10. PANIC!!! — Jonathan Chait, What Will Make People Trust Government Again? — John Sides, and A Formula for Futility — Ronald Brownstein
9. Iran, the Competition Over Eurasian Natural Gas, and the Revival of Classical Diplomacy in the 21st Century — Flynt Leverett & Hillary Mann Leverett
8. If It’s That Warm, How Come It’s So Damned Cold? — James Hansen, Reto Ruedy, Makiko Sato, & Ken Lo
7. A Bank Levy Will Not Stop the Doomsday Cycle — Peter Boone & Simon Johnson, Engineering Financial Stability — Robert J. Shiller, Who Bears the Costs of Post-Crisis Recovery? — Barry Ritholtz, and A Bomb Squad for Wall Street — William D. Cohan
6. What Toronto Can Teach New York and London — Chrystia Freeland, The Little-Known Reason Why Investment Banks Got Too Big, Too Greedy, Too Risky, and Too Powerful — Daniel Gross, and For Wall Street, Tough Talk, but Weak Reforms — William D. Cohan
5. The Tree-Lined Bunkers That Could Change the Face of the Middle East — Robert Fisk
4. Obama’s Secret Prisons — Anand Gopal & Tom Engelhardt
3. Nothing to Fear — John R. Bowen
2. A Deal with the Taliban? — Ahmed Rashid
1. The Year Climate Science Caught Up with What Top Scientists Have Been Saying Privately for Years — Joseph Romm
BONUS: What Isn’t the Weatherman Telling You? — Anthony W. Orlando

10. What if Conan Said, “Goodbye, NBC. Hello, Internet”? — Nick Bilton and Why Cable Companies Bundle Their Channels — James Surowiecki
9. Are Millennials Cursed? — Jeremy Rifkin
8. The Economics of Terrorism — Andrew Leigh
7. Legislated to Death — John Ireland
6. India’s Trail of Tears — Arundhati Roy
5. Sinomania — Perry Anderson
4. PANIC!!! — Jonathan Chait, What Will Make People Trust Government Again? — John Sides, and A Formula for Futility — Ronald Brownstein
3. A Bank Levy Will Not Stop the Doomsday Cycle — Peter Boone & Simon Johnson, Engineering Financial Stability — Robert J. Shiller, Who Bears the Costs of Post-Crisis Recovery? — Barry Ritholtz, and A Bomb Squad for Wall Street — William D. Cohan
2. The Tree-Lined Bunkers That Could Change the Face of the Middle East — Robert Fisk
1. A Deal with the Taliban? — Ahmed Rashid
BONUS:  King Maker — Clayborne Carson

Jim Hamilton, truly one of the best macroeconomists of his generation, may not be smiling, but he’s getting closer. At all times, Hamilton keeps a cartoon face—smiling, frowning, or neutral—on his blog Econbrowser to represent his outlook for the economy. It’s like security threat levels for the business cycle. Yesterday, Hamilton replaced the longtime frowning face with a neutral one.   Read more…