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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 political and economic conditions in France, as of April 2013. It notes economic problems facing the country, including weakness in both domestic demand and exports. It discusses the economic policies of French President François Hollande and his finance minister, Pierre Moscovici. Topics include economic growth forecasts, taxes, austerity policies, and Hollande's public approval ratings.

The article discusses how relative peace has been good for Northern Ireland's economy. Belfast, like Dublin, has been transformed over the past 15 years. Overall Northern Ireland has changed sharply for the better--just like the republic. The big difference is that the primary agent of change in Northern Ireland has been not economics but peace. The Irish Republican Army (IRA) declared a ceasefire in 1994, after a 25-year campaign in which some 3,000 people were killed. In elections in 2003, the Catholic, nationalist vote shifted from the moderate Social and Democratic Labour Party (SDLP) to Sinn Fein, led by Gerry Adams. The Protestant, Unionist vote also moved, from the Ulster Unionists to the harder-line, anti-agreement, Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), led by Ian Paisley. This polarisation towards the extremes helps to explain the failure of the latest attempt to reach agreement on restoration of devolved government. But there are grounds for optimism, even for hoping for a total disarmament of the IRA. Northern Ireland in the 1990s still grew faster than any other region in Britain. Growth has slowed in recent years, but unemployment is down.

The article introduces a special section which examines how an economic boom has transformed Ireland, and asks whether it can last. Fifteen years ago Ireland was deemed an economic failure, a country that after years of mismanagement was suffering from high unemployment, slow growth, high inflation, heavy taxation and towering public debts. Yet within a few years it had become a rare example of a developed country with a growth record to match East Asia's, as well as enviably low unemployment and inflation, a low tax burden and a tiny public debt. That transformation has made the Irish republic, with just over four million people, a place of great interest around the globe. Many rich countries would love to achieve a similar change of image. Thanks partly to the Irish diaspora, created by a century and a half of emigration, the country has far more influence than its small population might suggest. Peace in Northern Ireland has helped to boost the economy of the whole island.

The article discusses links between Japan's economic recovery and China's economic boom. The deflationary pressures felt in America in recent years may have been largely benign, reflecting increased global competition; but Japan's dose of deflation has been the nastier sort, caused by a collapse in demand when its late-1980s bubble burst. Deflation and economic stagnation caused Japan's nominal GDP to shrink by 4% in the five years to 2002. During the same period America's GDP expanded by 26%. Now, at last, Japan's economy seems to be reviving. In the year to the second quarter of 2004, real GDP grew by 4.2%, almost as fast as in the United States, and nominal GDP rose by 1.4%. But will this upturn prove any more sustainable than the two previous recoveries in the past decade, both of which soon fizzled out? China's boom has played a big role in Japan's recovery. Last year Japan's exports to China rose by 68%, accounting for two-thirds of its total export growth and one-quarter of its real GDP growth. If the increase in capital spending by exporters is added in as well, then China accounted for somewhere between one-third and one-half of Japan's GDP growth. On present trends, China (including Hong Kong) will overtake America as Japan's biggest export market some time next year. But could a hard landing in China drag Japan down too? The gloomy view, offered by Andy Xie, Morgan Stanley's economist in Hong Kong, is that it would cut short Japan's revival. However, Peter Morgan, an economist at HSBC, argues that most of Japan's exports to China are associated with Japanese firms shifting their production to China to cut costs, so the trade figures exaggerate Japan's true exposure to Chinese demand.

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 article looks at the U.S. economy, focusing on trends in corporate profits and economic growth. Topics include economic growth in the first quarter of 2014 and forecasts for first-quarter 2015; factors that may reduce corporate profits including the high foreign exchange value of the U.S. dollar; possible changes in U.S. Federal Reserve Board monetary policy; trends in U.S. firms' price-earnings ratios; and the impact of U.S. economic trends on the global economy.

The article looks at economic conditions in the developed countries, focusing on the contrast between the performance of the U.S. economy versus those of Europe and Japan. It notes that many European economies have come to resemble Japan's in areas including slow growth rates, low inflation, and low bond yields. The author assesses whether the U.S. will be able to maintain its relatively high growth rate and related indicators, such as higher stock price-earnings ratios.

The article presents economic forecasts for several parts of sub-Saharan Africa in 2014, focusing on the reported expansion of Africa's gross domestic product (GDP) since 2001. Africa's inflation rate and China's economy are addressed, along with South Sudan's oil exports. Sierra Leone's iron-ore development and mining efforts in various parts of sub-Saharan Africa are mentioned, along with capital spending in nations such as Chad. Nigeria's economy is also examined.

The article discusses the slowing of global economic growth as of 2013, with information on low gross domestic product (GDP) reports in the U.S. and China, increasing unemployment in Europe, and decreasing economic activity. Topics include the double-dip recession in Europe, the impact of austerity policies on European economic instability, and forecasts for improvement in the U.S., Great Britain, and Latin America in late 2013.

The article looks at the state of the world economy and economic forecasts as of 2012. It reports on the mood at the September 2012 World Economic Forum in Tianjin, China, dubbed the "summer Davos," which it says was gloomy. It focuses on concerns about economic growth in China, which has slowed, noting that Western countries with relatively stagnant economies have been relying on strong demand from emerging markets, especially China.

The author offers opinions on economic conditions in Africa. It is argued that the continent's significant increase in the rate of economic development in the 2000s is set to continue in the future. Among the reasons for this forecast are increasing economic diversity away from dependence on raw materials exports and the role of entrepreneurship and technological innovation in improving economic conditions among the continent's vast numbers of poor people.

The article offers news on global economy as of September 20, 1997. The world economy is set fair for steady expansion of about 4.5 percent a year over the next five years, according to the annual "World Economic Outlook." The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development study on globalization found that the difference in income per head between the seven richest and seven poorest countries has nearly doubled from 1965 to 1995. Japanese trade statistics indicated that the country's trade surplus increased in August.