The Intelligence: F is for falling standards

Decades of messaging have not worked, so governments are trying new ways to get citizens to eat well, from scary labelling to taxing the junkiest foods. Will it work? The death of a plague researcher in Russia is made more mysterious by the government’s resolute lack of transpare ...  Show more

Bond yields across the rich world keep ticking up. We take a global look at where the risks are mounting most, and just how much worry is warranted. What might have once seemed fanciful is becoming real: delivering daylight to dark parts of the world using mirrors in space. And t ...  Show more

America is producing more high-school graduates—but on average, they know less. We ask how a push for equity can in reality seed a <a href="https://www.economist.com/united-states/2024/03/10/new-numbers-show-falling-standards-in-american-high-schools?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medi ...

Skilled immigrants bring more than just their expertise to job markets. But governments miss opportunities to attract them—or make them feel entirely unwelcome. In America it seems like the standard tip fraction just keeps going <a href="https://www.economist.com/finance-and-e ...

Economists and politicians around the world are consumed with one question: is the world headed for a recession, or a relatively soft landing? We’ll tell you what clues the <a href="https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2023/03/01/americas-property-market-suggests-re ...

The workplace wisdom that a university degree is a sure-fire key to success is very much <a href="https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2025/06/16/why-todays-graduates-are-screwed?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_content=di ...