January February magazine contents
Up one levelWhat Works in Africa
With little fanfare, businesses are trying to fight disease in Africa. ROGER BATE tells who does it right and who does it wrong. The best spur to benevolence: the profit motive.
Forgive Us Our Debts
New research finds that one of the best ways to encourage people to start businesses is to have lenient bankruptcy laws, writes APARNA MATHUR. We need to send the message that it’s O.K. to fail.
Good Government
The federal government sometimes takes obscure actions that actually help the economy, big-time. Matthew Rees selects five of the best ever.
Russia’s Oil Woes
Moscow’s attachment to statist economic policy is undermining its bid for global energy dominance, writes LEON ARON. By re-nationalizing its energy sector, Putin’s regime is slaying its largest golden goose.
Techno-Ideas
Mass conformity is dead. Long live mass customization! NICK SCHULZ on the explosion of variety and personalization.
10 Most Economically Literate Members of Congress
Whatever you may think of their politics, these ten lawmakers have a strong grasp of the economic fundamentals that guide their work.
In Praise of Amateurs
Nonprofessionals, including journalists who love a subject, play an essential role in the spread of ideas, economic and otherwise, writes TOM BETHELL. They are bolder than experts and explain the subject a lot better.
The American Interview: Total Fitness
Bob Greifeld of Nasdaq tells how he and other CEOs rev up mind and body.
Valley of the Dolls
As the anti-Barbie, the American Girl doll is an exceptional artifact that combines the commercial with the good, writes AMITY SHLAES. Mattel makes money, and kids learn history.
Celebrity Power
Information overload makes our attention the next hot commodity, writes DAVID ROBINSON. An endless variety of niche sources could leave us absorbed—and isolated—if not for the big-name celebrities who bring us back together.
Closed for Business
We’re driving companies offshore with a corporate tax rate higher than every European nation, writes economist Kevin Hassett. And wages are suffering.
Fly Europe
Even cheaper than American counterparts, airlines like W!ZZAir are changing the way people fly and forcing the ossified likes of Alitalia and Aer Lingus to get with the cheap program.
Blood and Soil
In Iraq and Afghanistan, we desperately need the calm continuity that farming brings, writes VICTOR DAVIS HANSON, a farmer himself. But how to revive the right kind of agriculture?
Grapes in Chains
A Supreme Court decision in May 2005 was supposed to liberate sales from vineyards to wine lovers. It didn’t. But even now, if you live in certain states, you can bypass the middlemen and get some great wine by mail. Amy Cortese explains.
Question & Answer: The Trade Deficit
Beyond myth and emotion, here’s the truth about our trade deficit. It’s big, but it’s not necessarily bad. In fact, it may be helping us live better, now and in the future. Economists Chad P. Bown and Rachel McCulloch explain.
Lust for Height
The Burj Dubai, slated to be the tallest building in the world when it’s done in 2009, is rising 160 stories or more (the final height is a secret) in the desert. It’s no anomaly. The terrorist attacks of 9/11 seem to have whetted the global appetite to build taller and taller. Most of the new mega-skyscrapers are in Asia and the Middle East, but the engineers and architects are American. Why the boom? A combination of economic imperatives and powerful egos, both national and personal. Coming soon: the fulfillment of Frank Lloyd Wright’s dream of a mile-high building.
Feared, Loved, Ridiculed
The British and American versions of the popular TV comedy series ‘The Office’ both debunk the authority of the boss, but in ways that distinguish the two cultures. James Bowman explains.
The Lhasa Frontier
The brand-new Beijing-to-Lhasa railway is an engineering marvel, writes John Makin, who saw it firsthand. It’s opening Tibet to commerce and tourism, and it illustrates the divide between a nation that invests (China) and one that consumes (the United States).
The Young Economist
At age 26, Jesse Shapiro practices accessible economics. ‘I’m Happy to Do That.’
The Ten Best Business Novels
We presented our list of the Ten Best Business Movies in the November/December issue of The American. Now, here’s our list of the Ten Best Business Novels. We focused on literary merit, requiring only that each book have some connection to the world of commerce.