The Economist A special edition on the coronavirus pandemic

From: The Economist this week - Saturday May 16, 2020 11:11 am

Globalisation is going into reverse. This will make it harder to deal with planet-wide problems

May 16th 2020


	The Economist this week

	Our coverage of the new coronavirus

Welcome to the newsletter highlighting The Economist’s best pandemic coverage. We have two covers this week. In most of our editions we lead with a lament for globalisation. World goods trade may shrink by 10-30% this year. Don’t be fooled that the diminished movement of people, goods and capital will make the world more humane or safer. With globalisation in reverse, it will become harder to deal with planet-wide problems, including finding a vaccine and securing an economic recovery.

Our Europe edition focuses on the European Union. The pandemic is not just causing an economic crisis there, as it is elsewhere in the world, it is fast creating a political and constitutional crisis, too. Europe’s difficulties are solvable, but the EU’s members cannot agree on what they want, nor on how to bring about reform.

Our coverage of the disease this week includes a look at the safety and efficacy of contact-tracing apps, a data-rich analysis setting out the threat of a second wave of infections in well-connected towns and cities and a report on why Africa appears to have escaped lightly—so far. We set out how researchers have found a way to dip into patients' data to extract information about the disease without compromising their privacy. And we describe how the virus that causes covid-19 might attack colonies of great apes.

We also have a mortality tracker, which uses the gap between the total number of people who have died from any cause and the historical average for the time of year to estimate how many deaths from covid-19 the official statistics are failing to pick up.

We have been focusing on the pandemic in Economist radio and Economist films, too. This week we released a short film on how the pandemic could change the world’s financial order.

Those lockdowns are being lifted, but all too slowly. While you endure the wait, I hope you enjoy our coverage.

Zanny Minton Beddoes, Editor-in-Chief

Must-reads from our recent coverage


	Editor’s picks

Escaping the lockdown
First, do no harm

Governments pinning their hopes on contact-tracing apps should tread carefully

Leaders

Travel and covid-19
The covid network

Phone data identify travel hubs at high risk of a second wave of infections

Graphic detail

Ethiopia
Democracy delayed

Postponed elections portend constitutional limbo

Middle East & Africa

Health data and privacy
Looking without looking

The pandemic has sparked a new way to study sensitive medical records

Science and technology

Protecting great apes from covid-19
Maintaining other species’ barriers

Gorillas are bad at social distancing

Science & technology

Covid-19 data
Tracking covid-19 excess deaths across countries

Official covid-19 death tolls still under-count the true number of fatalities

Books & arts

Films
How covid-19 could change the world financial order

America has dominated global finance for decades. But could covid-19 tip the balance of financial power in China's favour?

Economist Films

This e-mail has been sent to: newsletter@gmail.com
If you'd like to update your details please click here (you may need to log in).
Replies to this e-mail will not reach us.

If you no longer wish to receive this newsletter, unsubscribe here.

Advertising Info | Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions | Help

Copyright © The Economist Newspaper Limited 2020. All rights reserved.
Registered in England and Wales. No.236383
Registered office: The Adelphi, 1-11 John Adam Street, London, WC2N 6HT

The Economist Newsletters

The Economist A special edition on the coronavirus pandemic