Essay

The New Wealth of Nations

How instrumental capital is reshaping the world. December 3, 2025, 7:02 PM Comment icon View Comments ( )

An illustration shows two men against a bright yellow background. One man wears a Western-style business suit and the other wears a black robe and white head covering. The men are shaking hands. Each holds a briefcase with money spilling out, the left man's briefcase shaped like the United States' and the right man's like the Arabian Peninsula.

Capital and statecraft have always been connected. But since the dawn of modern capitalism, the world’s overall wealth and average human welfare have risen dramatically. So too has states’ access to capital and their willingness to deploy it to achieve political ends—a trend that is particularly s

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