This week’s featured stories 3 August – 9 August 2026…
How the rise of AI matters for fiscal policy
Predictions of the effects of AI on the economy and society tend to focus on productivity growth, job losses, and shifts in the distribution of income. Karen Dynan, Douglas Elmendorf and Louise Sheiner examine various potential scenarios for the macroeconomic effects of AI on US fiscal policy
Energy shocks and inflation: challenges for monetary policy
Monetary policy response to energy shocks depends on structural factors and initial conditions that shape inflation and growth, with uncertainty adding complexity, the latest BIS Bulletin asserts
Pushing back against Pax Silica: Southeast Asia’s fight for technological sovereignty
The Philippines’ participation in Pax Silica highlights Southeast Asia’s growing challenge of technological dependence amid intensifying global competition in AI. Karryl Kim Sagun Trajano argues that ASEAN must choose between merely supplying resources and building capabilities for more meaningful participation
Ceuta reveals migration policies hypocrisies and far-right-fuelled fears
Davide Colombi on how restrictive migration policies create huge risks to human lives and feed political opportunism. Fears about migration are exploited directly by the far right and worsened by others acting defensively in response
Why China isn’t doing more to boost domestic demand
China resists large-scale domestic stimulus because Beijing now prioritises long-term national power over short-term growth. Tan Kong Yam argues that economic policy increasingly serves strategic competition with the United States, directing resources towards technological self-reliance, industrial resilience and security rather than boosting household consumption and immediate economic expansion
World Trade Organization members agree that structural reform is necessary, but they diverge on what that should look like. Dan Esty and Mari Pangestu argue that a good first step would be to recommit the trade system to an overarching focus on sustainable development
China’s aspiration for global governance leadership and implications for Southeast Asia
Tsjeng Zhizhao Henrick considers Beijing’s recent white paper on global governance and says ASEAN must be more proactive in engaging with China in the region to avoid being sidelined by Beijing
