''The Economist'' is a British
weekly newspaper
A weekly newspaper is a general-news or current affairs publication that is issued once or twice a week in a wide variety broadsheet, magazine, and digital formats. Similarly, a biweekly newspaper is published once every two weeks. Weekly n ...
printed in
demitab format and
published digitally. It focuses on current affairs, international business, politics, technology, and culture. Based in London, the newspaper is owned by
The Economist Group
The Economist Group (legally The Economist Newspaper Limited) is a media company headquartered in London, England. It is best known as publisher of ''The Economist'' newspaper and its sister lifestyle magazine, '' 1843''. The Economist Group spe ...
, with its core editorial offices in the United States, as well as across major cities in
continental Europe, Asia, and the
Middle East
The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Province), East Thrace (Europ ...
. In 2019, its average global print circulation was over 909,476; this, combined with its digital presence, runs to over 1.6 million. Across its social media platforms, it reaches an audience of 35 million, as of 2016. The newspaper has a prominent focus on
data journalism
Data journalism or data-driven journalism (DDJ) is a journalistic process based on analyzing and filtering large data sets for the purpose of creating or elevating a news story.
Data journalism is a type of journalism reflecting the increased ...
and interpretive analysis over
original reporting, to both criticism and acclaim.
Founded in 1843, ''The Economist'' was first circulated by Scottish economist
James Wilson James Wilson may refer to:
Politicians and government officials
Canada
*James Wilson (Upper Canada politician) (1770–1847), English-born farmer and political figure in Upper Canada
* James Crocket Wilson (1841–1899), Canadian MP from Quebe ...
to muster support for abolishing the British
Corn Laws
The Corn Laws were tariffs and other trade restrictions on imported food and corn enforced in the United Kingdom between 1815 and 1846. The word ''corn'' in British English denotes all cereal grains, including wheat, oats and barley. They wer ...
(1815–1846), a system of import
tariff
A tariff is a tax imposed by the government of a country or by a supranational union on imports or exports of goods. Besides being a source of revenue for the government, import duties can also be a form of regulation of foreign trade and pol ...
s. Over time, the newspaper's coverage expanded further into
political economy
Political economy is the study of how economic systems (e.g. markets and national economies) and political systems (e.g. law, institutions, government) are linked. Widely studied phenomena within the discipline are systems such as labour ...
and eventually began running articles on current events, finance, commerce, and British politics. Throughout the mid-to-late 20th century, it greatly expanded its layout and format, adding opinion columns, special reports,
political cartoon
A political cartoon, a form of editorial cartoon, is a cartoon graphic with caricatures of public figures, expressing the artist's opinion. An artist who writes and draws such images is known as an editorial cartoonist. They typically combine ...
s,
reader letters, cover stories, art critique, book reviews, and technology features. The paper is often recognizable by its
fire engine red
Fire engine red is an informal name for an intense, bright red commonly used on emergency vehicles in many countries on fire service vehicles. There is no unique shade, although different fire services may have a required specification. The col ...
nameplate and illustrated, topical covers. Individual articles are written anonymously, with no
byline
The byline (or by-line in British English) on a newspaper or magazine article gives the name of the writer of the article. Bylines are commonly placed between the headline and the text of the article, although some magazines (notably ''Reader's ...
, in order for the paper to speak as one collective voice. It is supplemented by its sister lifestyle magazine, ''
1843'', and a variety of podcasts, films, and books.
The
editorial stance of ''The Economist'' primarily revolves around
classical,
social
Social organisms, including human(s), live collectively in interacting populations. This interaction is considered social whether they are aware of it or not, and whether the exchange is voluntary or not.
Etymology
The word "social" derives from ...
, and most notably
economic liberalism
Economic liberalism is a political and economic ideology that supports a market economy based on individualism and private property in the means of production. Adam Smith is considered one of the primary initial writers on economic liberali ...
. It has supported
radical centrism
Radical centrism (also called the radical center, the radical centre or the radical middle) is a concept that arose in Western nations in the late 20th century.
The '' radical'' in the term refers to a willingness on the part of most radical ce ...
as the concept became established in the late 20th century, favouring policies and governments that maintain
centrist politics. The newspaper typically champions economic liberalism, particularly
free market
In economics, a free market is an economic system in which the prices of goods and services are determined by supply and demand expressed by sellers and buyers. Such markets, as modeled, operate without the intervention of government or any ot ...
s,
free trade
Free trade is a trade policy that does not restrict imports or exports. It can also be understood as the free market idea applied to international trade. In government, free trade is predominantly advocated by political parties that hold econ ...
,
free immigration,
deregulation
Deregulation is the process of removing or reducing state regulations, typically in the economic sphere. It is the repeal of governmental regulation of the economy. It became common in advanced industrial economies in the 1970s and 1980s, as a ...
, and
globalisation. Despite a pronounced editorial stance, it is seen as having little reporting bias, and as exercising rigorous fact-checking and strict copyediting. Its extensive use of
word play
Word play or wordplay (also: play-on-words) is a literary technique and a form of wit in which words used become the main subject of the work, primarily for the purpose of intended effect or amusement. Examples of word play include puns, phonet ...
, high subscription prices, and depth of coverage has linked the paper with a high-income and educated readership, drawing both positive and negative connotations. In line with this, it claims to have an influential readership of prominent business leaders and policy-makers.
History
''The Economist'' was founded by the British businessman and banker
James Wilson James Wilson may refer to:
Politicians and government officials
Canada
*James Wilson (Upper Canada politician) (1770–1847), English-born farmer and political figure in Upper Canada
* James Crocket Wilson (1841–1899), Canadian MP from Quebe ...
in 1843, to advance the repeal of the
Corn Laws
The Corn Laws were tariffs and other trade restrictions on imported food and corn enforced in the United Kingdom between 1815 and 1846. The word ''corn'' in British English denotes all cereal grains, including wheat, oats and barley. They wer ...
, a system of import tariffs. A
prospectus for the newspaper from 5 August 1843 enumerated thirteen areas of coverage that its editors wanted the publication to focus on:
# Original
leading articles, in which free-trade principles will be most rigidly applied to all the important questions of the day.
# Articles relating to some practical, commercial, agricultural, or foreign topic of passing interest, such as foreign treaties.
# An article on the elementary principles of
political economy
Political economy is the study of how economic systems (e.g. markets and national economies) and political systems (e.g. law, institutions, government) are linked. Widely studied phenomena within the discipline are systems such as labour ...
, applied to practical experience, covering the laws related to prices, wages, rent, exchange, revenue and taxes.
#
Parliamentary
A parliamentary system, or parliamentarian democracy, is a system of democracy, democratic government, governance of a sovereign state, state (or subordinate entity) where the Executive (government), executive derives its democratic legitimacy ...
reports, with particular focus on commerce, agriculture and free trade.
# Reports and accounts of popular movements advocating free trade.
# General news from the
Court of St James's
The Court of St James's is the royal court for the Sovereign of the United Kingdom. All ambassadors to the United Kingdom are formally received by the court. All ambassadors from the United Kingdom are formally accredited from the court – & ...
, the
Metropolis
A metropolis () is a large city or conurbation which is a significant economic, political, and cultural center for a country or region, and an important hub for regional or international connections, commerce, and communications.
A big c ...
, the
Provinces
A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman '' provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...
, Scotland, and Ireland.
# Commercial topics such as changes in fiscal regulations, the state and prospects of the markets, imports and exports, foreign news, the state of the manufacturing districts, notices of important new mechanical improvements, shipping news, the money market, and the progress of railways and public companies.
# Agricultural topics, including the application of geology and
chemistry
Chemistry is the science, scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science that covers the Chemical element, elements that make up matter to the chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions ...
; notices of new and improved
implements, state of crops, markets, prices, foreign markets and prices converted into English money; from time to time, in some detail, the plans pursued in Belgium, Switzerland, and other well-cultivated countries.
