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Malaysia and Indonesia measure age by age who pays for whom
In Malaysia, nearly 70% of the population is today of working age. This is a demographic windfall that few countries have experienced at this scale. But data published in 2022 by the National Transfer Accounts (NTA) program shows something that the employment rate alone does not reveal: this generat
The Korean Miracle Facing Its Own Limits
South Korea navigated the 1997 Asian crisis with an IMF dictating reforms and a plummeting won. It weathered 2008 with a banking sector exposed to global turbulence. In both cases, it rebounded in less than two years. What has been happening since 2023 is different: very weak growth (~1.4-1.6%), pul
The Indian Version of the Tortoise and the Hare: The Factories of Gujarat and the Schools of Tamil Nadu
India has two states of comparable size, neighbors in growth rankings, separated by a choice made thirty years ago. Gujarat attracted factories, free trade zones, and major conglomerates. Tamil Nadu built schools, dispensaries, and trained engineers. Today, the higher education enrollment rate reach
Who Owns the Biometrics of Professional Athletes?
Sensors worn by athletes in the major American leagues generate terabytes of data every season: heart rate, muscle load, sleep quality, recovery level, fatigue markers. This data is worth millions of dollars in performance gains, injury prevention, and roster optimization. Nobody knows who owns it.
Europe Has Kelp All Along Its Coasts and Doesn't Know Who to Give the Rights To
Europe borders 68,000 kilometers of coastline and possesses some of the world's best seaweed deposits. Today it watches Asia capture approximately 97% of the global commercial seaweed cultivation market — while its own pilot farms struggle to obtain exploitation rights over their stretch of sea. The
Computing Power Becomes the Rare Resource of the Century
The five largest technology companies in the world invested over 400 billion dollars in 2025 in their infrastructure, driven almost entirely by demand for AI computing. In 2026, this figure is expected to grow by 75%. To understand what this means, it helps to know that NASA's annual investment at t
Iceland's Four-Day Week Did Not Stop GDP Growth
Nine out of ten Icelandic employees now work a reduced week. Six years after the system's generalization, the country's GDP per capita has not declined. This result, achieved in a country of 370,000 inhabitants that has conducted the world's most rigorously documented experiment on working time redu
Global Finance Knows Where the Needs Are. It Chooses Not to Go There.
In 2023, the OECD estimated the annual financing deficit for the Sustainable Development Goals at 4.2 trillion dollars. That same year, according to the OECD, private finance mobilized through official development interventions reached 70 billion dollars globally, and according to Convergence, track
Distrust is Not a Pathology of Peoples
Chloé Morin poses a diagnosis that many prefer not to hear: distrust is not a pathology of peoples. It is a signal, sometimes loud and clumsy, that says something true about the way elites have ceased to believe themselves accountable to those they govern. On the other side of the Atlantic, Francis
Freeze Without Breaking — What Sweden, Germany and Portugal Did That France Dare Not
France spent approximately 1,700 billion euros in 2025. The previous year, the government had announced 30 billion euros in savings. The result: spending increased by 40 billion. This is not a scheduling failure. It is the mechanics of a state whose commitments indexed to inflation, pensions, public
When Microsoft Buys a Reactor, Your Neighbors Pay the Bill
Data center electricity demand increased by 17% in a single year, according to the International Energy Agency. In absolute terms, this represents approximately 70 TWh in additional supply added to the global grid in twelve months — equivalent to the annual consumption of a country like Belgium or S
Midjourney Generates 200 Million Dollars with 11 Employees: The Model of the Cognitive Enterprise
Between 107 and 163 people. Revenues that have "significantly exceeded" 200 million dollars as of 2023, with 2024-2025 estimates ranging between 300 and 500 million. That's a ratio on the order of 3 to 5 million dollars per employee — roughly twice the ratio of a well-performing large technology com
What Americans Think About Merit Predicts Their Votes Better Than Their Salary
Two people with identical income, exposed to the same data on inequality, vote differently. One supports redistribution and affirmative action. The other opposes it. This is not an anomaly to be explained by misinformation or ignorance. It is the predictable result of a profound difference in how ea
Twenty Years of Bangladeshi Data Rehabilitate Microcredit, With Conditions
Microcredit has lifted 2.5 million Bangladeshis out of poverty over two decades. This figure, calculated by the World Bank using one of the longest time series ever constructed to evaluate a development tool, does not emerge from a pilot study or theoretical modeling. It comes from field data accumu
Morocco Proves That Logistics Beat Fiscal Policy for Attracting Factories
In 2025, Morocco captured $3.33 billion in foreign direct investment, a 91% increase in one year and 135% since 2020. This surge is not explained by fiscal policy: the kingdom launched no major tax reform, does not offer particularly attractive tax rates compared to regional competitors, and has not
China Does Not Control Rare Earths. It Controls What You Do With Them.
