[H.H.P.C.]

Hey,

I'm looking to see if anyone knows of any (english language) magazines which could be read as an alternative to The Economist.

Whilst I find The Economist to be very good in covering a very large range of international issues in good depth, I find its anglo-american and neo-liberal slant on many of these issues unhelpful and I think these reduce the values that I gain from them. I do understand however, that they are writing for an audience that is likely to agree with these points of view.

Does anyone know of any magazines which have the same high quality international economic reporting in them, but without being quite so "right-wing" (in Western terms)?

[Flair91]

New Statesman.

[H.H.P.C.]

(Original post by Flair91)
New Statesman.

Is that magazine very much focused on Britain? And is it more political than economic?

[Pads]

The Week. Covers the whole world and sums up what all the other publications say.

[Flair91]

(Original post by H.H.P.C.)
Is that magazine very much focused on Britain? And is it more political than economic?

Well it's published in Britain, has predominately British columnists and has a lot of words devoted to Britain but it does include international affairs too.
All economics is politics (thats why is used to be called political economy) so i don't know what to make of that question.

[MonkeySee]

chronic masturbation

[ajp100688]

The Economist is still probably your best bet. True multinational current affairs magazines like it are rare beasts, which is odd considering how globalised the world is becoming but nevertheless true, most tend to be very nationally focused. I do agree with you about the Economist's neo-liberal bent though, I love the magazine but sometimes it's painful how they have to insert their political stance into articles or when they write opinion pieces which I totally disagree with and seem so disconnected with reality and based only upon neo-lib theory.

[.ACS.]

Firstly, The Economist is hardly right-wing. Secondly, it's much more focused on political economy than actual economics.

I generally read a broad mix of The Economist, BusinessWeek and the FT to keep myself up to date with economic affairs. Also you can't really beat Reuters for news.

[Calum93]

I'm what people would probably describe as far-left; I follow the occupy movement and am currently reading a book called Chomsky on Anarchism. Still, I believe its good for everyone to read stuff that they disagree with, and to challenge their own views.

I'm therefore a subscriber to The Economist. I find it very informative, despite often disagreeing with it and every now and again they surprise me by promoting an ever so slightly left-wing strategy, which is nice to see.

So even if you dont agree with it, its good to challenge your own views

[Joinedup]

It's one of a kind imo. I don't find it too difficult to read past the neo lib bias and concentrate on the parts that are backed by data... Some comedian, possibly mitchell was on the telly saying it's full of interesting and informative articles providing you skip the inevitable, bolt on, stock conclusion that free markets and deregulation are the answer to absolutely everything.
You might get some mileage out of the new statesman, the spectator and the weekend ft.

[H.H.P.C.]

Thank you for your help, I would be interested in reading the New Statesman sometime just to see what it is like. Unfortunately it is not available in my country so I'll have to stick to their website.

I agree with what people say about ignoring the slant in The Economist, I guess I will just have to continue reading all their articles considering the views of the people writing more criticically. It is much better than any similar Russian language magazines which just appear to be Kremlin propaganda.

[DaitaG]

Not a magazine but I find the Financial Times a brilliant read. It is very well written and provides great and balanced views. Try it! I picked it up while interning in the marketing department of a bank - I'm not actually that interested in finance - but it has made me interested, and I genuinely enjoy it.

[henriksebastian]

I'll start reading the Financial Times too, then.

But honestly I'm so in love with The Economist I don't think there's ever going to be another one. They write about important issues but manage to be FUNNY, WITTY and ENTERTRAINING. It's a magazine even a 15 year old can read, with some really basic understanding of economics and politics... the intellectual "elite" read it, but it's not FOR the elite as people seem to think.

[FDR]

(Original post by H.H.P.C.)
Hey,

I'm looking to see if anyone knows of any (english language) magazines which could be read as an alternative to The Economist.

Whilst I find The Economist to be very good in covering a very large range of international issues in good depth, I find its anglo-american and neo-liberal slant on many of these issues unhelpful and I think these reduce the values that I gain from them. I do understand however, that they are writing for an audience that is likely to agree with these points of view.

Does anyone know of any magazines which have the same high quality international economic reporting in them, but without being quite so "right-wing" (in Western terms)?

I subscribe to The Economist, and I agree, they talk crap far too often - I remember their editorial about Francois Hollande - it was the worst written article I have ever had the displeasure of reading. However, the research they do on a lot of issues is decent, particularly on China, on which I find they hold a much less partisan view. Their Bagehot and Lexington columnists are awful still.

I'd recommend the New York Times, It's investigative journalism is top class, for a broadsheet newspaper, they really do a lot of research, and they have many first class opinion writers, including Economists Paul Krugman (you can read all his contributions here - http://www.krugmanonline.com/ ), Eduardo Porter (all here http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/ref...ter/index.html ) and pundit David Brooks (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/opinio...oks/index.html ).

[Budgie]

(Original post by henriksebastian)
I'll start reading the Financial Times too, then.

But honestly I'm so in love with The Economist I don't think there's ever going to be another one. They write about important issues but manage to be FUNNY, WITTY and ENTERTRAINING. It's a magazine even a 15 year old can read, with some really basic understanding of economics and politics... the intellectual "elite" read it, but it's not FOR the elite as people seem to think.

This is exactly right. The Economist is the best written news publication there is. It is concise, precise, and witty. Also, although it clearly does have an ideological stance (radical centrist), it does not seek to hide it. I've always quite liked the way it doesn't make the false division between news and comment that you find in newspapers; pick up The Telegraph and The Guardian and read the news and its obvious they have an agenda there as much as in the comment section.

So long as you're wise to the fact that because of the condensed nature of the publication their articles often contain assertions, and you maintain a sceptical eye on occasion, it's fine.

(Original post by henriksebastian)
I love the magazine but sometimes it's painful how they have to insert their political stance into articles or when they write opinion pieces which I totally disagree with and seem so disconnected with reality and based only upon neo-lib theory.

The entire point of the thing is that it contains liberal comment. It would be very dry if they had no stance on anything.