#
Colonial
Colonial or The Colonial may refer to:
* Colonial, of, relating to, or characteristic of a colony or colony (biology)
Architecture
* American colonial architecture
* French Colonial
* Spanish Colonial architecture
Automobiles
* Colonial (1920 au ...
and foreign topics, including trade, produce, political and fiscal changes, and other matters, including
exposés on the evils of restriction and protection, and the advantages of free intercourse and trade.
# Law reports, confined chiefly to areas important to commerce, manufacturing, and agriculture.
# Books, confined chiefly, but not so exclusively, to commerce, manufacturing, and agriculture, and including all treatises on political economy, finance, or taxation.
# A commercial
gazette
A gazette is an official journal, a newspaper of record, or simply a newspaper.
In English and French speaking countries, newspaper publishers have applied the name ''Gazette'' since the 17th century; today, numerous weekly and daily newspaper ...
, with prices and statistics of the week.
#
Correspondence and inquiries from the newspaper's readers.
Wilson described it as taking part in "a severe contest between intelligence, which presses forward, and an unworthy, timid ignorance obstructing our progress", a phrase which still appears on its masthead as the publication's mission.
It has long been respected as "one of the most competent and subtle Western periodicals on public affairs".
It was cited by
Karl Marx
Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 ...
in his formulation of socialist theory because Marx felt the publication epitomised the interests of the bourgeoisie. He wrote that "the London ''Economist'', the European organ of the aristocracy of finance, described most strikingly the attitude of this class." In 1915, revolutionary
Vladimir Lenin
Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. ( 1870 – 21 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin,. was a Russian revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. He served as the first and founding head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 to 19 ...
referred to ''The Economist'' as a "journal that speaks for British millionaires". Additionally, Lenin stated that ''The Economist'' held a "bourgeois-pacifist" position and supported peace out of fear of
revolution
In political science, a revolution (Latin: ''revolutio'', "a turn around") is a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically due ...
.
![The Economist 2019 1 o](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/60/The_Economist_2019_1_o.jpg)
In 1920, the paper's circulation rose to 6,170. In 1934, it underwent its first major redesign. The current
fire engine red
Fire engine red is an informal name for an intense, bright red commonly used on emergency vehicles in many countries on fire service vehicles. There is no unique shade, although different fire services may have a required specification. The col ...
nameplate was created by
Reynolds Stone
Alan Reynolds Stone, CBE, RDI (13 March 1909 – 23 June 1979) was an English wood engraver, engraver, designer, typographer and painter.
Biography
Stone was born on 13 March 1909 at Eton College, where both his grandfather, E. D. Stone, and fa ...
in 1959.
In 1971, ''The Economist'' changed its
broadsheet format into a
magazine-style perfect-bound formatting. In January 2012, ''The Economist'' launched a new weekly section devoted exclusively to China, the first new country section since the introduction of one on the United States in 1942.
In 1991,
James Fallows
James Mackenzie Fallows (born August 2, 1949) is an American writer and journalist. He is a former national correspondent for ''The Atlantic.'' His work has also appeared in '' Slate'', ''The New York Times Magazine'', ''The New York Review of Boo ...
argued in ''
The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'' that ''The Economist'' used editorial lines that contradicted the news stories they purported to highlight.
In 1999,
Andrew Sullivan complained in ''
The New Republic
''The New Republic'' is an American magazine of commentary on politics, contemporary culture, and the arts. Founded in 1914 by several leaders of the progressive movement, it attempted to find a balance between "a liberalism centered in hum ...
'' that it uses "marketing genius" to make up for deficiencies in original reporting, resulting in "a kind of ''
Reader's Digest
''Reader's Digest'' is an American general-interest family magazine, published ten times a year. Formerly based in Chappaqua, New York, it is now headquartered in midtown Manhattan. The magazine was founded in 1922 by DeWitt Wallace and his wif ...
''"
for America's corporate elite.
''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' wrote that "its writers rarely see a political or economic problem that cannot be solved by the trusted three-card trick of privatisation, deregulation and liberalisation".
In 2005, the ''
Chicago Tribune
The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...
'' named it the best English-language paper noting its strength in international reporting where it does not feel moved to "cover a faraway land only at a time of unmitigated disaster" and that it kept a wall between its reporting and its more conservative editorial policies. In 2008,
Jon Meacham
Jon Ellis Meacham (; born May 20, 1969) is an American writer, reviewer, historian and presidential biographer who is serving as the current Canon Historian of the Washington National Cathedral since November 7, 2021. A former executive editor ...
, former editor of ''Newsweek'' and a self-described "fan", criticised ''The Economist'' focus on analysis over original reporting. In 2012, ''The Economist'' was
accused of hacking into the computer of Justice
Mohammed Nizamul Huq
Mohammed Nizamul Huq Nassim (born 15 March 1950), (Anglicized also as: Nizamul Haque Nasim or as Nizamul Haque Nizam) was a judge of the High Court Division of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh.. He is the incumbent Chairman of Bangladesh Press Co ...
of the
Bangladesh
Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...
Supreme Court, leading to his resignation as the chairman of the
International Crimes Tribunal.
In August 2015,
Pearson Pearson may refer to:
Organizations Education
*Lester B. Pearson College, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
*Pearson College (UK), London, owned by Pearson PLC
*Lester B. Pearson High School (disambiguation)
Companies
*Pearson PLC, a UK-based int ...
sold its 50% stake in the newspaper to the Italian
Agnelli family
The Agnelli family () is an Italian multi-industry business dynasty founded by Giovanni Agnelli, one of the original founders of the Fiat motor company which became Italy's largest automobile manufacturer. They are also primarily known for other a ...
's investment company,
Exor, for
£469 million (
US$
The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...
531 million) and the paper re-acquired the remaining shares for £182 million ($206 million).
Organisation
Shareholders
Pearson plc
Pearson plc is a British multinational corporation, multinational publishing and education company headquartered in London, England.
It was founded as a construction business in the 1840s but switched to publishing in the 1920s.J. A. Spende ...
held a 50% shareholding via
The Financial Times Limited until August 2015. At that time, Pearson sold their share in the Economist. The
Agnelli family
The Agnelli family () is an Italian multi-industry business dynasty founded by Giovanni Agnelli, one of the original founders of the Fiat motor company which became Italy's largest automobile manufacturer. They are also primarily known for other a ...
's
Exor paid £287m to raise their stake from 4.7% to 43.4% while the Economist paid £182m for the balance of 5.04m shares which will be distributed to current shareholders.
Aside from the Agnelli family, smaller shareholders in the company include
Cadbury
Cadbury, formerly Cadbury's and Cadbury Schweppes, is a British multinational confectionery company fully owned by Mondelez International (originally Kraft Foods) since 2010. It is the second largest confectionery brand in the world after Mar ...
,
Rothschild
Rothschild () is a name derived from the German ''zum rothen Schild'' (with the old spelling "th"), meaning "with the red sign", in reference to the houses where these family members lived or had lived. At the time, houses were designated by sign ...
(21%),
Schroder,
Layton
Layton or The Laytons may refer to:
Places
United States
* Layton, Florida, a city
* Layton, Indiana, an unincorporated community
* Layton Township, Pottawattamie County, Iowa
* Layton, New Jersey, an unincorporated community
* Layton, Pennsyl ...
and other family interests as well as a number of staff and former staff shareholders.
A
board of trustees
A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organiz ...
formally appoints the editor, who cannot be removed without its permission. The Economist Newspaper Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary of
The Economist Group
The Economist Group (legally The Economist Newspaper Limited) is a media company headquartered in London, England. It is best known as publisher of ''The Economist'' newspaper and its sister lifestyle magazine, '' 1843''. The Economist Group spe ...
. Sir
Evelyn Robert de Rothschild
Sir Evelyn Robert Adrian de Rothschild (29 August 1931 – 7 November 2022) was a British financier and a member of the Rothschild family.
