The Economist’s ten most popular articles of 2017

IN 2017 our readers were less single-minded than last year, when Brexit and the rise of Donald Trump dominated not only the news agenda but also our list of most-read articles. Though our analysis of Mr Trump’s shameful reaction to the violence at a far-right rally in Charlottesville in the summer still tops the list, readers were also keen on climate, innovation and urban affairs.

Technology was high on the agenda, with the rise of data as the world’s most valuable resource and the death of the internal combustion engine garnering attention. Continuing a trend from last year, inequality—whether between rich and poor in America or men and women around the world—occupied readers’ thoughts. The full list appears below. Click on the titles or the images to read the articles in full.

1. Donald Trump has no grasp of what it means to be president
August 19th

The most read piece this year was our leader calling on Republicans to rein in Mr Trump. In the wake of his equivocal response to a violent far-right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in which a young woman was killed, we argued that America’s president was “politically inept, morally barren and temperamentally unfit for office”. He has done little since then to cast doubt on that assessment.

2. The world’s most valuable resource is no longer oil, but data
May 6th

Five of the ten most valuable listed firms in the world are American technology companies: Alphabet (Google’s parent company), Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Microsoft look unstoppable, prompting calls for them to be broken up. In our leader on the value of data, we argued that the tech giants’ market power was cause for concern, but that the trustbusting methods of old could not be applied to them. Instead, competition authorities must loosen the companies’ grip on consumer data.

3. The world’s most dangerous cities
March 31st

With two popular pieces, our data team is well represented in this year’s top ten. The first looked at the murder rate in cities across the globe. As in previous years, we found that San Salvador was the world’s most dangerous city, despite a slight decline in the murder rate. Even that decline was good news only at first sight: spikes in violence in neighbouring countries suggest that anti-gang policies are redistributing murders geographically rather than preventing them.

4. Governments may be big backers of the blockchain
June 1st

Blockchain, the technology behind cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, which has seen exponential growth in its value this year, was one of the hot topics of 2017. Our business-section piece from June explored how, in an ironic turn, governments might become big backers of the technology, which was originally intended to be anti-establishment. Since the summer the interest of large investors has moved blockchain further into the mainstream.

5. Are women paid less than men for the same work?
August 1st

The second big hit from our data team explored the perennial issue of women, work and pay. Following a scandal over pay differences between men and women at the BBC, Britain’s public broadcaster, the piece explored whether women were paid less than men for the same work. It concluded that the problem was not unequal pay for equal work, but rather that women tend to do lower-ranking jobs at lower-paying organisations.

6. The death of the internal combustion engine
August 12th

If data technology is the dominant force of the 21st century, the internal combustion engine dominated the 20th. In August we predicted its impending demise. Electric propulsion, ride-hailing and self-driving technology will all combine to make it obsolete much sooner than the traditional car industry would like. For everyone else, the consequences—less traffic and better air, among others—will mostly be welcome.

7. The vote that could wreck the European Union
March 4th

In March, we cautiously predicted Emmanuel Macron’s victory in France’s most exciting presidential election “in living memory”. He won—and has since shown himself to be an able reformer and a credible figurehead of European liberalism. For now, the European Union survives. Still, Mr Macron on his own will not be able to solve the continent’s multiple simmering crises. As the old divide between left and right fades, the chasm between open and closed politics is growing ever wider.

8. How to keep cool without costing the Earth
February 11th

The fight against climate change was high on the agenda this year, with several follow-up summits to the groundbreaking Paris agreement of 2015. Our readers were captivated by this good-news story about two scientists who have invented a film that can cool buildings without the use of refrigerants and without drawing any power to do so. As demand for air-conditioning grows in emerging economies, it could help reduce the amount of energy needed to keep cool.

9. How to get rich in America
February 2nd

Most Americans believe that hard work is critical for success. Our analysis in this explainer suggests that they may be deluding themselves. It shows that the simplest way to become extremely rich in America is by being born to the right parents. The second-easiest way is to find a rich spouse. If the first is impossible and the second unlikely, you could try to get into a top college, though that is by no means a guarantee of wealth. If nothing else, the conclusions in this piece suggest that our readers are right to take an interest in inequality.

10. The destruction of Mecca
March 2nd

In 1950 some 50,000 pilgrims perambulated round the Kaaba, the heart of the haj in Mecca in Saudi Arabia. Last year, 7.5m did so. Within three years, Saudi authorities are planning to double that number. This piece explores what the expansion has meant for the city’s ancient sites: they have largely had to make way for the pilgrims. But the government is making encouraging noises about restoration—there may be hope for a second lease of life for the holy city.