Registered as a newspaper. © 2019 The Economist Newspaper Limited. All rights reserved. Neither this publication nor any part of it may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of The Economist Newspaper Limited. Published every week, except for a year-end double issue, by The Economist Newspaper Limited. The Economistis a
registered trademark of The Economist Newspaper Limited. Printed by Walstead Peterborough Limited.6 Contents The EconomistDecember 7th 2019
PEFC/16-33-Published since September 1843
to take part in“a severe contest between
intelligence, which presses forward,
and an unworthy, timid ignorance
obstructing our progress.”
Editorial offices in London and also:
Amsterdam, Beijing, Berlin, Brussels, Cairo,
Chicago, Johannesburg, Madrid, Mexico City,
Moscow, Mumbai, New Delhi, New York, Paris,
San Francisco, São Paulo, Seoul, Shanghai,
Singapore, Tokyo, Washington DCSubscription service
For our full range of subscription offers, including
digital only or print and digital combined, visit:
Economist.com/offers
You can also subscribe by post, telephone or email:
Post: The Economist Subscription
Services, PO Box 471, Haywards
Heath, RH16 3GY, UK
Telephone: 0333 230 9200 or
0207 576 8448
Email: customerservices
@subscriptions.economist.comOne-year print-only subscription (51 issues):
UK..........................................................................................£PEFC certified
This copy of The Economist
is printed on paper sourced
from sustainably managed
forests certified by PEFC
http://www.pefc.orgPleaseVolume 433 Number 9172Asia
55 India’s wilting economy
56 Smuggling in Central Asia
57 Measles and Samoa
57 Falsehood in Singapore
58 BanyanOnions in Indian
politicsChina
59 Battling in the UN
60 The China-Russia border
61 ChaguanMore babies
needed, without quotasInternational
63 PISA results: the parable
of FinlandBusiness
65 Aramco’s listless IPO
66 Mining Guinea’s iron
mountain
67 Italy’s steel saga
67 China’s cow cash
68 Bartleby How to
Christmas party
69 Alphabet turns a Page
and a Brin
70 Schumpeter Corporate
conquistadorsFinance & economics
71 Scrambled ESG
72 Trumpeting tariffs
73 Transatlantic tax tensions
73 Euro-zone reforms come
a cropper
74 ButtonwoodInvesting in
rehab economies
75 Insurance in Myanmar
75 Which currencies are best?
76 P2P’s perilous punt
78 Free exchangeJapanese
lessonsScience & technology
79 Replacing satellites fast
80 Rome’s timber trade
80 Malaria lingers on
81 Trillion-transistor chip
81 Maternal centipedes
82 To save fuel, mimic birdsBooks & arts
83 Books of the year
86 Books by our writersEconomic & financial indicators
88 Statistics on 42 economiesGraphic detail
89 If the Lib Dems surge, they could hurt the Tories as
much as LabourObituary
90 Jonathan Miller, accidental cultural icon