action to the greater order And not to the…