One is external to the state: the global economy has become a much more knowledge-intensive place, with even the oil business turning into a high-tech industry, so Texas needs more and better universities and schools.

ECONOMIST: Lone Star rising

This is the value of an exchange-rate peg in an economy such as Hong Kong's: adjustment to external shocks takes place through changes to domestic prices, rather than through exchange-rate levels.

ECONOMIST: Hong Kong

By doing only bottom-up analysis, investors implicitly assume that external factors (the winds and hurricanes of the global economy) have no impact on these cash flows.

FORBES: Discounting Steroid-Enhanced Economic Performance

Nor was the government able to use fiscal policy to stimulate the economy when the recession started, because of the fragile nature of the country's external-debt position.

ECONOMIST: Spoilt for choice | The