Charles Wolf's most probing essays, from The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, The Public Interest, The National Interest, The Christian Science Monitor, and The Korean Journal of Defense Analysis appear in this volume. The chapters span several subjects: economic interaction with politics, security, and the changing global environment; economics and military power; the economies of Japan and China; and the Russian and Ukrainian economies. In each of the subjects, policy issues, and interactions addressed in the book, Wolf focuses on a specific economic fact, theory, or assumption — "the pivot" — thereafter elaborating and relating it to the applicable political context. His chapters reflect a mood of moderate optimism about the international economy and the United States' position in world affairs. It is, however, an optimism laced with reservations.
