SEPTEMBER 5TH–11TH 2020
How Abe changed Japan
Wall Street’s expansion in China
The case for digital ID cards
Why Britons walk their dogs so much
How bad could it get?
America’s
ugly election
The Economist
September 5th 2020
3
Contents continues overleaf
1
Contents
The world this week
5
A summary of political
and business news
Leaders
7
Politics
America’s ugly election
8
Abe Shinzo’s legacy
How he changed Japan
10
High finance in China
The exception
10
Digital ID cards
Time for proof
12
Rwanda
Nowhere to hide
Letters
14
On coming out,
competition, the
Midwest, Turkey, John
Snow, York
Briefing
15
America’s presidential
election
A house divided
Britain
19
Johnson’s incompetence
20
Dog-walking
21
Avoiding a second wave
21
Brexit negotiations
22
Flats out, houses in
22
Rubbish 5G
23
Raves are back
24
Bagehot
Lib Dem revival?
Europe
25
France’s new economic
plan
26
Belarus and Russia
27
Germany and Poland
27
Mink in the Netherlands
28
Charlemagne
The
European Commission
United States
29
Trump’s suburban strategy
30
Polls after Labour Day
31
New York’s subway
31
Debating trans athletes
34
Lexington
It’s the
covid-economy, stupid
The Americas
35
A rift in Brazil’s cabinet
36
Friendship on the British
Columbia-Alaska border
Middle East & Africa
37
Peacekeeping in Congo
38
Elections in Burkina Faso
38
The hero of “Hotel
Rwanda”
39
The struggle for Lebanon
40
Egypt targets non-voters
Asia
41
The legacy of Abe Shinzo
43
Feminism in Pakistan
43
India’s economy shrinks
by 24%
44
America tweaks its
Taiwan policy
45
Banyan
Protests in
Thailand
Chaguan
What a lowly,
unpopular law-
enforcement agency
reveals about China’s
version of dictatorship,
page 48
On the cover
What could go wrong with
America’s election? Leader,
page 7
. A poll carried out
during a pandemic in an
atmosphere of deep distrust
poses big risks: briefing,
page 15
. Donald Trump tries
out law-and-order talk on
suburban voters,
page 29
. It
looks unlikely to decide this
election: Lexington,
page 34
•
How Abe changed Japan
He
not only reshaped the economy
and foreign relations—he also
paved the way for future
reforms: leader,
page 8
and
analysis,
page 41
. What can the
world learn from Abenomics?
Free exchange,
page 66
.
A biography of Abe Shinzo,
page 73
•
Wall Street’s expansion in
China
Even as the trade war
rages, China is opening its door
to foreign capital: leader,
page 10
and analysis,
page 61
•
The case for digital ID cards
Covid-19 has accelerated the
adoption of online government
services,
page 49.
It has
strengthened the case for digital
identity systems: leader,
page 10
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4
Contents
The Economist
September 5th 2020
Volume 436 Number 9210
China
46
Making school fun
47
Protests over language
48
Chaguan
Buying order on
the streets
International
49
The digitisation of
government
Business
51
The purpose of Prosus
52
Wizz Air’s rise
55
Japan Inc’s rebalancing act
55
Buffett bets on Japan
56
Bartleby
Anthropology
of work
57
Indian over-Reliance
57
TikTok’s limbo dance
58
Schumpeter
Platform
constitutions
Economics brief
59
Culture in economics
Finance & economics
61
Banking on China
63
The Fed’s softer target
63
Indian finance in the dock
64
Wall Street donations
64
World Bank rankings
65
Buttonwood
Private
equity’s shortcomings
66
Free exchange
Abenomics
Science & technology
67
Predicting pugnacity
68
Brain-computer
interfaces
69
Finding bodies in forests
70
Interpreting dreams
Books & arts
71
Violence and drill music
72
Johnson
Lost in dictation
73
The lives of ants
73
A portrait of Abe Shinzo
74
Home Entertainment
French noir fiction
Economic & financial indicators
76
Statistics on 42 economies
Graphic detail
77
Cities are recovering. So is air pollution
Obituary
78
Chadwick Boseman, avatar of black pride
The Economist
September 5th 2020
5
For our latest coverage of the
virus and its consequences
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The world this week
Politics
Abe Shinzo
announced that he
was stepping down as prime
minister of Japan because of ill
health. Mr Abe has held the job
longer than anyone else. He
will be remembered for “Abe-
nomics”, a programme of
monetary easing, spending
and structural reforms. The
ruling Liberal Democratic Party
will choose a successor on
September 14th. The leading
candidate is Suga Yoshihide,
Mr Abe’s cabinet secretary.
Thailand’s
King Maha
Vajiralongkorn restored
Sineenat Wongvajirapakdi to
her position as royal “consort”.
Last year the king made her
Thailand’s first officially
designated consort in almost a
century, but she was stripped
of her privileges a few months
later for trying to elevate
herself as an equal to the
queen, the king’s fourth wife.
Tensions flared anew in a
disputed border area between
India
and
China
. India
accused China of violating an
agreement reached during
recent peace talks by carrying
out “provocative military
movements” in the Himalayas.
China said its troops had not
violated the status quo.
Ethnic-Mongol parents in the
Chinese province of
