Project Syndicate

If Marine Le Pen of the far-right National Rally wins the French presidency next year, we may also be witnessing the start of a systemic transformation with dire implications for Europe, Joschka Fischer warns. bit.ly/4yKiCri

@rebecagrynspan.bsky.social and Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett should be seen as the two front-runners to succeed @antonioguterres.bsky.social as un.org secretary-general. Jorge Heine explains why. bit.ly/4A9Efmy

The Donald Trump administration has become a useful foil for governments that are actually serious about pursing public control in the interest of the common good, @mazzucatom.bsky.social and Anna Hope Emerson observe. bit.ly/4kjkCD2

Donald Trump's Shield of the Americas never addressed what the region really needs. Its far-right rulers’ most important task is to pull their countries out of the rut of stagnant productivity, Jeremy Adelman explains. bit.ly/4srrLmN

@pkrugman.bsky.social recently concluded that, when it comes to “weaponized interdependence,” the EU is more powerful than both the US and China. But @jefffrankel.bsky.social (@harvard.edu) thinks this conclusion rests on a faulty approach to comparing national GDPs. bit.ly/4zaiUc1

The Indonesian Center for Environmental Law’s Grita Anindarini encourages policymakers to explore the possibility of a regional endowment fund that could redirect government revenue derived from mining and fossil-fuel production toward supporting community-based transitions. bit.ly/3W6Re9g

Companies counting on AI spending to rise forever may be in for a rude awakening. Those that fail to maintain adequate cash reserves could discover just how quickly the tide can turn, notes Dambisa Moyo. bit.ly/4iH4mKY

Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act gave entrepreneurs an incentive to design platforms that could capitalize on user-generated content without having to internalize its social costs, @oliviersylvain.bsky.social explains. bit.ly/3UI7JYZ

China's tax revenues have collapsed from 18.4% of GDP in 2012 to 12.6% in 2025, a level one would associate more with a struggling, lower-middle-income country than an aspiring superpower, note Navneeraj Sharma and @arvind2011.bsky.social. bit.ly/4ihm4DB

The model of funding public-finance oversight in developing countries through grants has started to collapse, African Forum & Network on Debt and Development’s Janet Zhou warns. bit.ly/3UDNlIq

To build a more geographically balanced economy, South Korea must pursue targeted—or “imbalanced”—investment, notes Keun Lee (Seoul National University). This lesson applies beyond South Korea. bit.ly/48cy2JQ

Europe has yet to leverage its strengths in a way that would unlock its full potential. What can policymakers do to change that? Visit Project Syndicate’s European Competitiveness topic page for expert analysis on how the continent can secure its economic future. bit.ly/3TS5O3M

In sectors where inaccurate information carries a significant cost, one already finds mechanisms for establishing the provenance of information and correcting mistakes. An agentic economy would vastly expand this need, notes Shuwei Fang. bit.ly/4dW6V9k

It is possible for an economy to reinvent itself, noted Beata Javorcik (@ebrd.bsky.social) at our recent event in Paris. Nobody knows this better than Eastern Europe. #PSEvents

Extreme weather and climate-related events caused €822 billion ($920 billion) in economic losses across the European Union between 1980 and 2024. Climate risk has become economic risk, notes @EIB Vice President Ambroise Fayolle. bit.ly/4katlaH

Together for the Ocean’s latest report finds that only 3.5% of the ocean is effectively protected, with harmful activities continuing in many areas that are supposed to be off limits, Mary Robinson warns. bit.ly/4zQolNa

If illiberal, nationalist forces incapacitate the EU to such a degree that meaningful reform or deeper integration becomes impossible, the pro-EU camp might need to contemplate creating a new supranational entity, @jaemmanouilidis.bsky.social writes. bit.ly/4ibQc2S

Despite all the damage done, Javier Milei's chainsaw will continue to grind away at Argentine society. To get stubborn inflation down from 30% will require more austerity when there is less to squeeze from the public purse, notes Jeremy Adelman. bit.ly/48ePj53

Yemi Kale (African Export-Import Bank) lays out a trade and industrialization agenda for Africa, which would go a long way toward improving the continent's ability to cope with external shocks. bit.ly/4k8S4fq

Businesses are prepared to invest much more in Europe, noted @larssandahls.bsky.social (@danskindustri.dk) at our latest event, “Reinventing Europe.” But they will not do so until Europe creates more favorable conditions for innovation.

Despite the rise of far-right parties, the EU and Canada remain well-positioned to offer an alternative model of democratic cooperation, argues @alemanno.wsocial.eu in conversation with Samuel Dempsey. Read his full piece ''An EU–Canada Partnership Against Coercion'' here: bit.ly/3VeYNuc

If a culture objects to unbridled arrogance and insists on a counternarrative of social cooperation, it is more likely to generate a check on hubris and all the dangers it can create, Richard Sherwin observes. bit.ly/3WkdeNS

Europe’s tech future depends on unlocking private investment and venture capital, argued Jeroen Dijsselbloem at our recent event, “Reinventing Europe.” #PSEvents

As long as Europeans remain burdened by our own history, we will struggle to become leading innovators, argued @franstimmermans.groenlinkspvda.nl (Rijksoverheid) at our latest event, “Reinventing Europe.” #PSEvents

Anyone who is worried about public debt and bond yields must also concern themselves with protectionism and self-sufficiency, and the disruptions created in their name, notes @kalemli-ozcan.bsky.social. bit.ly/4dQEKsk

