The strength of the American and global economy is helping equity markets recover, says John Thain, but companies need to do more to earn investors’ trust America’s capital markets are the oxygen of our country’s free market economy. They represent more than 35% of the market capitalization of world stockmarkets. By uniting issuers and investors…

Health relies on good food, human rights, education and prosperity – and contributes to them too, explains Alfred Sommer – The United Nations, in its Millennium Development Goals, provided explicit, quantitative targets for reducing a wide variety of human miseries, including poverty, hunger, excessive mortality and insecurity. These, least of all health issues, are not…

Relations between Europe and the United States are in much better shape than they might appear, says Javier Solana – Some see the re-election of president George W Bush as heralding four years of transatlantic tension and division. The pessimists paint a picture of diverging social values and irreconcilable world views generating a steady stream…

The Bush administration has a unique opportunity to help reform the very institutions of global governance it has undermined, says Anne-Marie Slaughter. A failure to do so will only deepen the rift between America and its allies – The first administration of George W Bush was no friend to international law, at least by common…

It may be unwise to rely on Saudi Arabia to fulfil galloping oil demand, says Matthew Simmons – The world assumes that regardless of how fast demand for oil grows, it can continue to be supplied by ever-increasing amounts of oil from the Middle East, and particularly from Saudi Arabia. This assumption may be false….

The Rolling Stones, the Olympics and the Salvation Army are among the world’s most enduring institutions, says Ralph Shrader. Their secret? Being true to their core values – When a group of young men formed a band in 1962 in London, few would have predicted that they would still be together today, as a rock-and-roll…

The stockmarket bust may not yet be over, says Robert Shiller, while an oil price boom might spark a slowdown – or even a crash – in soaring house prices – Fluctuations in the world economy are largely driven by confidence. A changing level of public confidence is the ultimate driver behind much of the…

The media have been accused of undermining democracy. But, argues Richard Sambrook, an independent press is essential to freedom Democracy and the media – freedom of speech or a free press – have developed in tandem for more than 300 years. They are, in many ways, umbilically linked. If democracy began as the will of…

Despite arguments to the contrary, America’s current account deficit is a huge problem, says Kenneth Rogoff. But a decline in the dollar won’t solve it: a more sophisticated, multilateral, response is required – Will America’s latest public and private borrowing rampage, already more than a decade old, end in tears? Should we expect the gaping…