International

External shocks—ranging from commodity-price spikes, wars, and pandemics to foreign monetary tightening and sudden stops of capital—pose immediate and diverse challenges for central banks. The appropriate response depends on the shock’s nature (demand, supply, financial, or external liquidity), its persistence, and the economy’s structural characteristics. This article outlines practical tools, strategic choices, case evidence, and trade-offs central banks face when shocks originate beyond national borders.Classifying external shocks and the policy implicationsDemand shocks: Global demand collapses reduce export receipts and domestic output. Policy emphasis usually shifts toward supporting activity—lowering interest rates, providing liquidity, and enabling fiscal support.Supply shocks: Commodity or input…

Sovereign debt restructuring is the negotiated or judicially mediated modification of the terms of a country’s external or domestic public debt when the original terms become unsustainable. Restructuring typically changes interest rates, maturities, principal amounts, or a combination of those elements, and can include conditional financing or policy commitments from international institutions. The purpose is to restore debt sustainability, preserve essential public services, and, where possible, re-establish market access.What a typical restructuring involvesDiagnosis and decision to restructure. The debtor government and advisers assess whether the country can meet obligations without severe economic harm. This often relies on a debt sustainability…

Understanding how energy prices are determined involves tracing a web of interconnected markets, physical flows and policy tools. Prices arise from the balance of supply and demand, yet they are influenced by benchmarks, contractual arrangements, transport and storage dynamics, financial instruments, regulatory frameworks and unforeseen disruptions. This article outlines the key mechanisms for oil, natural gas, coal and electricity, incorporates concrete examples and data, and underscores the functions of market actors and policy measures.Basic mechanics: supply, demand and market structureSupply and demand fundamentals: Production volumes, seasonality, economic growth, energy efficiency and fuel substitution determine baseline pressure on prices.Market segmentation: Some…

The shift from fossil fuels to low-carbon energy systems is neither uniform nor inevitable. Countries progress at different rates because the transition depends on a complex mix of economics, institutions, resources, technology, politics and history. Understanding these interacting factors explains why some nations race ahead with rapid renewables deployment while others move slowly despite clear climate and economic incentives.Key forces that accelerate or hinder transitionsEconomics and cost structures: As wind and solar expenses have declined, renewables now rival conventional power in numerous markets, yet total deployment costs still hinge on local pricing, taxation, and above all the cost of capital.…

Relying on a single energy supplier means that a household, business, community, or country obtains most or all of its energy—electricity, natural gas, heating fuel, or critical components for renewable systems—from one source. That source may be a single company, a single foreign country, a single fuel type, or a single supply chain node. Dependence concentrates risk: supply interruptions, price spikes, operational failures, policy shifts, or geopolitical events affecting that supplier can have outsized effects on consumers and systems.Types of Single-Supplier DependenceSingle company or utility: A monopoly or dominant supplier providing electricity, gas, or district heating to a region.Single foreign…

Peace processes must navigate a central tension: stabilizing a post-conflict environment quickly enough to prevent renewed violence, while ensuring sufficient accountability to address grievances, deter future abuses, and deliver justice to victims. Balancing these aims requires a mix of political negotiation, security guarantees, judicial and non-judicial mechanisms, and long-term institutional reform. This article explains the trade-offs, surveys mechanisms, examines prominent cases, summarizes empirical lessons, and offers practical design principles for durable settlements that do not sacrifice justice for short-term calm.Core tension: stability versus accountabilityStability demands rapid reductions in violence, the reintegration of armed actors, functioning institutions, and visible improvements in…

Public debate often associates energy storage with lithium-ion batteries, and understandably so, as these batteries have driven swift progress in grid flexibility, electric vehicles, and decentralized energy systems. However, achieving a full energy transition demands a diversified suite of storage technologies. Distinct storage methods offer different durations, capacities, costs, environmental impacts, and grid-support functions. Viewing storage as a one-technology issue can lead to technical mismatches, economic drawbacks, and lost chances to strengthen resilience.What “storage” must deliverEnergy storage is not a single function. Systems are valued for:Duration: milliseconds to seconds (frequency control), minutes to hours (peak shifting), days to seasons (seasonal…

A major shift in Israel’s intelligence leadership is taking shape as tensions with Iran persist, and earlier assumptions about how the conflict would unfold have not been realized, prompting renewed scrutiny of strategic choices, decision-making processes, and the future course of regional security policies.A substantial shift is unfolding across Israel’s intelligence network even as the nation remains deeply immersed in its prolonged, intricate standoff with Iran. Central to this evolution is the imminent installation of Roman Gofman as the new director of Mossad, Israel’s foreign intelligence service. His entry follows weeks of persistent hostilities that have failed to produce the…

Accurate tracking of emissions forms the backbone of sound climate policy, corporate climate planning, and informed investor choices. When emissions are misreported, overlooked, or counted more than once, the issue goes far beyond a technical mistake: it distorts incentives, slows mitigation efforts, misallocates financial resources, and weakens public confidence. Below I describe why flawed accounting has such consequences, provide specific examples and data, and propose workable solutions.The role that robust emissions accounting is meant to fulfillGood accounting should reliably measure greenhouse gas (GHG) sources and sinks; assign responsibility across actors and activities; allow tracking of progress against targets; and enable…

Uncertainty—whether from financial crises, pandemics, geopolitical clashes, or sudden technological change—creates pressures that push governments and voters toward protectionist policies. Protectionism surfaces as a response to fear, political incentives, and strategic calculation. This article explains the forces that revive protectionism in bad times, illustrates them with historical and recent cases, examines economic mechanisms and consequences, and outlines policy options that can reduce the temptation to retreat behind trade barriers.Historical pattern and recent examplesProtectionism has long been more than a modern curiosity, exemplified by the 1930s Smoot-Hawley tariffs, when the United States raised duties to shield domestic industries, only to trigger…