Cobalt miners in the Democratic Republic of the CongoAt the very tail end of 2025, three economists published an essay that I think qualifies as a strong late entrant for “most important essay written in 2025.” By the rather sedate standards of economics, it was the closest thing to a bombshell: a mea culpa from high up in the profession. They gave their essay a blunt title: “We were wrong about convergence.”Some context is needed. A few years ago, these three economists—Arvind Subramanian, Just...