McKinsey Quarterly is the business journal of McKinsey & Company.
March 2010
The leader of the US effort to revitalize Iraq’s economy talks about the lessons he has learned over the past three years, the relationship between economic development and security, Western misconceptions of the Middle East, and the hardest part of his job.
Policy makers everywhere should focus on the competitiveness of individual sectors.
February 2010
With unemployment hovering just below 10 percent, job creation is now priority number one in Washington. But America’s jobs challenge is a marathon, not a sprint.
January 2010
The challenge of managing the enormous debt burden weighing on global recovery is only just beginning.
Several major economies are likely to face imminent deleveraging. If history is any guide, it will be a lengthy and painful process.
December 2009
The solution to water scarcity, in part, will come from new technologies for better managing water as a resource. But to make these technologies more effective, business and policy leaders will need to work more closely to implement them.
The quintessential business statesman reflects on a long career and the work needed to rebuild America’s economic future.
New thinking is needed to deliver the benefits of public-works spending and eliminate the waste.
August 2009
A more consumer-centric economy would allocate capital and resources more efficiently, generate more jobs, and spread the benefits of growth more equitably. It would also even grow more rapidly.
June 2009
In this second installment of a three-part series, Professor Richard Rumelt and McKinsey's Lowell Bryan discuss the prospects for the economy, companies, and workers.
March 2009
Risa Lavizzo-Mourey talks about the foundation's campaign against childhood obesity and its efforts to cope with the downturn.
Will governments negotiate an agreement on reducing carbon emissions at the December 2009 UN Climate Change Conference?
December 2008
The fastest way to reduce America's dependence on oil imports is to convert petroleum-driven miles to electric ones by retrofitting the SUVs and pick-ups now on the road with rechargeable batteries. Here's how.
Even many Western economists think China has discovered its own road to prosperity, dependent largely on state financing and control. They are quite wrong.
The United States spends more on health care than comparable countries do and more than its wealth would suggest. Here’s how—and why.
September 2008
Over the past 50 years, spending on health care has consistently outpaced broader economic growth. What will happen if that trend persists? What forces might accelerate or slow it?
July 2008
China’s business landscape is changing rapidly. So must the way we comprehend it.
China’s cities are booming. Intelligent policies could make the good effects prevail over the bad ones.
June 2008
Don’t be fooled by technological uncertainty and the continued importance of regulation; solar will become more economically attractive.
April 2008
Huge value is at stake. The winners will be companies that reposition themselves to seize the opportunities of a low-carbon future.
December 2007
The Asian financial system could become a full-fledged partner in the global triad of economic powerhouses, alongside Europe and the United States—but only if its regulatory systems, economic ministries, and financial institutions improve dramatically.
November 2007
Arif Naqvi of Abraaj Capital, a Dubai-based private equity firm, explores generational change in the Middle East and its implications.
Executives may be underestimating the effect on their businesses of so many new middle class consumers.
October 2007
Having helped to put India’s economy on the right track, Montek Singh Ahluwalia has now changed focus, to addressing problems with the country’s infrastructure and financial and educational systems.
Ian Davis, managing director of McKinsey, talks about the public-sector productivity imperative.
August 2007
The US import balancing act could continue for some time, but the correction, when it comes, will have surprising consequences. Governments and businesses should prepare for them.
May 2007
As a candidate, Nicolas Sarkozy promised to reform the French economy. Now he must deliver.
While Asia booms, Latin American economies sputter. To drive significant growth, they should overhaul their policies for the service sector.
April 2007
Finland's employment levels will have to rise if the country is to support its aging population.
The chairman of a commission set up to investigate Chile’s private-pension system explains that the goal now is to supplement rather than replace it.
March 2007
The president of Inter-American Development Bank argues that achieving greater "financial democracy" is crucial for achieving greater inclusiveness, improving social cohesion, and generating broad-based growth.
Michelle Bachelet discusses her views on the roots of political upheaval in Latin America, and the link between economic development and the fight against poverty.
Pension reform and privatization have delivered benefits—shrinking deficits and greater transparency—but systems need to boost their returns and attract more workers.
The way to check the populist revival is to bring the benefits of change to the mass of the population.
Latin America's economy may not be growing as quickly as those of China or India, but it presents real opportunities, and the political risks are often exaggerated.
February 2007
For GCC states, liberalizing the labor market and developing the local workforce are the keys to moving beyond a reliance on foreign workers.
Sheikha Lubna Al Qasimi discusses the opportunities and challenges that the United Arab Emirates faces in diversifying its economy beyond oil.
An estimate of the economic benefits of wireless activity must include not only wireless operators but also auxiliary players and end users.
January 2007
Further reform will be essential if one of the world’s fastest-growing regions is to seize a broader role in the global economy.
November 2006
Reducing government interference in the financial sector and strengthening its market orientation are essential to make it allocate capital efficiently and meet the needs of savers.
A recent poll shows that they support a performance-based society balancing a strong work and social ethic.
August 2006
A stronger financial system would make the economy grow more quickly and ensure higher tax revenues—without higher tax rates.
June 2006
One of China's leading economists and a longtime champion of its transition to free markets says that it faces two starkly contrasting futures: a market economy under the rule of law or crony capitalism.
September 2005
The country must take steps to boost its economic prospects, lift its living standards, and improve opportunities for the multinational companies that do business there.
The prime minister discusses his plans to modernize the country's infrastructure, attract foreign investment, and create jobs—all in the service of eliminating chronic poverty and disease in India.
