Line #23 Magazine/TheEconomist


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/1920px_the_economist_logosvg.png]]
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3	->''First published in September 1843 to take part in "a severe contest between intelligence, which presses forward, and an unworthy, timid ignorance obstructing our progress."''
4	-->-- The Economist's "mission statement", printed on the first page of each issue.
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6	''The Economist'' is a weekly news magazine (it calls itself a news''paper'' for historical reasons) published in Britain but read around the world. It caters to an intellectual audience, and [[ViewersAreGeniuses knows it]].
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8	[[LongRunners It has been published continuously since it was founded in September 1843]], [[SingleIssueWonk to campaign for the repeal of the Corn Laws]]. Ever since, the magazine has never hidden its preference for [[UsefulNotes/PoliticalIdeologies Classical Liberalism]], but it approaches politics from a utilitarian and pragmatic perspective. Thus, it tends to feel more "centrist with a moderate classical liberal lean."
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10	The writing style is [[DeadpanSnarker clever and dry]], and the writers are ''extremely'' [[HurricaneOfPuns fond of puns]], [[IncrediblyLamePun incredibly lame and otherwise]]. [[BilingualBonus These are often multilingual]], frequently [[SmartPeopleKnowLatin requiring a working knowledge of Latin]], and they DontExplainTheJoke. The magazine's policy of always providing background information about famous people or entities can lead to heaping doses of CaptainObvious, such as their description of "Creator/JackieChan, a kung-fu actor from Hong Kong". Similarly they are known for their InsistentTerminology in describing everyone as "Mr/Ms Name", even if they're egomaniac dictators normally known by a title.
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12	Somewhat amusingly, for all of the hauteur of its style, writers for ''The Economist'' are--according to one report--mostly recent graduates of [[UsefulNotes/{{Oxbridge}} Magdalen College, Oxford]], generally having read Economics, Political Science, or PPE (Philosophy, Politics, and Economics). This is masked by the fact that all articles in ''The Economist'' are ruthlessly copyedited into a trademark-level of stylistic uniformity so that [[FeaturelessProtagonist they all sound as if they came from the same writer]] and they [[NoNameGiven are all anonymous]]. Many cynical commentators have noted that subscribers probably would not take it too kindly if it came out that the world's most respected economic opinion mostly came out of a squad of young adults whose most advanced writing credit to their name is their undergrad thesis. Even the editor is barely mentioned, and the opinion columnists write under certain standardised pseudonyms, all of which [[MeaningfulName have some sort of historical significance]]: "Lexington" for the United States (after the [[UsefulNotes/TheAmericanRevolution Battles of Lexington and Concord]]), "Banyan" for Asia (a recent one, named after the tree under which the Buddha achieved enlightenment), "Charlemagne" for Europe (after, well, [[UsefulNotes/LEtatCestMoi Charlemagne]]), Bagehot for Britain (after Walter Bagehot, the third editor of ''The Economist''), "Schumpeter" for economics (after the famous economist), and "Buttonwood" for finance and business (after the buttonwood tree on Wall Street under which the New York Stock Exchange originally did business).
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14	It's also highly successful, being one of the few print magazines to have gained circulation in the past 10 years, to a total of 1.2 million. Only 14% of that circulation is in the UK, probably making The Economist the only mass print medium to have more copies circulating outside its country of origin than within.
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16	Fond of the PoliticalCartoon, often less {{Anvilicious}} than most examples (if only because the cartoons are usually paired with articles that explain the issues anyway).
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18	Currently [[BannedInChina banned in Thailand]] due to the royal family's issues with one of the writers (Incidentally, these issues have absolutely nothing to do with the magazine; the royal family [[DisproportionateRetribution just overreacted to a completely separate work he did]]).
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20	Examples of Trope-Related Articles
21	* In April, 2010, ''The Economist'' featured an [[http://www.economist.com/node/15949089 article]] about TheCSIEffect.
22	* [[http://www.economist.com/node/18330435?story_id=18330435 It has also featured]] a [[GenreSavvy how-to guide]] on becoming a VillainWithGoodPublicity.
23	* [[http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2011/03/defence_spending_and_libya?fsrc=scn/fb/wl/bl/whatisthepoint This Economist article]] mentions a trope (which happens to also be a meme) by name. Courtesy of Libya's revolution:
24	-->The only European state pressing hard for air strikes in Libya is France, which has no bitter memories of foolish support for the invasion of Iraq because France opposed that invasion. [[WhosLaughingNow Who's a]] [[CheeseEatingSurrenderMonkeys cheese-eating surrender monkey]] now, eh?
25	* [[http://www.economist.com/node/21529043 This Economist article]] on the economic reforms in [[CommieLand Cuba]] has in reference to the nation's taxes the following under the image: [[VideoGame/ZeroWing Half your monies are belong to us.]]
26	* EverythingIsOnline is explored [[http://www.economist.com/node/21531116?fsrc=scn/fb/wl/ar/upclose here]].
27	* [[http://www.economist.com/news/21567361-google-apple-facebook-and-amazon-are-each-others-throats-all-sorts-ways-another-game This article]] talks about competition between Internet giants Google, Apple, Amazon, and Facebook by means of metaphors with ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire''.

Context Magazine / TheEconomist