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The article discusses forecasts that the U.S. economy will expand. The scenario has been attributed to the creation of more jobs, the decline in the unemployment rate and the growth of gross domestic product (GDP). The Federal Reserve has been expected to cut interest rates. However, the economy is expected to face some challenges including the trade war involving the U.S. and an increase in private debts.

The article looks at economic conditions in the U.S., reporting on the country's strong economic growth and citing the drop in global oil prices and a rise in incomes as factors. Topics include the falling U.S. government budget deficit, U.S. Federal Reserve Board monetary policy, consumer sentiment, and Republicans' views on economic policy.

The article examines international economic relations. While the global recession affected all countries, there has been a divergence in subsequent economic development. In general, developing countries are seeing a faster recovery than are developed ones. The U.S. is growing slightly less slowly than the countries of the euro area.

The article focuses on the economic recovery of the U.S. economy after the 2008 financial crises. Factors to the economy's development include the declining rate of unemployment, the decrease in prices for fuel and energy products and the decline in inflation and interest rates. The article also cites the importance of productivity growth for the country's continuous economic recovery.

This section presents an overview of economic and financial indicators. The dollar reached its highest level against the euro for almost seven months. The dollar kept its strength despite a Treasury report showing that foreigners' appetite for American assets ebbed in March. Japan's GDP grew in the first quarter, according to preliminary estimates, much faster than expected. A large part of this growth was due to a surge in consumer spending. In Britain, consumer prices increased by in the year to April, having increased at the same pace in the year to March. Since 1995, labour productivity in America has grown yearly. This is a striking improvement on previous performance, and owes much to advances in information technology (IT). Most big European economies have failed, so far, to match America's record in using IT to boost efficiency. Far from accelerating, productivity growth in the European Union has decelerated over the same period.

This article argues that the financial architecture of the world economy needs to change, based on the possibility that a slump in two major economies could move the world economy towards recession. American consumer spending and Chinese fixed investment have both slowed markedly in recent months. A synchronised slump in the two economies could nudge the world economy towards recession. America's and China's booms have been reinforcing each other. Low American interest rates encouraged capital to flood into China, fuelling its investment boom, and American consumers bought lots of Chinese exports. At the same time, America's imports of cheap Chinese goods and cheap Chinese capital (in Treasury bonds) have held down inflation and interest rates and so supported its spending binge. However, the resulting excessive consumption in America and excessive investment in China have both become unsustainable. Most commentators still hope that the Chinese authorities can achieve a soft landing, but investment booms typically end more painfully. This survey has argued that even if China suffers a sharp slowdown over the next year or so, its long-term growth prospects remain good. But to minimise the future risk of excessive booms and busts, China needs to reform its banking system to ensure a more efficient allocation of capital, and to make its exchange rate more flexible to regain control over its monetary policy. The longer-term challenge for the Fed and other central banks is to build a new monetary-policy framework that takes account of recent structural changes in the global economy, such as the integration of China.

The article discusses U.S. government spending and the outlook for more taxes. President George W. Bush has cut taxes three times and increased public spending--not just on foreign wars and "homeland security", but also on domestic matters. The outcome is that the federal government has swung sharply into deficit. A year or two of higher government spending in the early part of Mr Bush's presidency--when economic growth slowed sharply, a stockmarket bubble burst, and America faced unprecedented and confidence-sapping security threats--may well have been for the good. Yet, even as evidence grows that there is a reasonable chance of economic recovery, the long-term prospects for the budget look as bleak as ever. A report by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) shows that rising health-care costs and an ageing population mean that federal "entitlement" programmes will claim a much higher share of the country's economic output over the coming decades. The White House claims that the budget it is preparing for the 2005 fiscal year will be "committed to fiscal restraint". In "Restoring Fiscal Sanity", a report to be published on January 13th by the Brookings Institution, three options are offered. The" smaller government" path emphasises cuts in "corporate welfare", the devolution of responsibilities to the states, and deep cuts in entitlements. The "larger government" path emphasises tax increases as the main route to sustainability. The "better government" path argues that the government can be more effective without absorbing a larger share of GDP. The problem with this path is the difficulty of measuring the effectiveness of various government programmes, and of dealing with resistance to cutting them. Given such resistance, it is more likely that higher taxes will play the largest part in plugging the deficit. The question, then, is whether the process of plugging begins sooner or later.

Since America's stockmarket bubble burst in 2000, "The Economist" has argued that America faced several years of sluggish growth, if not a deep recession, as the economy worked off the excesses that built up in the late 1990s. Yet the economy has come roaring back. Some argue that America's brisk rebound, despite all that it has suffered, proves how flexible and resilient its economy is. But there are still big risks ahead. The main reason why the economy has held up better than expected is that it has enjoyed the biggest fiscal and monetary stimulus in decades. Thanks partly to tax cuts, it has swung from a structural surplus to a deficit. Historically low interest rates sparked a boom in mortgage refinancing. Long-term interest rates have risen, and as a result mortgage refinancing has fallen. Business investment is picking up, but ample spare capacity will continue to discourage new spending. But the main reason for doubting that the U.S. is back on a path of strong, sustainable growth is that it has failed to eliminate the excesses of its previous boom.

Focuses on economic conditions in the United States as of June 14, 2003. An increasing number of economists on Wall Street and politicians in Washington, D.C. seem to think the U.S. economy is set to recover. John Snow, U.S. treasury secretary, suggested that the economy could be growing by around 4% by the end of 2003, more than double its current rate. All the big stock market indices have risen dramatically. Federal Reserve Board chairman Alan Greenspan and other central bankers have become increasingly concerned about the risk of deflation, and are determined to ward it off. With its economy still swimming in spare capacity, the rate of inflation continues to decline. Add together loose financial conditions and a fiscal boost, and it is hard to imagine that the economy will not improve at all. A trickier question is whether any rebound will last.

The author offers opinions on U.S. bankruptcy law. The country's relatively lenient treatment of failed businesses in bankruptcy is seen as an important source of its economic development by encouraging entrepreneurship and preventing large liquidations. Governments of other countries are urged to follow U.S. practice in bankruptcy.

The article reports on the fast-growing U.S. economy. Economists have long warned that the economy has shaky underpinnings: the jobs market has lagged the recovery; America's current-account deficit has swollen to record levels; consumer spending is increasingly tied to prices in the frothy housing market; oil prices are at their highest level in real terms since the early 1980s; and much, much more. But someone plainly forgot to tell the economy that it was supposed to be in trouble. Figures released by the Department of Commerce on November 30th show that the American economy grew at an annualised rate of 4.3% in the third quarter, revised upward from a preliminary estimate of 3.8% issued in November. The Department of Labour reported that productivity had grown by 4.7%. Payrolls, which barely grew at all in September and October, had finally posted a respectable 215,000 new jobs in November. Core inflation, which excludes volatile energy and food prices, is still relatively modest.