India could be a global leader in education and financial services, to name just two possibilities, asserts the IMF's chief economist—but not until it opens up to the world.
Business and government should be partners, not rivals—let alone enemies.
Because it has made tremendous progress—and there's more to come.
August 2005
The cost benefits have started to tempt more and more French companies. Instead of resisting the trend, policy makers should explore the ways France could gain from it.
July 2005
Strong leadership is an essential ingredient.
May 2005
Adair Turner, the head of the UK Pensions Commission, explains why pension reform will work only if people retire later and save more.
The aging of European populations will threaten living standards and prosperity.
The rapid aging of the Japanese population will dramatically reduce savings and wealth—and cut off an important supply of capital to the world.
March 2005
The successful global expansion of multinational companies is a major contributor to the trade imbalance.
To fill the coming gap in global savings and financial wealth, households and governments will need to increase their savings rates and earn higher returns on the assets they already have.
February 2005
A new look at US trade and employment data shows why it’s wrong to believe that foreign competition accounts for weak job growth since 2000.
Looming health care and pension costs will force the country to lure more people into the workforce.
December 2004
The world’s two biggest developing countries are taking different paths to economic prosperity. Which is the better one?
In ten years, the country’s demographics will probably look very different. How should the government and business respond?
Europe's land-use policies limit productivity. Changing them could create jobs and boost competition.
November 2004
Offshoring could create new wealth for Germany, but only if it adopts the structural reforms needed to reemploy its displaced workers.
August 2004
Investors are returning to the country, but will they remain?
UK workers aren’t as productive as their counterparts in other leading developed nations. It will take more than innovation to close the gap.
By dismantling domestic barriers to productivity growth, the country could rise to a new level of economic development.
The country has a deep pool of educated workers and is close to the markets of Western Europe, but to attract foreign companies it must bring its PR efforts and bureaucracy up to speed.
Up-and-coming cities in Asia and Eastern Europe are eager to know how to attract multinational financial-services companies.
July 2004
Two industries have shown what can be achieved when the country opens itself up to the world. Now the rest of the economy should follow suit.
In an effort to spur the local economy, the government of Wuhan has joined with a private investor to develop a new central business district.
The country’s government holds the key to helping its apparel manufacturers compete in the global market.
May 2004
Poor countries should put their consumers first.
February 2004
The region is falling behind its rivals. Turning it into a true single market would boost its competitiveness and help restore its economic luster.
Developing countries think they must not only offer incentives to attract foreign direct investment but also protect their local economies by restricting the way multinationals operate. Are these countries wrong on both counts?
December 2003
The current economic downturn isn’t wholly responsible for Hong Kong’s woes. Fortunately, solutions are well within reach.
February 2003
Differences in IT spending are not the root cause of the gap between US and European productivity. Europe's basic problem is inappropriate regulation that hinders innovation.
August 2002
The people are ready for change and for the tough decisions needed to push the economy. Their leaders now have a chance to engage them in a serious dialogue about economic reform and revival.
May 2002
In Latin America, macroeconomic reform isn’t enough: sustained growth can be achieved only by removing microeconomic barriers to productivity as well.
February 2002
Information technology isn’t the whole story behind productivity.
May 2001
Private Social Security accounts will challenge financial institutions, but the opportunity is huge—and may be replicable in other countries as they reform their retirement systems.
Technological change generated both prosperity and the trade gap. Neither its continuation nor its decline would be likely to have catastrophic effects.
December 2000
Today’s woeful economic performance is not so much a reversal of fortune as a revelation of the hollowness of Japan’s success in the 1980s.
June 2000
In a study of investments in Hungary made by 38 foreign companies, McKinsey found many of these businesses ready to reinvest there, at least under a sympathetic government.
If deregulation, privatization, and openness to outside investment continue—and the government steers clear of regulatory traps—Poland will continue to show that economic “shock therapy” can create a flourishing economy.
February 2000
Russia privatized its economy but failed to transform it. Most of the old businesses are bad. Most of the new ones are little better. What is to be done?
The San Francisco Bay area, including Silicon Valley, has completed the transformation from an industrial economy into a predominantly knowledge-based one that ranks among the most productive in the world.
November 1998
The chaebol played a pivotal role in the country’s past economic success. But they are also partly responsible for its current plight. Family owners must now focus on value, not growth, and invite foreign investors onto the board.
November 1995
Why has GDP growth fallen? Because 75 percent of its economy—mostly services—is protected. But not trucks, software, and banking, which are world class.
February 1995
Governments have no choice, but will they get it right? How not to wipe out 10 to 50 percent of value. Not ownership, but the trade-offs among availability, costs, and quality.
May 1994
Better standards of living rest on better productivity and that, in turn, on improved managerial practice.
What Mexico did—and did not do—can provide valuable insights for countries embarking on privatization programs.
An excerpt from Economic Transformation the Mexican Way.
February 1994
For countries at all stages of development, continued economic growth often means facing up to the privatization of infrastructure.
August 1993
The social systems of most European countries are undermining the whole region’s competitiveness. They are in desperate need of reform.
February 1993
Turning around Eastern European companies requires decisive leadership and a time frame measured in decades, not years.
An Interview with Janusz Lewandowski, Polish Minister of Privatization
Wholesale divestiture is not the only—or necessarily the best—means of transforming state enterprises in Asia.
Lessons from the economic transformation of the former East Germany.
JANUARY 2010
FEBRUARY 2010
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