Early life
Evelyn de Rothschild was born on 29 August 1931. The son of Anthony Gustav de Rothschild ( ...
was Chairman of the company from 1972 to 1989.
Although ''The Economist'' has a global emphasis and scope, about two-thirds of the 75 staff journalists are based in the London borough of
Westminster
Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster.
The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Bu ...
. However, due to half of all subscribers originating in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
, ''The Economist'' has core editorial offices and substantial operations in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
,
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
,
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name ...
, and
Washington D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, Na ...
Editor
![Zanny Minton Beddoes World Economic Forum 2013 cropped](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/18/Zanny_Minton_Beddoes_World_Economic_Forum_2013_cropped.jpg)
The
editor-in-chief
An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies.
The highest-ranking editor of a publication may also be titled editor, managing ...
, commonly known simply as "the Editor", of ''The Economist'' is charged with formulating the paper's editorial policies and overseeing corporate operations. Since its 1843 founding, the editors have been:
#
James Wilson James Wilson may refer to:
Politicians and government officials
Canada
*James Wilson (Upper Canada politician) (1770–1847), English-born farmer and political figure in Upper Canada
* James Crocket Wilson (1841–1899), Canadian MP from Quebe ...
: 1843–1857
#
Richard Holt Hutton
Richard Holt Hutton (2 June 1826 – 9 September 1897) was an English journalist of literature and religion.
Life and work
The son of Joseph Hutton, a Unitarian minister, Richard Holt Hutton was born at Leeds. His family moved to Londo ...
: 1857–1861
#
Walter Bagehot
Walter Bagehot ( ; 3 February 1826 – 24 March 1877) was an English journalist, businessman, and essayist, who wrote extensively about government, economics, literature and race. He is known for co-founding the ''National Review'' in 1855 ...
: 1861–1877
#
Daniel Conner Lathbury
Daniel Conner Lathbury (11 April 1831 – 14 June 1922) was a British newspaper editor and writer.
He was born in Wootton, near Northampton, the eldest son of Thomas Lathbury, a cleric and ecclesiastical historian, and was educated at King's Col ...
: 1877–1881 (''jointly'')
#
Robert Harry Inglis Palgrave
Sir Robert Harry Inglis Palgrave (11 June 1827 – 25 January 1919) was a British economist.
Early life
Robert Harry Inglis Palgrave was born on 11 June 1827. He was the son of Francis Palgrave (born Cohen) and his wife Elizabeth Turner, ...
: 1877–1883 (''jointly'')
#
Edward Johnstone: 1883–1907
#
Francis Wrigley Hirst
Francis Wrigley Hirst (10 June 1873 – 22 February 1953) was a British journalist, writer and editor of ''The Economist'' magazine. He was a Liberal in party terms and a classical liberal in ideology.
Early life
Hirst was born at Dalton Lodge ...
: 1907–1916
#
Hartley Withers Hartley Withers (1867–1950) was an English financial journalist and author, editor of ''The Economist'' from 1916 to 1921.
Life
He was born at Aigburth, the son of Henry Hartley Withers, a bank manager and stockbroker, and his wife Jane Livingst ...
: 1916–1921
#
Sir Walter Layton: 1922–1938
#
Geoffrey Crowther
Geoffrey Crowther, Baron Crowther Kt. (13 May 1907 – 5 February 1972) was a British economist, journalist, educationalist and businessman. He was editor of ''The Economist'' from 1938 to 1956.His major works include 'Economics for Democrats'(1 ...
: 1938–1956
#
Donald Tyerman: 1956–1965
#
Sir Alastair Burnet: 1965–1974
#
Andrew Knight: 1974–1986
#
Rupert Pennant-Rea
Rupert Lascelles Pennant-Rea (born 23 January 1948) is a British businessman, journalist, and former Deputy Governor of the Bank of England. He was Editor and later Chairman of The Economist Group.
Early life
The son of Peter Athelwold and Pa ...
: 1986–1993
#
Bill Emmott
William John Emmott (born 6 August 1956) is an English journalist, author, and consultant best known as the editor-in-chief of ''The Economist'' newspaper from 1993 to 2006. Emmott has written fourteen books and worked on two documentary feature ...
: 1993–2006
#
John Micklethwait
Richard John Micklethwait (born 11 August 1962) is editor-in-chief of Bloomberg News, a position he has held since February 2015. A British journalist, he was previously the editor-in-chief of '' The Economist'' from 2006 to 2015.
Life and ...
: 2006–2014
#
Zanny Minton Beddoes
Susan Jean Elisabeth "Zanny" Minton Beddoes (born July 1967) is a British journalist. She is the editor-in-chief of ''The Economist'', the first woman to hold the position. She began working for the magazine in 1994 as its emerging markets co ...
: 2015–present
Tone and voice
Though it has many individual columns, by tradition and current practice the newspaper ensures a uniform voice—aided by the anonymity of writers—throughout its pages, as if most articles were written by a single author, which may be perceived to display dry, understated wit, and precise use of language. ''The Economist''s treatment of economics presumes a working familiarity with fundamental concepts of classical economics. For instance, it does not explain terms like
invisible hand
The invisible hand is a metaphor used by the British moral philosopher Adam Smith that describes the unintended greater social benefits and public good brought about by individuals acting in their own self-interests. Smith originally mention ...
,
macroeconomics
Macroeconomics (from the Greek prefix ''makro-'' meaning "large" + ''economics'') is a branch of economics dealing with performance, structure, behavior, and decision-making of an economy as a whole.
For example, using interest rates, taxes, and ...
, or
demand curve
In economics, a demand curve is a graph depicting the relationship between the price of a certain commodity (the ''y''-axis) and the quantity of that commodity that is demanded at that price (the ''x''-axis). Demand curves can be used either for ...
, and may take just six or seven words to explain the theory of
comparative advantage
In an economic model, agents have a comparative advantage over others in producing a particular good if they can produce that good at a lower relative opportunity cost or autarky price, i.e. at a lower relative marginal cost prior to trade. Comp ...
. Articles involving economics do not presume any formal training on the part of the reader and aim to be accessible to the educated layman. It usually does not translate short French (and German) quotes or phrases. It does describe the business or nature of even well-known entities, writing, for example, "
Goldman Sachs
Goldman Sachs () is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company. Founded in 1869, Goldman Sachs is headquartered at 200 West Street in Lower Manhattan, with regional headquarters in London, Warsaw, Bangalore, H ...
, an investment bank". ''The Economist'' is known for its extensive use of
word play
Word play or wordplay (also: play-on-words) is a literary technique and a form of wit in which words used become the main subject of the work, primarily for the purpose of intended effect or amusement. Examples of word play include puns, phonet ...
, including puns, allusions, and metaphors, as well as alliteration and assonance, especially in its headlines and captions. This can make it difficult to understand for those who are not native English speakers.
''The Economist'' has traditionally and historically persisted in referring to itself as a "
newspaper
A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background.
Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sports a ...
",
rather than a "
news magazine
A news magazine is a typed, printed, and published magazine, radio or television program, usually published weekly, consisting of articles about current events. News magazines generally discuss stories, in greater depth than do newspapers or new ...
" due to its mostly cosmetic switch from
broadsheet
A broadsheet is the largest newspaper format and is characterized by long Vertical and horizontal, vertical pages, typically of . Other common newspaper formats include the smaller Berliner (format), Berliner and Tabloid (newspaper format), ta ...
to
perfect-binding format and its general focus on
current affairs as opposed to specialist subjects.
It is
legally classified as a newspaper in Britain and the United States. Most databases and
anthologies
In book publishing
Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed work ...
catalogue the weekly as a newspaper printed in magazine- or journal-format. ''The Economist'' differentiates and contrasts itself as a newspaper against their sister lifestyle magazine, ''
1843'', which does the same in turn. Editor
Zanny Minton Bedoes clarified the distinction in 2016: "we call it a newspaper because it was founded in 1843, 173 years ago,
hen
Hen commonly refers to a female animal: a female chicken, other gallinaceous bird, any type of bird in general, or a lobster. It is also a slang term for a woman.
