The US economist argued in his 2004 book of that name that societies were often sustained by handy fictions, such as the idea that companies were run for the benefit of shareholders rather than managers.
The number of people with a disposable income of at least $10,000 per year is expected to grow to around 480 million by 2030, from around 132 million today, according to a report by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), a think tank associated with the Economist.
In her new book What Works, Iris Bohnet, the author and behavioural economist, includes a cheat sheet — based on classroom discussion on how to form effective groups — that starts with the insight that if a task involves co-ordination, say the provision of a public good like clean water or better healthcare, homogeneous groups can be helpful.
Steve Knack, an economist at the World Bank with a long-standing interest in trust, once told me that if one takes a broad enough view of trust, "it would explain basically all the difference between the per capita income of the United States and Somalia".
Joe Grice, chief economist of the ONS, said the figures gave the most comprehensive picture so far of the post-referendum UK economy .
In 155 economies women do not have the same legal rights as men, much less the supporting environment that is vital to promote entrepreneurship, said Paul Romer, the World Bank's new chief economist.
Six complaints have been filed with the US Department of Transportation since 29 September, as reported by the Economist.
"The real estate market in China is overheating," an anonymous economist told Securities Daily in an interview.
The firm's chief economist, Chris Williamson, said the survey overall was "clearly disappointing'' and suggested it may fuel expectations of a further stimulus package from the European Central Bank this week.
"The figure could have been worse, given the hit from the wildfire, and clearly confirms the disappointing downward trend in exports over the last few months," said Sal Guatieri, senior economist at BMO Capital Markets.
Those questions are at the heart of this series of dialogues between Ryoichi, an economist who died in 2013, and his son Hiroshi, founder of the Internet company Rakuten.
Joseph Incalcaterra is an economist with the British bank HSBC.
Recently, the economist Robin Hanson has explored in detail the consequences of such a scenario for society and the economy.
• The World Bank is set to appoint Paul Romer, a longtime advocate of the economic power of human capital and student of urbanisation, as its new chief economist, bringing arguably the highest-profile name to the role since Nobel winner Joseph Stiglitz.
Birol, an economist, argues that pressing concerns about climate change and the emergence of countries like China and India as major energy consumers and polluters mean that the agency needs to shift its strategy.
California was the world's eighth-largest economy in 2014, Irena Asmundson, chief economist of the California Department of Finance, said in a phone interview last Friday.
Those questions are at the heart of this series of dialogues between Ryoichi, an economist who died in 2013, and his son Hiroshi, founder of the Internet company Rakuten.
As Nobel Prize-winning economist Peter Diamond and John Bates Clark medalist Emmanuel Saez have noted, since the 1970s no clear correlation exists between economic growth and top tax-rate cuts across Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development countries.
In an ideal world, therefore, monetary policy, should not remain "the only game in town", as the title of a book by the economist and investment manager Mohamed El-Erian suggests it now is.
"This week is a week of mixed signals," said Andrew Batson, an economist at Gavekal Dragonomics in Beijing.
