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America’s treasury secretary has a diagnosis for the country’s rising borrowing costs: the bond market has a “fever” caused by speculators, and official buy-backs can help restore equilibrium. The article argues that this gets the problem backwards. Treasury yields are high not because the market is broken, but because it is responding rationally to a government that is borrowing heavily while pursuing policies that add to inflation risk.

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Rich countries spent years treating debt as cheap and forgiving. That era is ending just as their borrowing needs are reaching historic highs. In “Bonds-and-chain”, The Economist argues that rising bond yields, persistent deficits and shorter debt maturities are combining into a dangerous feedback loop: higher interest bills enlarge deficits, which require more borrowing, which can push yields higher still.

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China is trying to make its banks finance the next phase of growth while they are still absorbing the last phase’s losses. In “Drip feed”, The Economist argues that a fresh capital injection will help the country’s largest lenders recognise some bad debts and keep extending credit, but is too small to resolve the financial system’s deeper problems.

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The post-pandemic inflation shock seemed to be fading into a soft landing. In “Last mile”, The Economist argues that the descent has stalled: price growth across rich countries is edging upward again, and central banks are beginning to raise interest rates before a temporary energy shock can spread into wages and expectations.

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Artificial intelligence can replace tasks while increasing demand for workers elsewhere. In “Help wanted”, The Economist argues that this second effect is already substantial: its estimate puts American jobs created by AI at roughly one million, compared with about 200,000 announced AI-related layoffs since mid-2023. The article describes an uneven employment expansion, with losses in routine office work alongside demand for people who build, deploy and use the technology.

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Japan’s wages are finally rising, but a large group of middle-aged workers is being left behind. In “Frozen out”, The Economist traces how entering the job market at the wrong moment can depress earnings for an entire working life—and leave a country facing a costly retirement problem.

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This summary covers The Economist’s August 22nd, 2026 Business/Schumpeter article listed in the contents as Data-centre politics and published under the headline Shadow boxing.

America’s backlash against data centres looks fiercer than it is. Politicians are denouncing speculative projects, imposing reviews and announcing restrictions as voters grow anxious about noise, pollution and electricity use. Yet many of the projects being attacked were never likely to be built, while rules aimed at the industry often spare developments already under way. The article’s central argument is that developers and politicians are both exaggerating: one side inflates its construction plans, and the other inflates its power to stop them.

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This summary covers The Economist’s August 22nd, 2026 Business article listed as Canada's oil boom and published under the headline Will the latest boom endure?.

Canada’s oil industry is enjoying a sudden revival. Disruption in the Strait of Hormuz has lifted crude prices, a weaker Canadian dollar has improved local producers’ margins, and the federal government has become more receptive to pipelines. The immediate gains are striking: Cenovus Energy’s operating profit nearly tripled from a year earlier, while Canadian Natural Resources reported its best-ever quarterly adjusted operating profit.

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This summary covers The Economist’s August 22nd, 2026 Business article listed as Reddit's woes and published under the headline Good bot, bad bot.

Reddit’s value comes from something the internet is rapidly losing: large quantities of conversation that still feel human. Its users compare products, solve obscure problems, argue over niche interests and occasionally create the raw material for popular culture. The horror film Backrooms, for example, grew from unsettling images shared on Reddit and went on to gross \$393m from a \$10m budget.

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This summary covers The Economist’s August 22nd, 2026 Bartleby column, listed in the contents as On AI and ROI and published under the headline Returns policy.

Corporate enthusiasm for artificial intelligence has moved from “use it everywhere” to a harder question: is it creating value? Early adoption campaigns often rewarded visible activity, such as token consumption or rankings of the heaviest users. Those measures can help establish whether employees are experimenting with a new technology, but they say little about whether the work is faster, better or more profitable.