Hen or Hens may also refer to:
Places Norway
*Hen, Buskerud, a village in Ringer ...
all
erfect-bound publicationswere called newspapers."
Editorial anonymity
''The Economist''‘s articles often take a definite editorial stance and almost never carry a
byline
The byline (or by-line in British English) on a newspaper or magazine article gives the name of the writer of the article. Bylines are commonly placed between the headline and the text of the article, although some magazines (notably ''Reader's ...
. Not even the name of the editor is printed in the issue. It is a long-standing tradition that an editor's only signed article during their tenure is written on the occasion of their departure from the position. The author of a piece is named in certain circumstances: when notable persons are invited to contribute opinion pieces; when journalists of ''The Economist'' compile special reports (previously known as surveys); for the Year in Review special edition; and to highlight a potential
conflict of interest
A conflict of interest (COI) is a situation in which a person or organization is involved in multiple interests, financial or otherwise, and serving one interest could involve working against another. Typically, this relates to situations i ...
over a book review. The names of ''The Economist'' editors and correspondents can be located on the media directory pages of the website. Online blog pieces are signed with the initials of the writer and authors of print stories are allowed to note their authorship from their personal web sites. "This approach is not without its faults (we have four staff members with the initials 'J.P.', for example) but is the best compromise between total anonymity and full bylines, in our view", wrote one anonymous writer of ''The Economist''. There are three editorial and business areas in which the anonymous ethos of the weekly has contributed to strengthening its unique identity: collective and consistent voice, talent and newsroom management, and brand strength and clarity.
The editors say this is necessary because "collective voice and personality matter more than the identities of individual journalists" and reflects "a collaborative effort". In most articles, authors refer to themselves as "your correspondent" or "this reviewer". The writers of the titled opinion columns tend to refer to themselves by the title (hence, a sentence in the "Lexington" column might read "Lexington was informed...").
American author and long-time reader
Michael Lewis
Michael Monroe Lewis (born October 15, 1960) Gale Biography In Context. is an American author and financial journalist. He has also been a contributing editor to ''Vanity Fair'' since 2009, writing mostly on business, finance, and economics. He ...
criticised the paper's editorial anonymity in 1991, labelling it a means to hide the youth and inexperience of those writing articles.
Although individual articles are written anonymously, there is no secrecy over who the writers are, as they are listed on ''The Economist'' website, which also provides summaries of their careers and academic qualifications. Later, in 2009, Lewis included multiple ''Economist'' articles in his
anthology about the
2008 financial crisis, ''
Panic: The Story of Modern Financial Insanity''.
John Ralston Saul
John Ralston Saul (born June 19, 1947) is a Canadian writer, political philosopher, and public intellectual. Saul is most widely known for his writings on the nature of individualism, citizenship and the Public good (economics), public good; t ...
describes ''The Economist'' as a "...
ewspaperwhich hides the names of the journalists who write its articles in order to create the illusion that they dispense disinterested truth rather than opinion. This sales technique, reminiscent of pre-Reformation Catholicism, is not surprising in a publication named after the social science most given to wild guesses and imaginary facts presented in the guise of inevitability and exactitude. That it is the Bible of the corporate executive indicates to what extent received wisdom is the daily bread of a managerial civilization."
Features
![A stack of Economist papers](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7c/A_stack_of_Economist_papers.jpg)
''The Economist''s primary focus is world events, politics and business, but it also runs regular sections on science and technology as well as books and the arts. Approximately every two weeks, the publication includes an in-depth special report (previously called
surveys) on a given topic. The five main categories are Countries and Regions, Business, Finance and Economics, Science, and Technology. The newspaper goes to press on Thursdays, between 6 p.m. and 7 p.m. GMT, and is available at newsagents in many countries the next day. It is printed at seven sites around the world.
Since July 2007, there has also been a complete audio edition of the paper available 9 pm London time on Thursdays. The audio version of ''The Economist'' is produced by the production company ''Talking Issues''. The company records the full text of the newspaper in
MP3
MP3 (formally MPEG-1 Audio Layer III or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III) is a coding format for digital audio developed largely by the Fraunhofer Society in Germany, with support from other digital scientists in the United States and elsewhere. Origin ...
format, including the extra pages in the UK edition. The weekly 130 MB download is free for subscribers and available for a fee for non-subscribers. The publication's writers adopt a tight style that seeks to include the maximum amount of information in a limited space.
David G. Bradley
David G. Bradley (born 1953) is partner in The Atlantic and Atlantic Media and the owner of the National Journal Group. Before his career as a publisher, Bradley founded the Advisory Board Company and Corporate Executive Board, two Washington-ba ...
, publisher of ''
The Atlantic
''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science.
It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...
'', described the formula as "a consistent world view expressed, consistently, in tight and engaging prose".
Letters
''The Economist'' frequently receives letters from its readership in response to the previous week's edition. While it is known to feature letters from senior businesspeople, politicians, ambassadors, and spokespeople, the paper includes letters from typical readers as well. Well-written or witty responses from anyone are considered, and controversial issues frequently produce a torrent of letters. For example, the survey of
corporate social responsibility
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a form of international private business self-regulation which aims to contribute to societal goals of a philanthropic, activist, or charitable nature by engaging in or supporting volunteering or ethicall ...
, published January 2005, produced largely critical letters from
Oxfam
Oxfam is a British-founded confederation of 21 independent charitable organizations focusing on the alleviation of global poverty, founded in 1942 and led by Oxfam International.
History
Founded at 17 Broad Street, Oxford, as the Oxford Co ...
, the
World Food Programme
The World Food Programme; it, Programma alimentare mondiale; es, Programa Mundial de Alimentos; ar, برنامج الأغذية العالمي, translit=barnamaj al'aghdhiat alealami; russian: Всемирная продовольствен ...
,
United Nations Global Compact
The United Nations Global Compact is a non-binding United Nations pact to encourage businesses and firms worldwide to adopt sustainable and socially responsible policies, and to report on their implementation. The UN Global Compact is a princi ...
, the Chairman of
BT Group
BT Group plc ( trading as BT and formerly British Telecom) is a British multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered in London, England. It has operations in around 180 countries and is the largest provider of fixed-line, bro ...
, an ex-Director of
Shell
Shell may refer to:
Architecture and design
* Shell (structure), a thin structure
** Concrete shell, a thin shell of concrete, usually with no interior columns or exterior buttresses
** Thin-shell structure
Science Biology
* Seashell, a hard o ...
and the UK
Institute of Directors
The Institute of Directors (IoD) is a British professional organisation for company directors, senior business leaders and entrepreneurs. It is the UK's longest running organisation for professional leaders, having been founded in 1903 and incor ...
.
In an effort to foster diversity of thought, ''The Economist'' routinely publishes letters that openly criticize the paper's articles and stance. After ''The Economist'' ran a critique of
Amnesty International
Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...
and human rights in general in its issue dated 24 March 2007, its letters page ran a reply from Amnesty, as well as several other letters in support of the organisation, including one from the head of the
United Nations Commission on Human Rights
The United Nations Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR) was a functional commission within the overall framework of the United Nations from 1946 until it was replaced by the United Nations Human Rights Council in 2006. It was a subsidiary body of t ...
. Rebuttals from officials within regimes such as the Singapore government are routinely printed, to comply with local
right-of-reply The right of reply or right of correction generally means the right to defend oneself against public criticism in the same venue where it was published. In some countries, such as Brazil, it is a legal or even constitutional right. In other countrie ...
laws without compromising editorial independence.
Letters published in the paper are typically between 150 and 200 words long and had the now-discontinued salutation 'Sir' from 1843 to 2015. In the latter year, upon the appointment of
Zanny Minton Beddoes
Susan Jean Elisabeth "Zanny" Minton Beddoes (born July 1967) is a British journalist. She is the editor-in-chief of ''The Economist'', the first woman to hold the position. She began working for the magazine in 1994 as its emerging markets co ...
