Embedded Files
Magazine covers are evocative because they must grab your attention and communicate an idea in an instant. They vie for your eyeballs, elbowing and jostling with dozens of other covers on a newsstand to stand out from the crowd.
Covers from The Economist are an exercise in concision, neatly summarizing the concerns and fears of the moment (of a certain crowd).
I organized some of the covers of The Economist by topic to see how frequently a particular story or narrative made it to the cover. I was interested in seeing how much ink was devoted to a particular topic or narrative. The amount of ink spilled might be a proxy for how much a particular story resonates with its readership or a rough proxy for consensus on what is thought to be important topics of the times.
Every story has a beginning, a middle, and an end. Every story requires tension, conflict, and resolution. I am interested in seeing how a story unfolds over time and how the tension resolves. Here, for each narrative or topic, I identify the tension and whether there is resolution. I do not ascribe any predictive value to the magazine covers and recognize that this project is terribly reductive and overlooks nuance and detail. Judging a story by its magazine cover is obviously a gross oversimplification. Here, I am solely interested in the story's overall arc and its broad brushstrokes as told by magazine covers.
Source: https://www.economist.com/weeklyedition/archive (2022 has 17 issues and counting. 2020 and 2021 had 53 issues each.)
RESOLVED
RESOLVED
Inflation (3 covers)
Inflation (3 covers)
JUL 25TH 2020
Free Money: When government spending knows no limits
DEC 12TH 2020
Will inflation return?
Tension: 2021 - Is inflation transitory or are we being frog-boiled?
APR 23RD 2022
The Fed That Failed
Putin (12 covers)
Putin (12 covers)
AUG 29TH 2020
What Putin fears
APR 24TH 2021
Putin's next move
NOV 13TH 2021
Putin's new era of repression
JAN 8TH 2022
Mr Putin will see you now
Tension: Jan. 2022 - Will Russia's troop buildup ("military exercise") lead to an invasion of Ukraine?
JAN 29TH 2022
Russia's roulette: The stakes in Ukraine
FEB 19TH 2022
Putin's botched job
Resolution: Feb. 24, 2022 - Russia invades Ukraine and becomes the largest European military conflict since WW2
FEB 26TH 2022
Where will he stop?
MAR 5TH 2022
The horror ahead
MAR 12TH 2022
The Stalinisation of Russia
MAR 19TH 2022
The alternative world order
APR 2ND 2022
Why Ukraine must win
APR 30TH 2022
How Rotten is Russia's Army?
COVID in the U.S.? (3 covers)
COVID in the U.S.? (3 covers)
Tension: Jan. 2020 - Will COVID affect the U.S.?
FEB 1ST 2020
How bad will it get?
MAR 7TH 2020
The right medicine for the world economy
Resolution: Mar. 11, 2020 - The NBA suspends its season after Utah Jazz center, Rudy Gobert, tested positive. Many U.S. institutions follow suit.
MAR 21ST 2020
Closed
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UNRESOLVED
UNRESOLVED
Crypto (2 covers)
Crypto (2 covers)
Tension: 2012 - Is crypto legit? Will it be widely accepted?
MAY 8TH 2021
Govcoins: The digital currencies that will transform finance
SEPT 18TH 2021
Down the rabbit hole: The promise and perils of decentralised finance
Stock Market / Wall St. (4 covers)
Stock Market / Wall St. (4 covers)
FEB 2ND 2020
Big tech's $2trn bull run
MAY 9TH 2020
A dangerous gap: The markets v the real economy
FEB 6TH 2021
The real revolution on Wall Street
Tension: 2021 - After making a new all-time high, will the market crash?
FEB 12TH 2022
When the ride ends
U.S. Economy (4 covers)
U.S. Economy (4 covers)
MAY 2ND 2020
The 90% economy
MAY 9TH 2020
A dangerous gap: The markets v the real economy
Tension: 2021 - Will there be a recession?
OCT 9TH 2021
The shortage economy
OCT 23RD 2021
Instant economics: The real-time revolution
Housing / Real Estate (1 cover)
Housing / Real Estate (1 cover)
Tension: 2019 - Will the real estate market keep going up?
