Left to their own devices, economists will struggle in vain for a final, self-contained answer to what is, at root, a political question.

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They will also struggle, probably in vain, to make the much-abused ceilings on euro members' fiscal deficits more enforceable.

ECONOMIST: The European Union summit

Still open is the question of whether the injunction against Corley, or the fight against DeCSS itself, is not a vain struggle in the face of inevitable change.

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The natural advantages which one country has over another in producing particular commodities are sometimes so great that it is acknowledged by all the world to be in vain to struggle with them.

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By 1898, the 38-year-old Chekhov had moved to Yalta on the Black Sea, in the vain hope that its balmy climate would aid his struggle against his disease.

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In reality though, women often struggle with how to graciously accept a compliment while not coming across as vain, overly confident, or stuck-up.

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