, the first female editor, the salutation was dismissed; letters have since had no salutation. Previous to a change in procedure, all responses to online articles were usually published in "The Inbox".
Columns
The publication runs several opinion columns whose names reflect their topic:
*''Babbage'' (Technology): named for the inventor
Charles Babbage
Charles Babbage (; 26 December 1791 – 18 October 1871) was an English polymath. A mathematician, philosopher, inventor and mechanical engineer, Babbage originated the concept of a digital programmable computer.
Babbage is considered ...
, this column was established in March 2010 and focuses on various technology related issues.
*''Bagehot'' (Britain): named for
Walter Bagehot
Walter Bagehot ( ; 3 February 1826 – 24 March 1877) was an English journalist, businessman, and essayist, who wrote extensively about government, economics, literature and race. He is known for co-founding the ''National Review'' in 1855 ...
(), 19th-century British constitutional expert and early editor of ''The Economist''. Since April 2017 it has been written by
Adrian Wooldridge
Adrian Wooldridge (born 1959) is an author and columnist. He is the Global Business Columnist at Bloomberg Opinion.
Life and career
Wooldridge was educated at Balliol College, Oxford, where he studied modern history and was awarded a fellowshi ...
, who succeeded
David Rennie.
*''Banyan'' (Asia): named for the
banyan
A banyan, also spelled "banian", is a fig that develops accessory trunks from adventitious prop roots, allowing the tree to spread outwards indefinitely. This distinguishes banyans from other trees with a strangler habit that begin life as a ...
tree, this column was established in April 2009 and focuses on various issues across the Asian continent, and is written by
Dominic Ziegler.
*''Baobab'' (Africa & Middle East): named for the
baobab
''Adansonia'' is a genus made up of eight species of medium-to-large deciduous trees known as baobabs ( or ). They are placed in the Malvaceae family, subfamily Bombacoideae. They are native to Madagascar, mainland Africa, and Australia.Trop ...
tree, this column was established in July 2010 and focuses on various issues across the African continent.
*''Bartleby'' (Work and management): named after
the titular character of a
Herman Melville
Herman Melville (Name change, born Melvill; August 1, 1819 – September 28, 1891) was an American people, American novelist, short story writer, and poet of the American Renaissance (literature), American Renaissance period. Among his bes ...
short story, this column was established in May 2018. It is written by
Philip Coggan.
*''Bello'' (Latin America): named for
Andrés Bello
Andrés de Jesús María y José Bello López (; November 29, 1781 – October 15, 1865) was a Venezuelan- Chilean humanist, diplomat, poet, legislator, philosopher, educator and philologist, whose political and literary works constitute an ...
, a Venezuelan diplomat, poet, legislator and philosopher, who lived and worked in Chile. The column was established in January 2014 and is written by
Michael Reid.
*''Buttonwood'' (Finance): named for the
buttonwood
Buttonwood or Buttonwoods may refer to:
* "Buttonwood", a finance column in ''The Economist''
* Buttonwood Agreement, 1792 effort to organize securities trading that created the predecessor of the New York Stock Exchange
Plants
* ''Conocarpus'' ...
tree where early
Wall Street traders gathered. Until September 2006 this was available only as an on-line column, but it is now included in the print edition. Since 2018, it is written by John O'Sullivan, succeeding Philip Coggan.
*''Chaguan'' (China): named for Chaguan, the traditional Chinese Tea houses in
Chengdu
Chengdu (, ; Simplified Chinese characters, simplified Chinese: 成都; pinyin: ''Chéngdū''; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: ), Chinese postal romanization, alternatively Romanization of Chi ...
, this column was established on 13 September 2018.
*''Charlemagne'' (Europe): named for
Charlemagne
Charlemagne ( , ) or Charles the Great ( la, Carolus Magnus; german: Karl der Große; 2 April 747 – 28 January 814), a member of the Carolingian dynasty, was King of the Franks from 768, King of the Lombards from 774, and the first Holy ...
, Emperor of the
Frankish Empire
Francia, also called the Kingdom of the Franks ( la, Regnum Francorum), Frankish Kingdom, Frankland or Frankish Empire ( la, Imperium Francorum), was the largest post-Roman barbarian kingdom in Western Europe. It was ruled by the Franks du ...
. It is written by Jeremy Cliffe and earlier it was written by David Rennie (2007–2010) and by Anton La Guardia (2010–2014).
*''Erasmus'' (Religion and public policy) – named after the Dutch
Christian humanist
Christian humanism regards humanist principles like universal human dignity, individual freedom, and the importance of happiness as essential and principal or even exclusive components of the teachings of Jesus. Proponents of the term trace the ...
Erasmus
Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus (; ; English: Erasmus of Rotterdam or Erasmus;''Erasmus'' was his baptismal name, given after St. Erasmus of Formiae. ''Desiderius'' was an adopted additional name, which he used from 1496. The ''Roterodamus'' wa ...
.
*''Game Theory'' (Sport): named after
the science of predicting outcomes in a certain situation, this column focuses on "sports major and minor" and "the politics, economics, science and statistics of the games we play and watch".
*''Johnson'' (language): named for
Samuel Johnson
Samuel Johnson (18 September 1709 – 13 December 1784), often called Dr Johnson, was an English writer who made lasting contributions as a poet, playwright, essayist, moralist, critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer. The ''Oxford ...
, this column returned to the publication in 2016 and covers language. It is written by
Robert Lane Greene
Robert Lane Greene is an American journalist, best known for his work for ''The Economist'' and his book about the politics of language, ''You Are What You Speak: Grammar Grouches, Language Laws, and the Politics of Identity'', published by Delaco ...
.
*''Lexington'' (United States): named for
Lexington, Massachusetts
Lexington is a suburban town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is 10 miles (16 km) from Downtown Boston. The population was 34,454 as of the 2020 census. The area was originally inhabited by Native Americans, and was firs ...
, the site of the beginning of the
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...
. From June 2010 until May 2012 it was written by
Peter David
Peter Allen David (born September 23, 1956), often abbreviated PAD, is an American writer of comic books, novels, television, films and video games.Buxton, Marc (March 29, 2014)"From 'Future Imperfect' to '2099': Peter David's Greatest Hits" Co ...
, until his death in a car accident.
*''Prospero'' (Books and arts): named after the character from
William Shakespeare's
William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
play ''
The Tempest'', this column reviews books and focuses on arts-related issues.
*''Schumpeter'' (Business): named for the economist
Joseph Schumpeter
Joseph Alois Schumpeter (; February 8, 1883 – January 8, 1950) was an Austrian-born political economist. He served briefly as Finance Minister of German-Austria in 1919. In 1932, he emigrated to the United States to become a professor at H ...
, this column was established in September 2009 and is written by Patrick Foulis.
*''Free Exchange'' (Economics): a general economics column, frequently based on academic research, replaced the column ''Economics Focus'' in January 2012
*Obituary (recent death): Since 1997 it has been written by
Ann Wroe
Ann Wroe FRSL is an English author and columnist who has been the obituaries editor of ''The Economist'' since 2003.
Education and career
After taking a first-class degree in History, Wroe received a doctorate in medieval history from the Uni ...
.
''TQ''
Every three months, ''The Economist'' publishes a
technology report called ''Technology Quarterly'', or simply, ''TQ'', a special section focusing on recent trends and developments in science and technology. The feature is also known to intertwine "economic matters with a technology". The ''TQ'' often carries a theme, such as
quantum computing or
cloud storage, and assembles an assortment of articles around the common subject.
''1843''
In September 2007, ''The Economist'' launched a sister
lifestyle magazine
Lifestyle journalism is the field of journalism that provides news and opinion, often in an entertaining tone, regarding goods and services used by consumers in their everyday life. Lifestyle journalism covers travel, fashion, fitness, leisure, fo ...
under the title ''Intelligent Life'' as a quarterly publication. At its inauguration it was billed as for "the arts, style, food, wine, cars, travel and anything else under the sun, as long as it's interesting".
