The New Demand for Print… on Demand

With the rising popularity of print-on-demand (POD) publishing, The Economist considers the impact of new technology on our industry. As the power of print becomes the power to press print, will POD prove a boon or a burden for publishing’s supply chain?

Farewell, Lexington

A fond farewell to the current Lexington – the US correspondent for the Economist. In a departure column, Lexington makes mention of Tocqueville on America After 1840, one of our new Tocqueville books that we’re quite excited about. I’ve always enjoyed L’s dispatches, and wish the successor the best!

Yasheng Huang is a Pick of the Pile

Capitalism with Chinese Characteristics is Huang’s analysis of entrepreneurship in China. It argues that China’s amazing economic growth was accompanied by a tightening of government control over what had previously been a thriving entrepreneurial culture in rural areas.
The Economist named Huang’s work among 2008’s best books. Why? Because it
[c]onvincingly overturns the usual analyses of the [...]

Global Trade Governance Not So Global

This week’s lead story in The Economist addresses what folks have suspected for a while — a lot of the institutions that are supposed to promote all sorts of good things like trade, good economic policy, human rights, and stability are getting more than a little outdated.

CLUBS are all too often full of people prattling [...]

A far-reaching food adventure

Do you know when the shopping cart was invented (1937) or which country produces and consumes the most butter? (India) Do you know what the world’s best-selling food is? (sugar) Are you aware that chocolate was once used as a currency or that pepper was once worth its weight in gold? Of [...]