In The Economist We Trust

Someone with economic interests is always looking for sources of information that achieve the right balance between relevance and accuracy.

In the internet space, alternative forms of media such as Blogs keep you abreast by aggregating information with a personal touch. Sharing an approach to specific audiences are Zines, which broadly defined, encompass any magazine published online. This can be found represented in the larger online presences, as seen in the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times or even more a niche zine such as Investopedia.

As I write, Internet technology and market fluctuations have been able to continue to catalyze competition in this industry leading the larger publishers continue grow even more lean. Although alternative media forms can provide great supplemental information, the search for information and trends should be centered around a diet that of the more established and reliable sources.

One of the most influential has this as its mission:

“to take part in a severe contest between intelligence, which presses forward, and an unworthy, timid ignorance obstructing our progress.”

With these lofty goals in mind, The Economist puts out a weekly journal distributed every Friday and an editorial stand towards free trade and globalisation (yes, that's with an "s"). One aspect you might notice about the publication is that you won’t find an author in any of the articles. This anonymity of it authors causes its editor to be:

“not the master but the servant of something far greater than himself. You can call that ancestor-worship if you wish, but it gives to the paper an astonishing momentum of thought and principle.”

It can also be noted that this magazine’s moral tone was not meant to be moralizing. Instead, The founders ideas for The Economist were based on reason and would allow “us to sit in judgment of the dictates of our feelings.”

And the proof is in the results.

Some of the fruits of this have been the memorable Big Mac Index which gives insight into the cost of a Big Mac burger – almost anywhere in the world. As of February 4th 2009, the cheapest Big Mac can be found in Russia at a cost of $1.73 compared to $3.54 in the U.S. or up to $5.60 in Switzerland.

And a final point on their ownership structure, something always good to know. Since 1928, half the shares of The Economist Group have been owned by the Financial Times, a subsidiary of Pearson, the other 50% by a group of independent shareholders, including many members of the staff. The editor's independence is guaranteed by the existence of a board of trustees (who have no economic interest in the company), which formally appoints him and without whose permission he cannot be removed.