The magazine focuses on analyzing the "insights and predictions for the
luxury landscape" across the world. Approximately ten years later, in March 2016, the newspaper's parent company,
Economist Group
The Economist Group (legally The Economist Newspaper Limited) is a media company headquartered in London, England. It is best known as publisher of ''The Economist'' newspaper and its sister lifestyle magazine, '' 1843''. The Economist Group spe ...
, rebranded the lifestyle magazine as ''1843'', in honor of the paper's founding year. It has since remained at six issues per year, and carries the motto "Stories of An Extraordinary World".
Unlike ''The Economist'', the author's names appear next to their articles in ''1843''.
''1843'' features contributions from ''Economist'' journalists as well as writers around the world and photography commissioned for each issue. It is seen as a market competitor to ''
The Wall Street Journal
''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
''
's ''
WSJ.'' and the ''
Financial Times
The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nik ...
''
' ''
FT Magazine
''FT Magazine'' is a supplement to the weekend edition of the ''Financial Times'' newspaper.
History and profile
''FT Magazine'' was founded in 2003. John Lloyd was the first editor of the magazine. It is published on Saturdays and covers world ...
''. It has, since its March 2016 relaunch, been edited by Rosie Blau, a former correspondent for ''The Economist''.
''The World Ahead''
The paper also produces two annual reviews and predictive reports titled ''The World In
ear
An ear is the organ that enables hearing and, in mammals, body balance using the vestibular system. In mammals, the ear is usually described as having three parts—the outer ear, the middle ear and the inner ear. The outer ear consists of ...
' and ''The World If
ear
An ear is the organ that enables hearing and, in mammals, body balance using the vestibular system. In mammals, the ear is usually described as having three parts—the outer ear, the middle ear and the inner ear. The outer ear consists of ...
' as part of their ''The World Ahead'' franchise. In both features, the newspaper publishes a review of the social, cultural, economic and political events that have shaped the year and will continue to influence the immediate future. The issue was described by the American think tank
Brookings Institution
The Brookings Institution, often stylized as simply Brookings, is an American research group founded in 1916. Located on Think Tank Row in Washington, D.C., the organization conducts research and education in the social sciences, primarily in ec ...
as "''The Economist''
's annual
50-pageexercise in
forecasting
Forecasting is the process of making predictions based on past and present data. Later these can be compared (resolved) against what happens. For example, a company might estimate their revenue in the next year, then compare it against the actual ...
."
An Urdu-language version of ''The World In
ear
An ear is the organ that enables hearing and, in mammals, body balance using the vestibular system. In mammals, the ear is usually described as having three parts—the outer ear, the middle ear and the inner ear. The outer ear consists of ...
' in collaboration with ''The Economist'' is being distributed by
Jang Group
Jang Media Group (), also known as Geo Group, is a Pakistani media conglomerate and a subsidiary of Dubai-based company Independent Media Corporation. Its headquarters is in Printing House, Karachi, Pakistan. It is Pakistan's largest group of new ...
in Pakistan.
Books
![The Economist Books](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fe/The_Economist_Books.jpg)
In addition to publishing its main newspaper,
lifestyle magazine
Lifestyle journalism is the field of journalism that provides news and opinion, often in an entertaining tone, regarding goods and services used by consumers in their everyday life. Lifestyle journalism covers travel, fashion, fitness, leisure, fo ...
, and special features, ''The Economist'' also produces books with topics overlapping with that of its newspaper. The weekly also publishes a series of
technical manuals (or guides) as an offshoot of its
explanatory journalism
Explanatory journalism or explanatory reporting is a form of reporting that attempts to present ongoing news stories in a more accessible manner by providing greater context than would be presented in traditional news sources. The term is often a ...
. Some of these books serve as collections of articles and columns the paper produces. Often columnists from the newspaper write technical manuals on their topic of expertise; for example,
Philip Coggan, a finance correspondent, authored ''The Economist Guide to Hedge Funds'' (2011).
Additionally, the paper publishes
book review
__NOTOC__
A book review is a form of literary criticism in which a book is merely described (summary review) or analyzed based on content, style, and merit.
A book review may be a primary source, opinion piece, summary review or scholarly revie ...
s in every issue, with a large collective review in their year-end (holiday) issue – published as "''The Economist''
's Books of the Year". The paper has its own
in-house stylebook rather than following an industry-wide writing style template. All ''Economist'' writing and publications follow ''The Economist Style Guide'', in various editions.
Writing competitions
''The Economist'' sponsors a wide-array of writing competitions and prizes throughout the year for readers. In 1999, ''The Economist'' organised a global futurist writing competition,
The World in 2050
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
. Co-sponsored by
Royal Dutch/Shell
Shell plc is a British multinational oil and gas company headquartered in London, England. Shell is a public limited company with a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and secondary listings on Euronext Amsterdam and the New Yo ...
, the competition included a first prize of
US$
The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...
20,000 and publication in ''The Economist''s annual flagship publication, ''The World In''.
Over 3,000 entries from around the world were submitted via a website set up for the purpose and at various Royal Dutch Shell offices worldwide.
The judging panel included
Bill Emmott
William John Emmott (born 6 August 1956) is an English journalist, author, and consultant best known as the editor-in-chief of ''The Economist'' newspaper from 1993 to 2006. Emmott has written fourteen books and worked on two documentary feature ...
,
Esther Dyson
Esther Dyson (born 14 July 1951) is a Swiss-born American investor, journalist, author, commentator and philanthropist. She is the executive founder of Wellville, a nonprofit project focused on improving equitable wellbeing. Dyson is also an ang ...
, Sir
Mark Moody-Stuart, and
Matt Ridley
Matthew White Ridley, 5th Viscount Ridley, (born 7 February 1958), is a British science writer, journalist and businessman. He is known for his writings on science, the environment, and economics and has been a regular contributor to ''Th ...
.
In the summer of 2019, they launched the Open Future writing competition with an inaugural youth essay-writing prompt about
climate change
In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...
. During this competition the paper accepted a submission from an
artificially-intelligent computer writing program.
Data journalism
The presence of
data journalism
Data journalism or data-driven journalism (DDJ) is a journalistic process based on analyzing and filtering large data sets for the purpose of creating or elevating a news story.
Data journalism is a type of journalism reflecting the increased ...
in ''The Economist'' can be traced to its founding year in 1843. Initially, the weekly published basic
international trade
International trade is the exchange of capital, goods, and services across international borders or territories because there is a need or want of goods or services. (see: World economy)
In most countries, such trade represents a significant ...
figures and tables.
The paper first included a graphical model in 1847, with a
bubble chart
A bubble chart is a type of chart that displays three dimensions of data. Each entity with its triplet (''v''1, ''v''2, ''v''3) of associated data is plotted as a disk that expresses two of the ''vi'' values through the disk's ''xy'' location and ...
detailing
precious metal
Precious metals are rare, naturally occurring metallic chemical elements of high economic value.
Chemically, the precious metals tend to be less reactive than most elements (see noble metal). They are usually ductile and have a high lustre. ...
s, and its first
non-epistolary chart was included in its 1854 issue, charting the
spread of cholera.
This early adoption of data-based articles was estimated to be "a 100 years before
the field's modern emergence" by ''Data Journalism.com.''
Its transition from
broadsheet
A broadsheet is the largest newspaper format and is characterized by long Vertical and horizontal, vertical pages, typically of . Other common newspaper formats include the smaller Berliner (format), Berliner and Tabloid (newspaper format), ta ...
to
magazine
A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combinatio ...
-style formatting led to the adoption of colored graphs, first in
fire-engine-red during the 1980s and then to a thematic blue in 2001.
The ''Economist'' told their readers throughout the 2000s that the paper's editors had "developed a taste for data-driven stories".
Starting in the late-2000s, they began to publish more and more articles that centered solely on charts, some of which began to be published daily.
