Energy, Climate, New Economic Thinking​

News – Stefan Schleicher

I Teach at a Business School. It’s Time to Shut Them Down

The modern business school is designed to promote dealmaking, simplification and optimization. This mind-set has escaped containment and has spread to the wider world. Business-educated elites increasingly populate political leadership, bringing with them a transactional view of public life. One investigation found that out of 45 current heads of state who had studied in the United States, 10 were business majors, and six of those also earned M.B.A.s. President Trump, a Wharton graduate, has treated foreign policy and government itself as extensions of dealmaking and personal gain. The New York Times

2026-10-19 10:13

Two “New Keynesians”, Robert Hall and Michael Woodford, win the highest honour in economics

On October 12th the Nobel memorial prize, the top gong in economics, was awarded to two of that movement’s leading lights, Robert Hall of Stanford University and Michael Woodford of Columbia University. The prize committee credited the duo with rebuilding macroeconomics on “microfoundations”: representing economic outcomes as the result of the behaviour of individuals and businesses. That was an intellectual break from the past. Economist

2026-10-15 21:31

AI’s transformation of mathematics is a turning point for science

In early September OpenAI, an American firm, claimed one of its internal AI models had solved a Millennium Prize problem: the Navier-Stokes existence and smoothness problem, which relates to the motion of fluids. It was only the second of the lot to be conquered and the first to fall to a machine. Mathematicians had been wrestling with this one for at least a century. The AI solved it in 88 hours. Economist

2026-10-15 10:27

Global warming has made Europe’s heatwave 2-4°C worse

What makes an unexceptional weather pattern lead to exceptional heat? The obvious answer—climate change driven by greenhouse gases—is the correct one. A quick assessment offered by ClimaMeter, a consortium of scientists based at France’s Institut Pierre-Simon Laplace, suggests that climate change has made the heatwave 2°C-4°C worse than it would have been under the same conditions in the second half of the 20th century. Economist

2026-06-25 08:09

An Influx of Climate Cash

While many big name philanthropists are backing away from climate giving, Michael Bloomberg, the former New York City mayor and founder of Bloomberg L.P., has announced $590 million in new environmental commitments. Some $285 million will go to efforts accelerating the transition away from fossil fuels and toward renewable energy at a moment when the Iran conflict is rattling energy markets. Bloomberg Philanthropies said it would do this by supporting renewable energy industry associations, providing data and analysis on the industry and advising regulators and grid operators. NY Times

2026-06-23 18:02

U.S. Energy Dept. Unveils $17.5 Billion Plan to Kick-Start New Nuclear Plants

The Trump administration announced a plan for billions of dollars in federal loans aimed at spurring the country’s largest build-out of nuclear power plants in more than three decades. The complex and unusual strategy, which would be overseen by the Energy Department, would provide up to $17.5 billion in low-cost loans to help electric utilities buy expensive components that could be used in up to 10 new AP1000 nuclear reactors, a large type of reactor designed by Westinghouse. NY Times

2026-06-23 14:58

10 Breakthrough Technologies 2026 by MIT Technology Review

Which emerging technologies will define the future? Once a year, we take stock and share some educated guesses with our readers. Here are the advances that we think will drive progress or incite the most change—for better or worse—in the years ahead. Technology Review

2026-01-14 21:11

The Venezuelan Oil Industry Trump Is Planning to Revive

Venezuela claims to have more than 300 billion barrels in the ground, the largest reserves of oil of any country. But it struggles to produce about one million barrels a day, or around 1 percent of global production. In addition, much of Venezuela’s oil is extra heavy, making it polluting and expensive to process. The New York Times

2026-01-04 18:00

Why Haven’t Trump’s Tariffs Had a Bigger Impact?

In 2025, statutory tariff rates on U.S. imports rose to levels not seen in over one hundred years. This working paper shows that the tariff rate importers have paid is significantly lower than the tariff figures that Mr. Trump announced. The reasons include exemptions for specific countries and industries, rates that were lowered for some goods by the time they arrived in the U.S. and evasion of the rules by some companies. The New York Times Working Paper: The Incidence of Tariffs: Rates and Reality

2026-01-04 13:43

The Real Existential Threat Facing Europe by Nouriel Roubini

Contrary to what far-right leaders claim, Europe’s greatest challenge is not immigration or “wokeness,” but its own economic and technological backwardness. With productivity growth lagging and innovation increasingly taking place elsewhere, Europe must confront its structural weaknesses or risk falling further behind. Project Syndicate

2025-12-30 19:40

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