In a lecture before the Peterson Institute for International Economics on Jan. 17, IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said that if she had to identify a theme at the outset of the new decade, “it would be increasing uncertainty.”

“Gaslighting” means trying to manipulate a person, arranging circumstances, such that the latter begins to question his or her own sanity, self-esteem, judgment, and memory. The purpose, at least politically, is to establish control over people.

EU COUNTRIES are experimenting with new ways of dealing with the coronavirus. Germany, Portugal and Italy have all enforced selective or “smart” lockdowns, shutting down smaller regions in response to new outbreaks as opposed to bringing their entire countries to a halt.

THE spectacular blowup of German fintech darling Wirecard AG, which has seen $12 billion wiped off its market value in three days, is making some old-school bankers feel good about themselves.

In a June 2020 Outlook Report by Moody’s Investor Service titled, “Global economy is limping back to life, but the recovery will be long and bumpy,” the firm noted that the second quarter of 2020 would “go down in history as the worst quarter for the global economy since at least World War II.” But, on the bright side, Moody’s also said it was expecting “a gradual recovery beginning in the second half of the year.”

While we have gotten used to this continuing COVID-19 scourge, there is some good health news somewhere, particularly the decline in other infectious and communicable diseases like pneumonia incidence.

THERE ARE WORDS used so often in conversation and public discourse that their meanings are no longer provided nor challenged. Take “corruption.” (Go ahead.) This word is often paired with “graft,” referring to the illicit use of one’s position to derive personal benefits and advantages. Graft too is a botanical term for joining plant stems. “Graft and corruption” are automatically linked, like two plants...well, grafted together and attached to political types.

CLIENTS, colleagues and even family members keep asking the same question: “Why have stocks decoupled from the economy?” These are not people who obsess over the Federal Reserve’s balance sheet or spend time with the Bureau of Labor Statistic’s birth-death model. They just want to know what’s going on in the stock market.

More than two months ago, the Philippines was placed under a nationwide lockdown. Overnight, everything became digital. The traditional classroom set-up became virtual classes, while boardroom meetings, as well as informal gatherings, shifted to video conferencing meetings. Online apps for buying and selling are also utilized, and going cashless has become the preferred mode of payment.

In a recent speech, President Rodrigo Duterte declared that face-to-face classes will be suspended until a vaccine for the coronavirus disease 2019 has been found. As a result, the country’s educational system, from basic to higher education, finds itself abruptly shifting to either blended or online modes of instruction.

SCIENCE has a lot to say about the effectiveness of wearing a mask to stop the spread of the coronavirus, but the communication of that science has been corrupted by a combination of partisan divides, sensationalist media stories, distrust, false dichotomies, and letting the perfect be the enemy of the good.

GLOBAL SCHOOL CLOSURES in response to COVID-19 has exacerbated an already worrisome learning crisis — some 325 million children in many countries across East Asia and the Pacific have now missed more than two months of school.