Reasons to be cheerful about Generation Z | Apr 20th 2024 | The Economist (2024)

Apr 20th 2024

The world this week

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OK Zoomer

Reasons to be cheerful about Generation Z

They are not doomed to be poor and anxious

The Modi juggernaut

India’s democracy needs a stronger opposition

The Congress party is set for a drubbing in the world’s biggest election

The Middle East on fire

Israel should not rush to strike back at Iran

Instead it should try a novel response to Iran’s missile attack: restraint

Your country needs (more of) you

How to get more people into military uniforms

Why mandatory military service makes sense for some countries but not others

The second Powell pivot

America’s interest rates are unlikely to fall this year

That will squeeze financial markets and the world economy

Poor prescription

America’s moves against Chinese biotech will hurt patients at home

The motives behind the BIOSECURE act are muddy

On China, WEIRD countries, nuclear weapons, O.J. Simpson, software engineers, XL Bully dogs, banlieues, uniforms

Letters to the editor

Israel and Iran

A Middle East scholar on Israel’s escalating tit-for-tat with Iran

Casualties of war

A trauma surgeon on why Gaza is the worst of war zones

Emptying and fuming

America is uniquely ill-suited to handle a falling population

Which is a worry, because much of it is already shrinking

Burlesque hour

Donald Trump’s first criminal trial will be both momentous and tawdry

Busted trust

America’s trust in its institutions has collapsed

Sleeping rough

Is ticketing homeless people a cruel and unusual punishment?

Biden and student loans

The White House unveils a pair of bad policies to woo voters

Can touch this

Lots of state legislators believe any contact with fentanyl is fatal

If you build it, they will sue

How two small Texas towns became the patent-law centre of America

Lexington

Truth Social is a mind-bending win for Donald Trump

Musk v Moraes

Elon Musk is feuding with Brazil’s powerful Supreme Court

The sticky stuff

The world’s insatiable appetite for Canada’s maple syrup

The Glas affair

Why Ecuador risked global condemnation to storm Mexico’s embassy

The last Gandhi?

Gandhi v Modi: crunch time for Congress as India prepares to vote

Maritime manoeuvres

Tensions mount between China and the Philippines

Waving the red flag

An obscure communist newspaper is shaping Japan’s politics

Banyan

Lawrence Wong will be only the fourth PM in Singapore’s history

Degrees and difficulty

Why so many Chinese graduates cannot find work

A meeting and a message

China is talking to Taiwan’s next leader, just not directly

A puff piece

Examining the fluff that frustrates northern China

Chaguan

The dark side of growing old

Striking out

One of the Middle East’s oldest conflicts has entered a new era

The Middle East on fire

Iranians fear their brittle regime will drag them into war

Israel’s dilemma

Iran’s attack has left Israel in a difficult position

Deeper into hell

After a year of war, Sudan is a failing state

I get knocked down

Tanzania’s opposition, once flat on its back, is now on its knees

Schuling around

Germany is flunking the education test

Not-so-bullish Germany in the China shop

The German chancellor’s awkward meeting with China’s boss

Le nouveau faucon

How Russia targeted France and radicalised Emmanuel Macron

The Russians are coming

Ukraine is digging in as the Kremlin steps up its offensive

Droning on

Ukraine is ignoring US warnings to end drone operations inside Russia

Charlemagne

How a conservative conference morphed into a crisis of liberalism

All change

Explore our prediction model for Britain’s looming election

Crossover

How tactical voting might affect the British election

Machines

Where are all the British robots?

If you pull on a thread

The push to decriminalise abortion in Britain heats up

Critical minerals

Britain’s black-mass problem

“Sexually, I’m more of a Switzerland”

Online dating spells the end of Britain’s lonely-hearts ads

Bagehot

Local British politics is a mix of the good, the bad and the mad

War and recruitment

Would you really die for your country?

The imitation game

Generative AI is a marvel. Is it also built on theft?

Pups in cashmere

Who will lead the LVMH luxury empire?

Bartleby

The lessons of woke Scrabble

The health-care horserace

America hits Chinese biotech—and its own drugmakers

Schumpeter

What is weighing on CEOs’ minds this earnings season?

Earning power

Generation Z is unprecedentedly rich

Buttonwood

Why the stockmarket is disappearing

Manufacturing miracles

China’s better economic growth hides reasons to worry

Conflict finance

Frozen Russian assets will soon pay for Ukraine’s war

Explosive material

Even without war in the Gulf, pricier petrol is here to stay

House of Fraser

Citigroup, Wall Street’s biggest loser, is at last on the up

Free exchange

Can the IMF solve the poor world’s debt crisis?

AI’s next top model

Large language models are getting bigger and better

Who you gonna call?

Locust-busting is getting a upgrade

Digital detoxes

What is screen time doing to children?

Show me the Monet

On its 150th anniversary, Impressionism is surprisingly relevant

Press play

How Hollywood fell in love with video games

Get a clue

What is a 14-letter word for a constructor of crossword puzzles?

Mountaineering

Climbing Everest is the extreme sport du jour

All quiet about the Eastern Front

Much of the Great War was decided in the east

Back Story

Salman Rushdie’s gripping take on being stabbed

Indicators

Economic data, commodities and markets

The Economist explains

How a home-improvement subsidy is wrecking Italy’s public finances

The Economist explains

What is geoengineering?

A gaijin makes good

Akebono was the first foreign-born grand champion of sumo