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The World Ahead 2022
- GenresBusiness
Paperback
First published November 29, 2021
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The Economist
246 books155 followersThe Economist is a globally trusted source for fact-checked reporting and analysis. We connect the dots—from politics, economics and business to science, technology and beyond—giving sharp insights into international news.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
March 26, 2022
Making predictions about the future can be a futile enterprise. Not only because of the complexity of social life but also because of the uncertainty that sits outside of human control. The past and the present can offer us some indication of where we are heading, but the truth is that we are as clueless as the protagonists of Saramagu's novel, Blindness. Some historians like to remind us that history repeats itself, in the sense that similar past events and developments created the conditions for significant changes to the established order, such as wars. But in 2022 history repeated (?) itself not as a bad joke, but as a travesty and a testament that prosperity can not always bring peace.
In this issue of The Economist, Russia was more or less a footnote, half a page buried in the Europe section. It predicted that the biggest problem for Putin was how to control the elections and the Internet. The biggest geopolitical challenge for the US and EU seems to be the rising Chinese power and the rivalry with Washington in economic and political terms. Ukraine is not even mentioned. Of course, it is easy to point fingers retrospectively. But realistically, no one could have predicted the Russian invasion. Russia's war in Ukraine has two significant implications; a real world and a theoretical. In practice it shows that writing off a declined power with tremendous nuclear capabilities is a big mistake. Even if China is the potentially ultimate disruptor of the current world order, focusing all the attention and energies to Beijing, and neglecting the unresolved issues in Europe, provides opportunities for a former superpower to reassert itself in the most dangerous way. In a theoretical context the war demonstrates the limits of predictive powers and says a lot about the failures of the all-encompassing grand theories.
In this sense, when The Economist rolls out annual issue every October/November about the world we are expecting to see the next year, all predictions are solely based on informative and conservative outlooks taken from trends of the previous year. Consequently, the title is fairly misleading because the world ahead is a mystery that will only reveal itself to us when we see it. What The Economist achieves brilliantly is to analyse and summarise the situation of the year that is ending. This is why the title should be The World in 2021 or the The World Behind 2021 (the annual publication changed its name based on the podcast series of the same name and run by Tom Standage, the editor of the current issue). Of course, this wouldn't sell as good.
For all the criticism, The World Ahead 2022 is an incisive and informative collection of articles that present the current political, economic, and social trends from around the world, although from a western perspective. Not all predictions are in vain. The issue's statement about the course of the Covid-19 virus in 2022 designated its relegation from pandemic to that of endemic. So far this corresponds to reality, however bleak the situation can suddenly become in the case of mutation of a deadlier variant. Other issues will persist, such as worries about inflation, the growth of crypto-currencies, the lack of action against climate change, the divisive polarisation in American politics, and the political battle to regulate tech giants. This year will also mark the turning point in history when obese children are going to outnumber the underweight, a very early sign of elimination of poverty and a statement of humanity's propensity for the extremes. Excellent and original articles are about the "cancel culture", Al Weiwei's claim that contemporary arts are detached from spirituality due to their commercial aspects, and Ann Wroe's obituary of coal.
Yes, The Economist didn't see the war in Ukraine coming, which has a variety of tremendous implications to all aspects of our society; from suffering human lives to skyrocketing energy and commodities prices due to Russian sanctions. But neither did anyone else. Brexit, the pandemic, and the war in Ukraine show us how unpredictable the future can be. This doesn't mean we need to give up on taking informative decisions.
P. S. The smell of the magazine is simply outstanding; a testament of the high quality of paper. And no, I don't usually tend to smell my reading material. It just happened that I had a couple of pints of Guinness with my colleagues after work on a Friday evening. The consequence is reading the issue while commuting home.
In this issue of The Economist, Russia was more or less a footnote, half a page buried in the Europe section. It predicted that the biggest problem for Putin was how to control the elections and the Internet. The biggest geopolitical challenge for the US and EU seems to be the rising Chinese power and the rivalry with Washington in economic and political terms. Ukraine is not even mentioned. Of course, it is easy to point fingers retrospectively. But realistically, no one could have predicted the Russian invasion. Russia's war in Ukraine has two significant implications; a real world and a theoretical. In practice it shows that writing off a declined power with tremendous nuclear capabilities is a big mistake. Even if China is the potentially ultimate disruptor of the current world order, focusing all the attention and energies to Beijing, and neglecting the unresolved issues in Europe, provides opportunities for a former superpower to reassert itself in the most dangerous way. In a theoretical context the war demonstrates the limits of predictive powers and says a lot about the failures of the all-encompassing grand theories.
In this sense, when The Economist rolls out annual issue every October/November about the world we are expecting to see the next year, all predictions are solely based on informative and conservative outlooks taken from trends of the previous year. Consequently, the title is fairly misleading because the world ahead is a mystery that will only reveal itself to us when we see it. What The Economist achieves brilliantly is to analyse and summarise the situation of the year that is ending. This is why the title should be The World in 2021 or the The World Behind 2021 (the annual publication changed its name based on the podcast series of the same name and run by Tom Standage, the editor of the current issue). Of course, this wouldn't sell as good.
For all the criticism, The World Ahead 2022 is an incisive and informative collection of articles that present the current political, economic, and social trends from around the world, although from a western perspective. Not all predictions are in vain. The issue's statement about the course of the Covid-19 virus in 2022 designated its relegation from pandemic to that of endemic. So far this corresponds to reality, however bleak the situation can suddenly become in the case of mutation of a deadlier variant. Other issues will persist, such as worries about inflation, the growth of crypto-currencies, the lack of action against climate change, the divisive polarisation in American politics, and the political battle to regulate tech giants. This year will also mark the turning point in history when obese children are going to outnumber the underweight, a very early sign of elimination of poverty and a statement of humanity's propensity for the extremes. Excellent and original articles are about the "cancel culture", Al Weiwei's claim that contemporary arts are detached from spirituality due to their commercial aspects, and Ann Wroe's obituary of coal.
