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Atlas Limits Research Desk
Atlas Limits’ editorial and analytical desk.
162 published articlesPublished articles
The Necessary Enemy: War as a Political Refuge
Peace requires governments to account for their performance. It exposes the quality of schools, the reliability of infrastructure, the condition of public finances, the economy’s capacity to create employment, and the ability of institutions to correct their own failures. It leav
The Family Under Pressure
Couples, parenthood, friendship, solitude and transmission: contemporary societies are not merely changing the way people live. They are progressively redistributing functions that the family performed for centuries. Behind individual emancipation therefore lies a major collectiv
SpaceX: The Infrastructure of a Private Space Power
For most of the space age, reaching orbit was the preserve of states. Soviet rockets launched from Baikonur, American missions from Cape Canaveral and Kennedy Space Center, while Europe built its strategic autonomy around Kourou. Access to space required vast public budgets, mili
The Economy Under Debt: States, Companies and Households in the Same System
Debt is usually described as an anomaly. Government debt becomes a concern when it crosses certain thresholds, corporate debt when it threatens solvency, household debt when repayments absorb an excessive share of income. Each problem appears to belong to its own universe. Yet ac
Iran: The Suspended War
For several months, the question dominating the Middle East was one of escalation. How far would the United States and Israel go against Iran? How far could Tehran retaliate? Could the conflict draw the Gulf monarchies, Lebanon, Iraq or Yemen into a regional war that no one could
The Middle Class, from Morocco to Advanced Economies
For decades, the middle class represented more than an income category. It embodied a promise: that stable employment would gradually lead to a better standard of living, home ownership, savings, decent education for one's children and a reasonably secure retirement. That promise
The Economics of Stability: What Social Peace Costs Nations
A country’s stability is rarely measured by the amount of social transfers recorded in its budget. It is more readily observed in the price of bread, the reliability of pension payments, access to healthcare, the possibility of finding employment, and the widely shared conviction
Africa: Dynasties of Capital
Behind much of Africa’s private sector stand companies whose capital, strategy and, often, management remain concentrated in the hands of a single family. Their power tells a distinctive story of capitalism: entrepreneurs who became industrialists, businesses that evolved into co
Corruption: The Other System
Corruption is often depicted in almost rudimentary terms: an envelope slipped under a table, a bribed official, a rigged public contract, a few million dollars diverted into an offshore account. This kind of corruption exists. In many countries, it remains an everyday reality. Bu
Mexico: So Close to America
A glance at the map is enough to understand part of Mexico’s destiny. To the north lies more than three thousand kilometers of border with the United States. To the east and west, two oceans. To the south, Central America. Between them stands a country of more than 130 million pe
Who Informs AI?
For nearly three decades, a considerable part of the digital economy has been organized around an apparently simple question: how do you become visible on Google? Entire industries were built around that obsession. Media organizations learned to write for search engines, brands s
Palestine: The Time for Sanctions?
Condemnation of Israeli settlement expansion is nothing new. The explicit mention of sanctions by several major Arab and Muslim powers is more significant. Around the E1 settlement plan, regional diplomacy may be approaching the point where protest begins to give way to pressure.