Bad Policies Are Greasing the Wheels for a Global Recession

If inflation, the dollar and Putin don’t send the world into a downturn, disastrous decisions by politicians just might.

UK Prime Minister Liz Truss, right, and Chancellor of the Exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng.

Photographer: Leon Neal/Getty Images
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If the combination of inflation, Russia’s war on Ukraine and a surging dollar don’t send the world into recession, disastrous policy mistakes surely could. That’s the increasingly gloomy outlook among some who gathered in Washington this week for meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the Institute of International Finance. One pessimist, Martin Wolf, a longtime columnist at the Financial Times, predicts a deep downturn in Europe, one that includes the UK. That country has been dragged down by a leadership team Wolf calls “mad, bad and dangerous.”