Geology is generous. Rare earths are neither rare nor concentrated in a single corner of the globe. They are found in Australia, Brazil, India, the United States, and Scandinavia. And yet, more than 80% of major European companies are fewer than three intermediaries away from a Chinese producer, acc
For the UN, the Fall in Births is Not a Choice But Material Renunciation
The majority of humanity now lives in countries where women have on average fewer than 2.1 children — the threshold below which a population no longer reproduces itself. Two-thirds of the world's population, according to the report published in July 2026 by the United Nations. This figure is less a
Book Review — "The Hour of the Predators" by Giuliano da Empoli: Power through Shock and the Dikes That Still Hold
There is a scene in contemporary politics that repeats itself in a loop, across vastly different latitudes. A leader announces a dramatic decision. Institutions creak. Experts protest. And then, often, nothing happens — or almost nothing. The decision passes, modified, slowed down, sometimes blocked
What AI Couldn't Do in January, It Mastered by September
In January 2025, the performance of the best artificial intelligence models on a test designed to resist their capabilities was still very limited: GPT-4o scored approximately 5% on ARC-AGI-1, while o3, announced in late December 2024, reached 75.7% at standard budget and 87.5% in high compute mode
Africa Bets on Banning Raw Mineral Exports to Capture the Value of the Energy Transition
For decades, Zambia extracted copper to sell it raw, leaving others to reap the added value of refining. Since 2023, at least 13 to 14 African countries have restricted exports of raw or semi-processed minerals, including the DRC, Zimbabwe, Namibia, and Ghana among the most engaged actors in this ap
France Spends More Than Germany on Vocational Training and Places Fewer Unemployed Workers
France devotes approximately 32 billion euros per year to continuous vocational training — roughly 1.4% of GDP, one of the highest ratios in Europe. Yet six months after training financed by Pôle emploi, fewer than one in two job seekers has found a stable contract. In Germany, this rate exceeds 60%
Europe Has an Advantage It Doesn't Recognize: More Competitive Markets Than the United States
In 2019, a French economist based in New York published a statistical demonstration that many initially refused to believe: American markets had become less competitive than European markets. Not in a niche sector. In telecommunications, air transport, financial services, healthcare. Entire sectors
When Helping Your Elderly Neighbor Becomes a Retirement Savings Account
Toshiko Yamasaki is 74 years old. She lives alone in Osaka. Three times a week, a 52-year-old woman comes to do her shopping, accompanies her to the doctor, helps her sort her mail. In exchange, the caregiver receives no money. She accumulates time credits on an account managed by a local associatio
AI Video Analysis Invades Stadiums Before Hospitals: The Misalignment of Technological Progress
Premier League clubs deploy on average twelve high-definition cameras coupled with artificial intelligence video analysis systems per stadium. In NHS hospitals of comparable budget size, fewer than one in five radiology departments has a fully integrated AI diagnostic aid tool, according to NHS Engl