

FROM Auckland to Amsterdam, Sydney to San Francisco, house prices in the best
Read more: Our cities house-price index suggests the property market is slowing
NOTHING has been made in the engine factory in Thagaya, in the south of Myanmar, since April last year. Yet around 350 employees still turn up each day. In 2016 government-owned
Read more: Myanmar’s state-owned enterprises show how much reform is still needed
SINCE 1975, when the first retail investment fund that aimed simply to mimic a stockmarket index was launched by Vanguard, such “passive” funds have squeezed margins and profits right across the
Read more: A milestone is reached with the first zero-cost tracker funds

AMERICANS shopping for a mattress online may find the selection at Casper, a New York-based mattress startup, somewhat lacking. Unlike brick-and-mortar shops, which offer dozens of models, the startup sells just
HOW much yarn per day could an 18th-century British woman spin? Such questions are catnip for economic historians, whose debates typically unfold unnoticed by anyone outside their field. But a running
Read more: The Industrial Revolution could shed light on modern productivity

“NO ONE buys furniture in a crisis,” laments Konstantinos Vourvoulakis. He and his father used to sell handmade furniture, but as customers became strapped for cash, they shut up shop in
Read more: Greece exits its bail-out programme, but its marathon has further to go