Author

Ahana Bhattacharya

Senior Researcher - Macro

Bristol BSc Economics

I am an Economics student at the University of Bristol with a particular interest in macroeconomics, international development and trade, and the intersection of economics, technology, and public policy. My writing focuses on combining economic theory with current affairs, using data-driven analysis to explain complex issues in an accessible and engaging way.

Alongside my studies, I have worked as a Summer Intern at the UK Trade Remedies Authority, where I contributed to trade policy analysis and gained experience in economic evaluation, evidence-based decision making, and communicating technical findings. I also completed a competitive placement on Leaf’s Maths of Morality course, where I explored how advanced mathematical methods can be applied to real-world decision-making and policy problems. The course strengthened my analytical approach and reinforced my interest in using quantitative methods to tackle complex economic questions.

Through both my writing and professional experience, I enjoy examining the long-term forces shaping economies and aim to produce work that goes beyond the headlines with clear, evidence-based analysis.

Macro13th September 2026

The Map is worth more than the Mine

Congo is paying to map its own subsoil and intends to charge for the results. The bet is that better information, rather than more investment, is what turns mineral wealth into bargaining power.

Ahana Bhattacharya4 min read

Macro11th September 2026

The War Economy's Breaking Point

Higher taxes, heavier borrowing and a labour market with no slack left are keeping Russia's war economy going. What the Kremlin sacrifices to keep it going is the real question.

Sitian Huo8 min read

Macro Opinion9th September 2026

An Uneasy Argument for Digitisation

Digitisation transforms economies but its success ultimately depends on governing institutions. From India's UPI and Estonia's e-government to Britain's digital ID debate and China's surveillance infrastructure, which institutions are strong enough to keep it in check?

Ahana Bhattacharya6 min read

Macro2nd September 2026

Britain wants its factories back. But does it want the jobs too?

Britain's industrial strategy promises to bring factories back, and the investment commitments are real. But a modern plant employs a fraction of the workers an old one did, and the political case for manufacturing still rests on job numbers the technology no longer produces.

Ahana Bhattacharya8 min read

Macro28th August 2026

China's Property Crisis: The Reckoning After Evergrande

Evergrande founder Hui Ka Yan's life sentence has renewed scrutiny of a property crash that has dragged down growth, confidence and consumer spending across the world's second-largest economy.

Sitian Huo7 min read

Macro24th August 2026

Europe's Bond Market Is Sending a Warning

Germany has abandoned the borrowing rules that defined it, and the euro zone is heading for record bond supply just as the ECB stops buying and starts tightening. Yields are climbing accordingly. The question is no longer whether Europe can borrow, but whether what it buys with the money is worth what the money now costs.

Ahana Bhattacharya8 min read

Markets17th August 2026

The Blood Economy

The US supplies most of the world's blood plasma. Yet its policies raise hard questions about exploitation, dignity, and what happens when payment for plasma is banned.

Sitian Huo8 min read

Macro14th August 2026

The Fed Isn’t the Only One Setting Interest Rates

Why the bond market may have become America’s biggest macroeconomic problem

Ahana Bhattacharya9 min read

Macro8th August 2026

The Economics behind Catastrophe

Drought on the Danube has forced nuclear plants in Hungary and Romania to cut output. Chernobyl and Fukushima show why the economic damage from a disaster travels far beyond the site, through budgets, supply chains and expectations, and why it lasts.

Ahana Bhattacharya13 min read

Macro3rd August 2026

The World's Factory Has Run Out of Customers

For decades China was constrained by what it could produce. It is now constrained by what its households will buy, and the surplus it exports instead is reshaping trade policy across the world.

Ahana Bhattacharya7 min read

Macro27th July 2026

The Economics of Attention: How Algorithms Rewired the Market

Algorithmic feeds have quietly become a dominant force in setting asset prices and mobilising political movements, from GameStop to India's Cockroach Janata Party, while regulators still lack the tools to measure how virality converts into capital and power.

Ahana Bhattacharya8 min read