The daily charts are typically followed by a short, 300-word explanation. In September 2009, ''The Economist'' launched a
Twitter
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
account for their Data Team.
In 2015, the weekly formed a dedicated team of 12
data analysts, designers, and journalists to head up their firm-wide data journalism efforts. In order to ensure transparency in their data collection ''The Economist'' maintains a corporate
GitHub
GitHub, Inc. () is an Internet hosting service for software development and version control using Git. It provides the distributed version control of Git plus access control, bug tracking, software feature requests, task management, continuous ...
account to publicly disclose all of their models and software.
In October 2018, they introduced their "Graphic Detail" feature in both their print and digital editions.
The Graphic Detail feature would go on to include mainly graphs, maps, and
infographic
Infographics (a clipped compound of "information" and "graphics") are graphic visual representations of information, data, or knowledge intended to present information quickly and clearly.Doug Newsom and Jim Haynes (2004). ''Public Relations Wr ...
s.
''The Economist''
's Data Team won the 2020 Sigma Data Journalism Award for Best Young Journalists. In 2015, they placed third for an infographic describing
Israel's coalition networks in the year's Data Journalism Awards by the
Global Editors Network
The Global Editors Network (GEN) was an international association of over 6,000 editors-in-chief and media executives with the mission of fostering digital innovation in newsrooms all over the world. GEN had three main programmes: Editors Lab, t ...
.
Indexes
Historically, the publication has also maintained a section of
economic statistics
Economic statistics is a topic in applied statistics and applied economics that concerns the collection, processing, compilation, dissemination, and analysis of economic data. It is closely related to business statistics and econometrics. It ...
, such as employment figures, economic growth, and interest rates. These statistical publications have been found to be seen as authoritative and decisive in British society. ''The Economist'' also publishes a variety of rankings seeking to position
business school
A business school is a university-level institution that confers degrees in business administration or management. A business school may also be referred to as school of management, management school, school of business administration, o ...
s and
undergraduate universities among each other, respectively. In 2015, they published their first ranking of U.S. universities, focusing on comparable economical advantages. Their data for the rankings is sourced from the
U.S. Department of Education
The United States Department of Education is a Cabinet-level department of the United States government. It began operating on May 4, 1980, having been created after the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare was split into the Department ...
and is calculated as a function of median earnings through
regression analysis
In statistical modeling, regression analysis is a set of statistical processes for estimating the relationships between a dependent variable (often called the 'outcome' or 'response' variable, or a 'label' in machine learning parlance) and one ...
. Among others, the most well-known
data indexes the weekly publishes are:
* The
Big Mac Index: a measure of the
purchasing power
Purchasing power is the amount of goods and services that can be purchased with a unit of currency. For example, if one had taken one unit of currency to a store in the 1950s, it would have been possible to buy a greater number of items than would ...
of currencies, first published in 1986, using the price of the hamburger in different countries. This is published twice a year, annually.
*
Democracy Index
The ''Democracy Index'' is an index compiled by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), the research division of the Economist Group, a UK-based private company which publishes the weekly newspaper ''The Economist''. Akin to a Human Development I ...
: a measure of the state of democracy in the world, produced by the paper's
Economist Intelligence Unit
The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) is the research and analysis division of the Economist Group, providing forecasting and advisory services through research and analysis, such as monthly country reports, five-year country economic forecasts, ...
(EIU)
* The Glass Ceiling Index: a measure of
female equality in the workplace.
* The Most Dangerous Cities Index: a measure of major cities
by rates of homicide.
*Commodity-Price Index: a measure of
commodities, such as
gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...
and
brent oil
Brent Crude may refer to any or all of the components of the Brent Complex, a physically and financially traded oil market based around the North Sea of Northwest Europe; colloquially, Brent Crude usually refers to the price of the ICE (Intercon ...
, as well as agricultural items
Opinions
The editorial stance of ''The Economist'' primarily revolves around
classical,
social
Social organisms, including human(s), live collectively in interacting populations. This interaction is considered social whether they are aware of it or not, and whether the exchange is voluntary or not.
Etymology
The word "social" derives from ...
, and most notably,
economic liberalism
Economic liberalism is a political and economic ideology that supports a market economy based on individualism and private property in the means of production. Adam Smith is considered one of the primary initial writers on economic liberali ...
. Since its founding, it has supported
radical centrism
Radical centrism (also called the radical center, the radical centre or the radical middle) is a concept that arose in Western nations in the late 20th century.
The '' radical'' in the term refers to a willingness on the part of most radical ce ...
, favouring policies and governments that maintain
centrist politics. The newspaper typically champions
neoliberalism
Neoliberalism (also neo-liberalism) is a term used to signify the late 20th century political reappearance of 19th-century ideas associated with free-market capitalism after it fell into decline following the Second World War. A prominent fa ...
, particularly
free market
In economics, a free market is an economic system in which the prices of goods and services are determined by supply and demand expressed by sellers and buyers. Such markets, as modeled, operate without the intervention of government or any ot ...
s,
free trade
Free trade is a trade policy that does not restrict imports or exports. It can also be understood as the free market idea applied to international trade. In government, free trade is predominantly advocated by political parties that hold econ ...
,
free immigration,
deregulation
Deregulation is the process of removing or reducing state regulations, typically in the economic sphere. It is the repeal of governmental regulation of the economy. It became common in advanced industrial economies in the 1970s and 1980s, as a ...
, and
globalisation. When the newspaper was founded, the term ''
economism
Economism, sometimes spelled economicism, is a term referring to the distraction of working class political activism from a global political project to purely economic demands. The concept encompasses rewarding workers in socialism with money inc ...
'' denoted what would today be termed "economic liberalism". The activist and journalist
George Monbiot
George Joshua Richard Monbiot ( ; born 27 January 1963) is a British writer known for his environmental and political activism. He writes a regular column for ''The Guardian'' and is the author of a number of books.
Monbiot grew up in Oxfordsh ...
has described it as neoliberal while occasionally accepting the propositions of
Keynesian economics
Keynesian economics ( ; sometimes Keynesianism, named after British economist John Maynard Keynes) are the various macroeconomic theories and models of how aggregate demand (total spending in the economy) strongly influences economic output an ...
where deemed more "reasonable".
The weekly favours a
carbon tax
A carbon tax is a tax levied on the carbon emissions required to produce goods and services. Carbon taxes are intended to make visible the "hidden" social costs of carbon emissions, which are otherwise felt only in indirect ways like more sev ...
to fight
global warming
In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...
. According to one former editor, Bill Emmott, "the ''Economist''s philosophy has always been liberal, not conservative". Alongside other publications such as
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
,
The Observer
''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the w ...
and
The Independent
''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...
, it supports the
United Kingdom becoming a republic.
![David Hume and Adam Smith statues, Edinburgh](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/92/David_Hume_and_Adam_Smith_statues%2C_Edinburgh.jpg)
Individual contributors take diverse views. ''The Economist'' favours the support, through
central bank
A central bank, reserve bank, or monetary authority is an institution that manages the currency and monetary policy of a country or monetary union,
and oversees their commercial banking system. In contrast to a commercial bank, a central ba ...
s, of banks and other important corporations. This principle can, in a much more limited form, be traced back to
Walter Bagehot
Walter Bagehot ( ; 3 February 1826 – 24 March 1877) was an English journalist, businessman, and essayist, who wrote extensively about government, economics, literature and race. He is known for co-founding the ''National Review'' in 1855 ...
, the third editor of ''The Economist'', who argued that the Bank of England should support major banks that got into difficulties.
Karl Marx
Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 ...
deemed ''The Economist'' the "European organ" of "the aristocracy of finance". The newspaper has also supported liberal causes on social issues such as recognition of
gay marriages,
legalisation of drugs, criticises the
U.S. tax model, and seems to support some government regulation on health issues, such as smoking in public, as well as bans on smacking children. ''The Economist'' consistently favours guest worker programmes,
parental choice of school, and amnesties and once published an "obituary" of God. ''The Economist'' also has a long record of supporting
gun control.
