Most-Read in Economics in 2018

The Sunday Newsletter [View this message in a web browser]( [Project Syndicate]( DECEMBER 30, 2018 This week at [Project Syndicate]( we look back at some of our most-read commentaries on economics in 2018. From Nouriel Roubini's prediction of a US economic downturn and Robert Shiller's warning of a stock-market correction, to Joseph Stiglitz's criticism of Donald Trump's narrow focus on the US trade deficit with China and Mariana Mazzucato's burial of economic neoliberalism, our compilation probes the state of the global economy and sounds a note of caution for the year ahead. [The Makings of a 2020 Recession and Financial Crisis]( [Nouriel Roubini]( and [Brunello Rosa]( list ten factors all pointing toward an economic downturn that will be more severe than the last. [The US is at Risk of Losing a Trade War with China]( [Joseph Stiglitz]( says it's the wrong battle, fought by incompetent generals, and lacks the public support required to win. [Who Really Creates Value in an Economy?]( [Mariana Mazzucato]( takes aim at neoliberalism and its academic cousin, "public choice" theory. [The Year Ahead 2019]( [The World's Priciest Stock Market]( [Robert Shiller]( asks why the US stock market has the world's highest cyclically adjusted price-earnings ratio. [Social Media's Junkies and Dealers]( [Roger McNamee]( highlights the growing threat to psychological and political health posed by Internet platform monopolies. [The Real Reason for Trump's Steel and Aluminum Tariffs]( [Martin Feldstein]( thinks the US administration is targeting China, but not the way most observers believe. [PS Commentators' Best Reads in 2018]( On Point [PS Commentators' Best Reads in 2018]( PS editors asked Project Syndicate commentators to recommend the year's most important fiction and non-fiction works, and explain why their choices matter for the current era. [Central Banks' Year of Reckoning]( [Raghuram Rajan]( assesses the track record of unconventional monetary policies now that reliance on them is diminishing. [The Global Trade Game]( [Mohamed El-Erian]( proposes policy responses to US-China trade tensions that would ultimately benefit everyone. [Economists vs. Scientists on Long-Term Growth]( [Kenneth Rogoff]( wonders whether we should be more worried that AI will lead to productivity gains than that it won't. [The Fed's Tightrope Walk]( Big Picture [The Fed's Tightrope Walk]( PS editors wonder if the US central bank will maintain its policy trajectory in the face of new headwinds. [The War on Huawei]( [Jeffrey Sachs]( argues that the US is singling out the company because it is an economic threat, not a security risk. [The Biggest Emerging Market Debt Problem Is in America]( [Carmen Reinhart]( thinks conditions are ripe for a global crisis stemming from high issuance of corporate collateralized loan obligations. [America's Weak Case Against China]( [Stephen Roach]( calls the US Trade Representative's Section 301 report a biased and embarrassing political document. Project Syndicate publishes and provides, on a not-for-profit basis, original commentary by the world's leading thinkers to more than 500 media outlets in over 150 countries. This newsletter is a service of [project-syndicate.org](. © Project Syndicate, all rights reserved. [Unsubscribe from this list](