The Economist Latin America May 25, 2019

Politics Early results from India’s election, which was carried out in seven stages from mid-April, showed that the Bharatiya Janata Party led by Narendra Modi would remain in power. During the campaign, Mr Modi had stressed Hindu nationalism more than economic development. Pollsters swooned after Australia’s centre-right Liberal Party narrowly won another term in office at a general election. For months the polls had predicted a comfortable win for the opposition Labour Party over the hapless government of Scott Morrison, who is opposed to doing much to tackle climate change in a country scorched by drought and wildfires. Mr Morrison called his win a “miracle victory” for “quiet Australians”. Deadly riots broke out in Jakarta after Indonesia’s election commission confirmed that Joko Widodo had won re-election as president. The loser, Prabowo Subianto, has…

EVERYONE SAYS work is miserable. Today’s workers, if they are lucky enough to escape the gig economy and have a real job, have lost control over their lives. They are underpaid and exploited by unscrupulous bosses. And they face a precarious future, as machines threaten to make them unemployable. There is just one problem with this bleak picture: it is at odds with reality. As we report this week (see Briefing), most of the rich world is enjoying a jobs boom of unprecedented scope. Not only is work plentiful, but it is also, on average, getting better. Capitalism is improving workers’ lot faster than it has in years, as tight labour markets enhance their bargaining power. The zeitgeist has lost touch with the data. Just the job In America the unemployment rate is…

Politics Early results from India’s election, which was carried out in seven stages from mid-April, showed that the Bharatiya Janata Party led by Narendra Modi would remain in power. During the campaign, Mr Modi had stressed Hindu nationalism more than economic development. Pollsters swooned after Australia’s centre-right Liberal Party narrowly won another term in office at a general election. For months the polls had predicted a comfortable win for the opposition Labour Party over the hapless government of Scott Morrison, who is opposed to doing much to tackle climate change in a country scorched by drought and wildfires. Mr Morrison called his win a “miracle victory” for “quiet Australians”. Deadly riots broke out in Jakarta after Indonesia’s election commission confirmed that Joko Widodo had won re-election as president. The loser,…

FOR THE second time in a row, the Bharatiya Janata Party led by Narendra Modi has swept an Indian election. As The Economist went to press, early projections suggested the alliance it leads had won well over 300 of the 545 seats in the lower house of parliament. The BJP itself looked set to claim a slender majority in its own right, of more than 272 seats (see Asia section). To put the scale of the BJP’s success in perspective, the last politician to lead a party to two successive electoral majorities in India was Indira Gandhi, in 1971, at the helm of the Congress party. Congress, now led by Indira’s grandson, clawed back a little ground after its disastrous performance at the previous election, in 2014, in which it won…

WHEN TRADE talks between America and China fell apart on May 10th, the effect on financial markets was muted. Most firms and investors are betting on a long struggle between the superpowers but not a sudden crisis or a financial panic. As the conflict over the tech industry escalates, however, that assumption looks suspect. On May 15th America’s Commerce Department said that companies would need a special licence to deal with Huawei, China’s hardware giant, which it deemed a threat to American interests (it later said the order would not take full effect for 90 days). Fears that other Chinese tech firms will be blacklisted have caused their shares to tumble. A chain reaction is under way as a giant industry braces for a violent shock. The hawks in the White…

DID CLIMATE change cause the war in Syria? Or the genocide in Darfur? Obviously, that is not the whole story. Suppose Syria’s despot, Bashar al-Assad, or Sudan’s former tyrant, Omar al-Bashir, were to find themselves on trial in The Hague and tried to blame their country’s carnage on global warming. Such a risible defence would flop. No conflict occurs without leaders to give orders and soldiers to pull triggers. No atrocities are committed unless human beings choose to commit them. Nonetheless, future-gazers are right to warn that global warming has made some wars more likely than they would otherwise have been, and will make others more so in the future. It is never possible to pinpoint a specific war and say that it would not have happened in the absence of…