''The Economist'' has endorsed the
Labour Party (in 2005), the
Conservative Party
The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right.
Political parties called The Conservative P ...
(in 2010 and 2015),
and the
Liberal Democrats (in 2017 and 2019) at general election time in Britain, and both
Republican
Republican can refer to:
Political ideology
* An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law.
** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...
and
Democratic candidates in the United States. ''Economist.com'' puts its stance this way:
In 2008, ''The Economist'' commented that
Cristina Fernández de Kirchner
Cristina Elisabet Fernández de Kirchner (; born 19 February 1953), often referred to by her initials CFK, is an Argentine lawyer and politician who has served as the Vice President of Argentina since 2019. She also served as the President ...
, the president of Argentina at the time was "Dashing hopes of change, Argentina's new president is leading her country into economic peril and social conflict". ''The Economist'' also called for
Bill Clinton's impeachment and, after the emergence of the
Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse, for
Donald Rumsfeld
Donald Henry Rumsfeld (July 9, 1932 – June 29, 2021) was an American politician, government official and businessman who served as Secretary of Defense from 1975 to 1977 under president Gerald Ford, and again from 2001 to 2006 under Presi ...
's resignation. Though ''The Economist'' initially gave vigorous support for the
U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, it later called the operation "bungled from the start" and criticised the "almost criminal negligence" of the Bush Administration's handling of the war, while maintaining, in 2007, that pulling out in the short term would be irresponsible. In an editorial marking its 175th anniversary, ''The Economist'' criticised adherents to liberalism for becoming too inclined to protect the political status quo rather than pursue reform.
The paper called on liberals to return to advocating for bold political, economic and social reforms: protecting
free market
In economics, a free market is an economic system in which the prices of goods and services are determined by supply and demand expressed by sellers and buyers. Such markets, as modeled, operate without the intervention of government or any ot ...
s, land and tax reform in the tradition of
Georgism
Georgism, also called in modern times Geoism, and known historically as the single tax movement, is an economic ideology holding that, although people should own the value they produce themselves, the economic rent derived from land—includi ...
,
open immigration
Free migration or open immigration is the position that people should be able to migrate to whatever country they choose with few restrictions.
From a human-rights perspective, free migration may be seen to complement Article 13 of the Univer ...
, a rethink of the
social contract
In moral and political philosophy
Political philosophy or political theory is the philosophical study of government, addressing questions about the nature, scope, and legitimacy of public agents and institutions and the relationships betw ...
with more emphasis on education, and a revival of
liberal internationalism
Liberal internationalism is a foreign policy doctrine that argues two main points: first, that international organizations should achieve multilateral agreements between states that uphold rules-based norms and promote liberal democracy, and, se ...
.
Circulation
Each of ''The Economist'' issues' official date range is from Saturday to the following Friday. ''The Economist'' posts each week's new content online at approximately 21:00 Thursday evening UK time, ahead of the official publication date. From July to December 2019, their average global
print circulation
Print circulation is the average number of copies of a publication. The number of copies of a non-periodical publication (such as a book) are usually called print run. Circulation is not always the same as copies sold, often called paid circulat ...
was over 909,476, while combined with their digital presence, runs to over 1.6 million.
However, on a weekly average basis, the paper can reach up to 5.1 million readers, across their print and digital runs.
Across their social media platforms, it reaches an audience of 35 million, as of 2016.
In 1877, the publication's circulation was 3,700, and in 1920 it had risen to 6,000. Circulation increased rapidly after 1945, reaching 100,000 by 1970.
Circulation is audited by the
Audit Bureau of Circulations An Audit Bureau of Circulations is a private organization that provides industry-agreed standards for media brand measurement of print publications and other media outlets in a given country. The International Federation of Audit Bureaux of Circula ...
(ABC). From around 30,000 in 1960 it has risen to near 1 million by 2000 and by 2016 to about 1.3 million. Approximately half of all sales (54%) originate in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
with sales in the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
making 14% of the total and continental
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
19%.
Of its American readers, two out of three earn more than $100,000 a year. ''The Economist'' has sales, both by subscription and at newsagents, in over 200 countries.
''The Economist'' once boasted about its limited circulation. In the early 1990s it used the slogan "''The Economist'' – not read by millions of people". "Never in the history of journalism has so much been read for so long by so few," wrote
Geoffrey Crowther
Geoffrey Crowther, Baron Crowther Kt. (13 May 1907 – 5 February 1972) was a British economist, journalist, educationalist and businessman. He was editor of ''The Economist'' from 1938 to 1956.His major works include 'Economics for Democrats'(1 ...
, a former editor.
Censorship
Sections of ''The Economist'' criticising authoritarian regimes are frequently removed from the paper by the authorities in those countries.
Like many other publications, ''The Economist'' is subjected to censorship in
Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
. On 15 June 2006,
Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
banned the sale of ''The Economist'' when it published a map labelling the
Persian Gulf
The Persian Gulf ( fa, خلیج فارس, translit=xalij-e fârs, lit=Gulf of Persis, Fars, ), sometimes called the ( ar, اَلْخَلِيْجُ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Khalīj al-ˁArabī), is a Mediterranean sea (oceanography), me ...
simply as Gulf—a choice that derives its political significance from the
Persian Gulf naming dispute
The Persian Gulf naming dispute is concerned with the name of the body of water known historically and internationally as the Persian Gulf, after Persia (the Western exonym for Iran). This name has become contested by some Arab countries since t ...
.
In a separate incident, the government of
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...
went further and imprisoned ''The Economist''s correspondent there,
Andrew Meldrum. The government charged him with violating a statute on "publishing untruth" for writing that a woman was decapitated by supporters of the ruling
Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front
Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...
party. The
decapitation
Decapitation or beheading is the total separation of the head from the body. Such an injury is invariably fatal to humans and most other animals, since it deprives the brain of oxygenated blood, while all other organs are deprived of the i ...
claim was retracted and allegedly fabricated by the woman's husband. The correspondent was later acquitted, only to receive a
deportation
Deportation is the expulsion of a person or group of people from a place or country. The term ''expulsion'' is often used as a synonym for deportation, though expulsion is more often used in the context of international law, while deportation ...
order.
On 19 August 2013, ''The Economist'' disclosed that the
Missouri Department of Corrections
The Missouri Department of Corrections is the state law enforcement agency that operates state prisons in the U.S. state of Missouri. It has its headquarters in Missouri's capital of Jefferson City.
The Missouri Department of Corrections has 21 ...
had censored its issue of 29 June 2013. According to the letter sent by the department, prisoners were not allowed to receive the issue because "1. it constitutes a threat to the security or discipline of the institution; 2. may facilitate or encourage criminal activity; or 3. may interfere with the rehabilitation of an offender".
See also
*
List of business newspapers
The following is a list of daily business newspapers, divided by country and region.
International
*''Financial Times''
*''The Wall Street Journal''
Top circulation
*''Nihon Keizai Shimbun'', Japan - 4,635,000
*''Financial Times'', United Kingd ...
*
List of newspapers in the United Kingdom
Twelve daily newspapers and eleven Sunday-only weekly newspapers are distributed nationally in the United Kingdom. Others circulate in Scotland only and still others serve smaller areas. National daily newspapers publish every day except Sunday ...
Notes
References
Further reading
* Arrese, Angel (1995), ''La identidad de The Economist,'' Pamplona: Eunsa. .
preview
* Edwards, Ruth Dudley (1993), ''The Pursuit of Reason: The Economist 1843–1993'', London: Hamish Hamilton,
*
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Economist, The
1843 establishments in England
International newspapers
Liberal media in the United Kingdom
National newspapers published in the United Kingdom
Weekly newspapers published in the United Kingdom
Business newspapers published in the United Kingdom
Centrist newspapers
Economic liberalism
Social liberalism
Podcasting companies
Publications established in 1843
Newspapers published in London