[...]... productivity than cack-handed industrial policy Add all this up and the difficulties are formidable “A sense of normalcy should not lead to complacency,” the G20 communiqué says, with both rhyme and reason The storm has passed But policymakers have a lot to do—and a lot of mistakes to avoid—if they are to make the best of the recovery Copyright © 2009 The Economist Newspaper and The Economist Group All... unofficial detention in guesthouses known as “black jails”, then sent back to their provinces The centre appears to lose little by such high-handedness Outside Beijing a bizarre belief persists: if only victims of official abuse can make their grievances known at the very highest level of the leadership, justice will prevail In the past couple of years central-government tolerance of whingers from the. .. enduring The goal is to drive the kind of reform over the next couple of years that will last for the next couple of decades.” He has dangled the carrot It is up to the country to bite Copyright © 2009 The Economist Newspaper and The Economist Group All rights reserved Barack Obama and Guantánamo Better safe than sorry Oct 1st 2009 | WASHINGTON, DC From The Economist print edition Civil-libertarians... leaders to the pressure of a vote, let alone themselves One of the very few places where a flicker of political reform can still be detected is in Wenling, a city in the coastal province of Zhejiang There officials have been experimenting with more open budgets, a departure from the normal practice of keeping these secret, with only bare outlines shown to legislators at the last minute before they are... governments to take direct responsibility for financing county governments instead of leaving the job to the tier in-between, the prefecture In the past prefectural administrations have often siphoned off money destined for their subordinate counties They also enjoyed a veto over large-scale county investment projects Counties are now supposed to enjoy greater power to decide for themselves But again these... many have debated whether part of the problem lies with there being too many tiers of government—China has five, compared with three in America Some advocate cutting one or two layers This adds to a sense that, after 60 years of rule, the party is still unsure how best to govern It has tried in the past decade to make local legislatures more representative by admitting members of the newly emerging business... equal Some of the most popular of today’s schemes—such as paying employers to cut hours rather than jobs, as in Germany—try to preserve the labour force in aspic Economies must be free to reinvent themselves and allow thriving industries to replace ailing ones The path of productivity growth will determine the nature of the new normal more than anything else In the rich world, innovation sets the pace... much more likely to be correlated over the next century Unfortunately, CHIBI means “dwarf” in Japanese, but it is probably the best of the permutations Frank Sheeran Tokyo * Letter appears online only Copyright © 2009 The Economist Newspaper and The Economist Group All rights reserved China's other face The red and the black Oct 1st 2009 | CHONGQING From The Economist print edition As the People’s Republic... safety-nets and an overhaul of subsidies to increase the share of national income going to workers Germany and Japan need structural reforms to boost spending, especially in services What has long been lacking is the political will—and here the G20 seemed to make progress The Pittsburgh communiqué promised to subject members’ economic policies to “peer review” These reviews may prove toothless, but the. .. lead, that the government is so insecure is not a comforting thought Copyright © 2009 The Economist Newspaper and The Economist Group All rights reserved Iran, the world and the bomb At the tipping-point Oct 1st 2009 From The Economist print edition Testing the big powers’ anti-proliferation promises Reuters DID the UN Security Council’s 15 members mean a word of their unanimous promise during the recent . have a lot to do—and a lot of mistakes to avoid—if they are to make the best of the recovery. Copyright © 2009 The Economist Newspaper and The Economist Group. All rights reserved. The People's. week KAL's cartoon Leaders A “new normal” for the world economy After the storm The People's Republic at 60 China's place in the world Iran, the world and the bomb At the tipping-point Germany's. © 2009 The Economist Newspaper and The Economist Group. All rights reserved. Iran, the world and the bomb At the tipping-point Oct 1st 2009 From The Economist print edition Testing the big