JAN 18TH 2020
The horrible housing blunder: Why the obsession with home ownership is so harmful
Future of Work (2 covers)
Future of Work (2 covers)
Tension: 2020 - Will the pandemic permanently alter the way we work?
SEP 12TH 2020
Office politics: The fight over the future of work
APR 10TH 2021
Riding high: A special report on the future of work
COVID pandemic over? (16 covers)
COVID pandemic over? (16 covers)
MAR 7TH 2020
The right medicine for the world economy
MAR 14TH 2020
The politics of pandemics
MAR 28TH 2020
Everything's under control: Big government, liberty and the virus
Tension: 2020 - When is the pandemic over?
APR 4TH 2020
A grim calculus: The stark choices between life, death and the economy
APR 11TH 2020
The business of survival: How covid-19 will reshape global commerce
APR 25TH 2020
After the disease, the debt
AUG 22ND 2020
The aliens among us: How viruses shape the world
SEP 26TH 2020
Why are so many governments getting it wrong?
SEP 26TH 2020
Winners and losers: How covid-19 is reordering the global economy
NOV 14TH 2020
Suddenly, hope
FEB 13TH 2021
How well will vaccines work?
MAR 6TH 2021
Bouncing back: A safety net for the post-covid world
MAR 27TH 2021
Bright side of the moonshot: Science of the pandemic
MAY 15TH 2021
Ten million reasons to vaccinate the world
OCT 9TH 2021
The shortage economy
APR 16TH 2022
What China is getting wrong: It's not just covid
Taiwan (1 cover)
Taiwan (1 cover)
Tension: 2021 - Will China invade Taiwan?
MAY 1ST 2021
The most dangerous place on Earth
China (15 covers)
China (15 covers)
Tension: 2010 - Will China overtake the U.S. as the world's #1 superpower?
JAN 4TH 2020
Poles apart: China, America and the planet's biggest break-up
APR 18TH 2020
Is Chine winning? The geopolitical consequences of covid-19
JUL 18TH 2020
Trade without trust: How the west should do business with China
AUG 15TH 2020
Xi's new economy: Don't underestimate it
OCT 17TH 2020
Torment of the Uyghurs and the global crisis in human rights
NOV 21ST 2020
The China strategy America needs
JAN 2ND 2021
The future of e-commerce (with Chinese characteristics)
MAR 20TH 2021
The brutal reality of dealing with China
JUNE 26TH 2021
Power and paranoia: The Chinese Communist Party at 100
JUL 17TH 2021
Biden's China doctrine
AUG 14TH 2021
China's attack on tech
SEP 25TH 2021
Resurfacing: America in Asia
OCT 2ND 2021
China's new reality
MAR 19TH 2022
The alternative world order
APR 16TH 2022
What China is getting wrong: It's not just covid
Technology (10 covers)
Technology (10 covers)
FEB 22ND 2020
Big tech's $2trn bull run
JUN 20TH 2020
The genius of Amazon
OCT 24TH 2020
Who controls the conversation? Social media and free speech
JAN 2ND 2021
The future of e-commerce (with Chinese characteristics)
FEB 6TH 2021
The real revolution on Wall Street
FEB 27TH 2021
Tech's big dust-up
AUG 7TH 2021
The people's panopticon: Open-source intelligence comes of age
AUG 14TH 2021
China's attack on tech
OCT 23RD 2021
Instant economics: The real time revolution
JAN 22ND 2022
Big tech's supersized ambitions
Energy (6 covers)
Energy (6 covers)
Tension: Aug. 1990 - Will we wean ourselves off of cheap oil?
SEP 19TH 2020
21st century power: How clean energy will remake geopolitics
DEC 5TH 2020
Making coal history
FEB 18TH 2021
America's better future: No carbon and no blackouts
JUN 12TH 2021
Bunged up: How the green boom could get stuck
OCT 16TH 2021
The energy shock
MAR 26TH 2022
Power play: The new age of energy and security
Climate (3 covers)
Climate (3 covers)
Tension: 1965 - Will we prioritize climate change action enough to reverse damage? In 1965, the U.S. President's Science Advisory Committee warned about the "greenhouse effect".