Yes, The Economist didn't see the war in Ukraine coming, which has a variety of tremendous implications to all aspects of our society; from suffering human lives to skyrocketing energy and commodities prices due to Russian sanctions. But neither did anyone else. Brexit, the pandemic, and the war in Ukraine show us how unpredictable the future can be. This doesn't mean we need to give up on taking informative decisions.
P. S. The smell of the magazine is simply outstanding; a testament of the high quality of paper. And no, I don't usually tend to smell my reading material. It just happened that I had a couple of pints of Guinness with my colleagues after work on a Friday evening. The consequence is reading the issue while commuting home.
December 23, 2021
I've been reading this publication by the Economist since 2009 and it's always full of inciteful, well-written articles. The predictions are obviously the most interesting part. A solid read for anyone interested in what's going on in current events - ranging from politics to business to science to culture.
January 13, 2022
This was a mixed bag for me.
I found some of the articles interesting, informative and eye opening. I found the opening section, the international section, the section on Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America to be of most interest to me. A particular favourite of mine was the article on new technologies which I found engrossing, which is saying something as this is not something I normally read about, but often skip in newspapers and magazines.
Other sections I was not impressed by and did not tell me much or seem particularly enlightening. I was disappointed by the sections on the UK and USA in particular. The section on culture was also underwhelming and it was disappointing not to have pieces on stuff on streaming and TV to look for, movies to look our for and books to look out for. This was something I would expect to be included and seemed a missed opportunity.
Business and economics is not in the main something I'm a great reader compared to politics and I skipped over a lot of it. This is more down to personal interest than the quality of the writing. That said I did like the small country profiles worldwide and it reminded me a bit of the CIA's online nations factbook.
I was underwhelmed by the op-eds in the main, especially ones by national leaders which were bland and opinionated but in a way that was very corporate and in language which underwhelmed. Far better for these pieces to be written by op-ed columnists or politicians outside of national leadership who have far more flare for this sort of things and can challenge you more intellectually. In fairness I did enjoy a few of the op-ed, for instance the joint op-ed by the leaders of EcoPeace from Israel, Jordan and Palestine.
Given I enjoyed some things and not others, I'm giving an average mark of three stars out of five.
I found some of the articles interesting, informative and eye opening. I found the opening section, the international section, the section on Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America to be of most interest to me. A particular favourite of mine was the article on new technologies which I found engrossing, which is saying something as this is not something I normally read about, but often skip in newspapers and magazines.
Other sections I was not impressed by and did not tell me much or seem particularly enlightening. I was disappointed by the sections on the UK and USA in particular. The section on culture was also underwhelming and it was disappointing not to have pieces on stuff on streaming and TV to look for, movies to look our for and books to look out for. This was something I would expect to be included and seemed a missed opportunity.
Business and economics is not in the main something I'm a great reader compared to politics and I skipped over a lot of it. This is more down to personal interest than the quality of the writing. That said I did like the small country profiles worldwide and it reminded me a bit of the CIA's online nations factbook.
I was underwhelmed by the op-eds in the main, especially ones by national leaders which were bland and opinionated but in a way that was very corporate and in language which underwhelmed. Far better for these pieces to be written by op-ed columnists or politicians outside of national leadership who have far more flare for this sort of things and can challenge you more intellectually. In fairness I did enjoy a few of the op-ed, for instance the joint op-ed by the leaders of EcoPeace from Israel, Jordan and Palestine.
Given I enjoyed some things and not others, I'm giving an average mark of three stars out of five.
January 23, 2022
Key Bets that stuck with me
1- Digital finance, banking as a service, DeFi
2- Starlink bringing the internet coverage up, cost down
3- mRNA jabs and treatments finding product-market fit for important medical issues beyond covid-19
4- Cybersecurity crises and investments will continue to skyrocket
5- Direct air capture for CO2 will become a reality, despite being subscale
1- Digital finance, banking as a service, DeFi
2- Starlink bringing the internet coverage up, cost down
3- mRNA jabs and treatments finding product-market fit for important medical issues beyond covid-19
4- Cybersecurity crises and investments will continue to skyrocket
5- Direct air capture for CO2 will become a reality, despite being subscale
January 23, 2022
ربما من المهم تغيير اسم هذا الإصدار ليكون تلخيصاً لـ2021 خاصة أن المقالات لا تحمل الكثير عن 2022 بقدر ما هي تساؤلات..
مزعج أيضاً تركيز الكتاب على سياسات محددة لكورونا كأنها أساسية في الاقتصاد..
لكن مثير للاهتمام النظرة الشاملة عن الدول والقطاعات والتي تعطيك نظرة أوسع لما يحصل اليوم..
مزعج أيضاً تركيز الكتاب على سياسات محددة لكورونا كأنها أساسية في الاقتصاد..
لكن مثير للاهتمام النظرة الشاملة عن الدول والقطاعات والتي تعطيك نظرة أوسع لما يحصل اليوم..
January 6, 2022
As always, excellent prognostications from The Economist.
February 4, 2022
Cin 2023de gelismis ulke seviyesi sayilan kisi basi 12bin dolar gelir seviyesine ulasacakmisiz. Biz de de otokrat var ama bizim elimize gecen yuzde 50 enflasyon🤦🏻♂️
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 11, 2023
This time like everytime its fucking excellent writing about our world.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews