Emerging Insights

Natural gas markets are shifting from short-term spot market trading toward long-term contracts as developing economies seek to lock in supply and avoid macroeconomic instability. Major LNG importers like India and Brazil now aim to supplement spot purchases with 10-20 year offtake deals. Though spot prices are retreating from 2022's record highs, importers were burned by recent shortages and are willing to pay for insulation from volatility. The change comes after Pakistan'

Economics and defense policy is an odd intersection. Pure-play economics people tend to underplay defense’s importance as it's been built deep into peace-time assumptions or ignored as a political economy concern. Meanwhile, the defense ecosystem tends to treat the US’s use of economic tools as “law-based sanctions” while it's the squishy “geoeconomics” when other countries do it.  The international policy set in cities like DC and Brussels is slowly warming up to the defense

Russia’s Remarkable Recovery The IMF year’s world economic outlook forecasted the Russian economy grew 2.6% in 2024 , double expectations and faster than all G7 economies for the second year in a row. The figures show how the Western-led sanctions regime has successfully severed the link between Russia and the West but failed to substantially degrade the economy or change Moscow’s behavior in the wake of the 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Such unexpected growth comes despite capit

Well-meaning EU regulations, from privacy to competition policy, have tended to accidentally favour big American tech firms over scrappy local challengers. Europe's digital protections throttled the online businesses that make the new economy since digital copyright rules landed a blow to home-grown tech stars Spotify. Brussels' new artificial intelligence (AI) act seems destined to further relegate European companies to the role of an “also ran” in the global technology rac

As developing country government demands for development and environmental responsibility overlap, commodity export restrictions are seeing a resurgence. The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) reports a five-fold surge in global export restrictions on raw materials, over the last decade. This trend poses a formidable challenge to governments striving to reduce carbon emissions, impacting approximately 10% of the global value of critical raw material

Executive Summary In an increasingly data-driven world, the availability of timely, reliable, and granular information is a critical determinant of economic development, investment flows, and effective policymaking. This report, prepared for the Center for Emerging Economies, provides a comprehensive analysis of the significant data deficit that exists between developed nations and smaller emerging economies. By systematically comparing the data ecosystems of the G7 countries