By Haruki Ito, Jun. 25, 2025 The global transition to renewable energy depends on lithium—the soft, silvery metal powering electric vehicles and grid batteries. Yet beneath the rhetoric of sustainability lies a new extraction economy strikingly similar to the one it claimed to replace. As the World Bank (2024)  projects lithium demand to increase 950 percent by 2040 , the so-called “white gold rush” in Bolivia, Chile, and Argentina—collectively known as the Lithium Triangle —

By Emily Johnson Jun. 24, 2025 In 2025, biometric surveillance defines mobility. Facial recognition, iris scans, and digital identity systems are now standard at over 110 national borders , according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM) . Governments promise “efficiency and security,” but in practice, algorithmic borders are producing new categories of exclusion. Migration control has become a data experiment where consent is optional, and error is destiny. T

By Jason Yao Jun. 26, 2025 Higher education has quietly become the next frontier of precarious work. Once bastions of intellectual stability, universities now function as gig economies for scholars. The American Association of University Professors (AAUP)  reports that over 73 percent of U.S. faculty  are contingent—adjuncts, lecturers, or part-time instructors without tenure. In Europe, non-permanent contracts constitute 57 percent  of academic employment. The system designe

By Rajat Sharma Jun. 29, 2025 Cloud computing was marketed as the green alternative to physical infrastructure. Yet the data centers that sustain it have quietly become one of the planet’s fastest-growing carbon emitters. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA) , data centers consumed 460 terawatt-hours (TWh)  of electricity in 2022—more than the entire nation of France. As artificial intelligence, crypto transactions, and streaming services expand exponentially, t

By Mei Wong Jul. 1, 2025 In the 1990s, venture capital symbolized private risk-taking. Today, it is increasingly sovereign. From Singapore’s Temasek Holdings  to Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF)  and China’s Guiding Funds , governments are emerging as the dominant limited partners in global VC ecosystems. Collectively, sovereign venture funds now manage over US$2.3 trillion , shaping technological competition across industries once thought immune to state direction

By David Müller Jul. 2, 2025 Governments worldwide spend over US$130 billion annually  on agricultural subsidies. Yet half of this amount, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) , now flows into “risk management instruments”—crop insurance, reinsurance, and disaster hedging. These programs, designed to stabilize farming, have become tools for speculative finance. Instead of reducing hunger, agricultural insurance is amplifying inequality, rewarding agribusin

By Sophia Zhou Jul. 5, 2025 Economic power once derived from factories and oil wells. Today, it emanates from patents, code, and copyright. The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)  recorded over 3.5 million patent filings  and 12.9 million trademark registrations  in 2024, a tenfold increase since the 1980s. Intellectual property (IP) has become the new engine of rentier capitalism—a system where wealth accrues not through production, but through permission. The A

By Michael King Jul. 8, 2025 The post-pandemic supply chain rebound has been hailed as a triumph of resilience. Container throughput at global ports hit a record 866 million TEUs in 2024 , and e-commerce logistics generated over US$9.3 trillion  in total transaction value. Yet the miracle of restored flow hides a structural dependence on underpaid, hyper-flexible labor. Across ports, fulfillment centers, and last-mile delivery platforms, the global logistics boom has created

By Ananya Nair Jul. 10, 2025 International aid has entered its algorithmic age. Artificial intelligence, predictive analytics, and digital payment platforms now power the global humanitarian apparatus—from famine forecasting to microloan allocation. Yet, as donors deploy data-driven systems to improve “efficiency,” they are also reconfiguring control. Algorithmic philanthropy is centralizing decision-making in ways that revive the same power asymmetries that postcolonial deve

By Akira Watanabe Jul. 13, 2025 In the post-pandemic decade, sustainability became the language of capital. Venture capital firms once obsessed with SaaS and fintech have rebranded around ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) principles. Yet behind the banners of “impact investing” lies a speculative boom uncannily similar to the dot-com bubble. Overvalued startups, ambiguous metrics, and policy-driven hype have inflated a phantom economy of sustainability —where valuat