MAY 23RD 2020
Seize the moment: The chance to flatten the climate curve
JUL 24TH 2021
No safe place: The 3C future
OCT 30TH 2021
COP-out
Race (4 covers)
Race (4 covers)
Tension: 1619 - Will racism in the U.S. end?
JUN 6TH 2020
The fire this time: Police violence, race and protest in America
JUN 13TH 2020
The power of protest
JUL 11TH 2020
The new ideology of race: and what's wrong with it
MAY 22ND 2021
Race in America
Middle East (2 covers)
Middle East (2 covers)
Tension: May 1948 - Will there be peace in the Middle East?
MAY 29TH 2021
Two states or one?
AUG 28TH 2021
Where next for global jihad?
Globalization (2 covers)
Globalization (2 covers)
MAY 16TH 2020
goodbye globalisation: the dangerous lure of self-sufficiency
MAR 31ST 2021
Message in a bottleneck: Don't give up on globalisation
World Economy (2 covers)
World Economy (2 covers)
JUL 10TH 2021
The fault lines in the world economy
DEC 4TH 2021
The threats to the world economy
Cybersecurity / Cybercrime (1 cover)
Cybersecurity / Cybercrime (1 cover)
JUN 19TH 2021
Broad bandits: The surging cyberthreat from spies and crooks
Interest Rates (1 cover)
Interest Rates (1 cover)
FEB 5TH 2022
How high will interest rates go?
U.S. Politics (26 covers)
U.S. Politics (26 covers)
Tension: Jan. 2020 - Who will run against Trump? Biden, Sanders, or Warren?
FEB 8TH 2020
State of the Democrats
FEB 29TH 2020
American nightmare: Could it come to this?
MAR 14TH 2020
The politics of pandemics
MAY 30TH 2020
The American way
JUL 4TH 2020
Retro or radical?
Resolution: Aug. 2020 - Biden is the Democratic nominee
Tension: Aug. 2020 - Who will be the next U.S. president? Trump v Biden
SEP 5TH 2020
America's ugly election: How bad could it get?
OCT 3RD 2020
Bidenomics: The good, the bad and the unknown
OCT 31ST 2020
Why it has to be Joe Biden
NOV 7TH 2020
When every vote counts
Resolution: Nov. 7, 2020 - Biden wins
Tension: Nov. 7, 2020 - Will there be a peaceful transfer of power?
NOV 28TH 2020
How resilient is democracy?
Resolution: Jan. 6, 2021 - Riot and insurrection at the U.S. Capitol
JAN 9TH 2021
Trump's legacy: The shame and the opportunity
JAN 16TH 2021
The reckoning
JAN 23RD 2021
Morning after in America
MAR 13TH 2021
Biden's big gamble: What a $1.9 trillion stimulus means for the world economy
APR 17TH 2021
The political CEO
JUL 3RD 2021
The real risk to America's democracy
JUL 17TH 2021
Biden's China doctrine
AUG 21ST 2021
Biden's debacle: What it means for Afghanistan and America
SEP 4TH 2021
The threat from the illiberal left
SEP 11TH 2021
America then and now
SEP 25TH 2021
Resurfacing: America in Asia
NOV 6TH 2021
One year on
NOV 20TH 2021
The triumph of big government
DEC 11TH 2021
What would America fight for?
JAN 1ST 2022
Walking away: The Republican Party and democracy
JAN 15TH 2022
Beware the bossy state
Other (8 covers)
Other (8 covers)
France: Apr. 9, 2022
India: Jan. 25, 2020
Ireland: Feb. 15, 2020
Iran: Jan. 11, 2020
Emerging Markets: Jul. 31, 2021
Catastrophe: Jun. 27, 2020
Middle Age: Aug. 1, 2020
College: Aug. 8 ,2020
APR 30TH 2022
A B C D E F G H I
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