As the term “middle powers” has gained currency this year, it has forced us to ask which countries actually belong to this grouping, notes @cbildt.bsky.social. After all, shouldn’t most states be described as such? bit.ly/4BBei0f

As long as African firms can't secure sufficient trade financing, their ability to seize trade and industrial opportunities will be limited, warns Yemi Kale. That's why the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) is working to double its intra-African trade-finance portfolio. bit.ly/4k8S4fq

Every generation has had to decide who carries scientific credibility, and ours must now weigh this question again, Sami Mahroum explains. bit.ly/4i0rmnW

African governments often buy surveillance systems without public disclosure of how much they cost, what they can do, who can access them, and what data is collected or who can use it, CIPESA’s Wairagala Wakabi writes. bit.ly/3TTwRM6

At our “Reinventing Europe” event in Paris, Philippe Aghion (INSEAD, @college-de-france.fr) argued that, if Europe is to build its own AI, it needs industrial policy focused on increasing computing power.

@yanisvaroufakis.bsky.social explains how @jlmelenchon.bsky.social’s proposal to convert €600 billion in French government bonds held by France’s central bank into perpetual bonds could ease pressure on the country’s public finances. Read his full commentary here: bit.ly/4yBFiut

“As economists who have long studied Brazil, we can be unequivocal: under Flávio Bolsonaro, unemployment will be higher, growth will slow, poverty will increase, and the middle class will be worse off,” argue Laura Carvalho and Joseph E. Stiglitz. bit.ly/4ywPyDy

France's student protesters have yet to articulate clear demands, while adults focus on the cost of living and the press focuses on the violence. The unrest's deeper significance may take years to become clear, explains @sciencespo.bsky.social’s Jonathan Levy. bit.ly/4yZuxCr

Instead of reducing soaring inequality in France’s education system, Parcoursup’s student-placement algorithm exacerbates it, further failing young people from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, @gabriela-ramos.bsky.social observes. bit.ly/484bsTH

In the latest #PSQuarterly, @arunabhghosh.bsky.social, Carlos Lopes, Johan Rockström, Ana Toni and Mary Robinson identify the big developments to watch at COP31 in Antalya this November. bit.ly/4rddbik

While next year's midterms may well end Morena’s qualified majority in Mexico's lower house, a rightward swing fueled by regional forces appears unlikely, says Guillermo Ortiz (G30). Instead, Mexico could become a target of Donald Trump. bit.ly/4i72PMW

The awarding of the @nobelprize.org to South African jurist Navanethem “Navi” Pillay was a striking show of support for the rules-based multilateral system—and a slap in the face to Donald Trump, The University of Pretoria’s Adekeye Adebajo explains. bit.ly/4BfLLwM

If Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s goal is to save Western civilization and maintain its dominance, international relations becomes a zero-sum game, @eliamep.bsky.social’s Loukas Tsoukalis argues. bit.ly/4BgdgX1

Fulfilling the @ilo’s promise requires a global effort to create an enabling environment for all workers and their organizations to organize and bargain collectively, at home, across borders, and down supply chains, Jeffrey Vogt and Monika Mehta explain. bit.ly/3VSaXJO

Many seem to assume that AI will favor whichever government has the largest model or the most data. But the real advantage lies with governments that can retain what they learn, Christopher A. Pissarides and Whiteshield's Fadi Farra argue. bit.ly/4k61AQx

The age of abundance now looks more like an aberration than a new reality. The end of this fortunate interval, notes V. Anantha Nageswaran, is narrowing the options of emerging economies and forcing them to act quickly. bit.ly/4eH700O

Legal equality on paper does not automatically produce economic opportunity for women. This gap is all too clear in the agriculture sector, Ana Maria Loboguerrero of @gatesfoundation.bsky.social observes. bit.ly/4ztAgjM

As Israel's next legislative election approaches, Shlomo Ben-Ami considers what outcomes are possible and which are pie in the sky. bit.ly/4srVxrX

Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act gave entrepreneurs an incentive to design platforms that could capitalize on user-generated content without having to internalize its social costs, @oliviersylvain.bsky.social explains. bit.ly/3URZZmW

The Industrial Revolution took a century to raise the living standards of ordinary people. AI is advancing much faster, leaving governments precious little time to avert a social catastrophe, says @ox.ac.uk’s Ian Goldin (@iangoldin.bsky.social). bit.ly/47pLjhR

At a time when UK government spending is rising sharply, the country's leaders urgently need to show signs of leading, rather than always telling specific interest groups what they want to hear, Jim O'Neill writes. bit.ly/4B59rEd

Christian Democrats could learn a thing or two from Pontifex, whose encyclical on AI has resonated widely, suggesting a strong demand for traditional humanist messaging about people's need for stability and dignity, notes Jan-Werner Mueller. bit.ly/3UtSjr9

The Hugging Face incident does not prove that advanced AI agents are impossible to contain. It reveals the need for holistic AI auditing, AngelaZhang and Yue Zhao argue. bit.ly/3TJ8MaJ

AI executives talk about agents “escaping sandboxes,” “going rogue,” and carrying out elaborate hacking operations, as if the company had nothing to do with it, notes Danielle Keats Citron (@uvalaw.bsky.social). But anything an Open AI agent does, OpenAI does. bit.ly/4ytRwo5

In the immediate term, clearing a hectare of forest can generate more income than protecting it, even when the long-term costs of forest loss to society are much greater, observe Carlos Nobre and Lee White. bit.ly/47RFt9c