By Luke Carter Jul. 17, 2025 For decades, consumer debt was a byproduct of necessity—mortgages, education, medical costs. Today, it is a business model. Subscription-based platforms from Netflix to Adobe, Amazon to Spotify, have reshaped household spending through what economists call “loyalty economics” —a system that monetizes behavioral inertia. As consumers migrate from ownership to access, corporations are exploiting cognitive biases and auto-renewal mechanisms to extrac

By Riya Mehta Jul. 18, 2025 Artificial intelligence has become the defining economic frontier of the decade. Nations and corporations alike are investing unprecedented sums in computational infrastructure—GPUs, data centers, and model training facilities—in pursuit of digital sovereignty. Yet the competition to subsidize “compute power” has quietly created a new structural distortion in global innovation: an algorithmic arms race in which public funds inflate short-term perfo

By Daniel Zhang Jul. 20, 2025 In the name of national security, the global economy is fragmenting into fortified blocs. From export controls on semiconductors to sanctions on critical minerals, “economic security” has replaced “free trade” as the organizing principle of globalization. But while decoupling may safeguard sovereignty, it also imports a new form of inflation—one rooted not in excess demand, but in political precaution. The more countries attempt to insulate thems

By Yuji Kato Jul. 22, 2025 For two centuries, growth has been the secular religion of modern civilization. Every policy, every budget, every speech assumes that rising GDP is synonymous with rising well-being. But the world’s richest economies have entered a new paradox: growth continues, yet progress has stalled. According to the World Bank Global Development Indicators (2024) , global GDP per capita grew 2.3 percent  last year. Yet median real wages in advanced economies ha

By Felix Tan Jul. 28, 2025 Governments across the world have framed lithium as the metal of the future—a keystone of decarbonization and national competitiveness. Yet, beneath this optimism, a quieter pattern has emerged: the very industrial policies meant to secure sustainable growth are entrenching a new global resource divide. From Chile’s nationalization of lithium to the United States’ Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) sourcing mandates, the race to secure “critical minerals

By Olivia Zhang Jul. 27, 2025 For decades, politicians and economists have preached the gospel of the free market—a self-regulating system where competition drives innovation, efficiency, and prosperity. But the modern global economy no longer resembles that ideal. Behind the rhetoric of freedom lies a paradox: capitalism has become centrally planned, just not by governments. According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF, 2024) , the ten largest multinational corporations

By Jack Thompson Jul. 29, 2025 When investors speak of “green growth,” they often refer to the booming world of climate technology—an umbrella term encompassing carbon capture, renewable energy, and carbon credit trading. By 2024, global climate tech investment surpassed US$490 billion , according to BloombergNEF, nearly doubling from 2020 levels. Yet, as capital floods into the climate transition, a quiet distortion is spreading through its balance sheets: shadow inflation  

By Aarav Kumar Jul. 31, 2025 For most of modern history, water has been treated as an infinite backdrop to human progress—too abundant to price, too common to protect. But that illusion is collapsing. What oil was to the 20th century, water will be to the 21st: the invisible fuel of every economy, and the flashpoint of every crisis. According to the World Resources Institute (WRI, 2024) , nearly 2.3 billion people  now live under “high or extreme” water stress. Industrial pro

By Isabella Chen Aug. 2, 2025 The race to dominate semiconductor production has become the defining industrial contest of the 21st century. From Washington to Seoul to Brussels, governments are funneling billions into “chip acts” designed to secure domestic supply chains and reduce dependence on East Asian foundries. The logic appears sound: semiconductors are the backbone of artificial intelligence, defense systems, and digital infrastructure. Yet, beneath the rhetoric of re

By Leo Meier Aug. 5, 2025 For decades, inflation has been treated as an abstract macroeconomic indicator—a number that rises and falls like the weather. But behind the decimal points lies a more unsettling truth: inflation is no longer just a symptom of overheating demand or policy missteps. It has become a mirror reflecting the structural rot of modern capitalism—its concentration of power, erosion of productivity, and dependence on illusionary growth. According to the Inter