In its own interests, the West should go on buying up surplus nuclear material and ensuring, by bribery if need be, that underpaid Russian scientists do not sell their skills to rogue countries trying to build nuclear bombs.

ECONOMIST: And there is not a lot the West can do to help

For most of the species's existence, humans lived in small foraging bands that had little material surplus and therefore enjoyed a relatively egalitarian existence.

ECONOMIST: Your parents were right. Patience is a virtue