[8] Based in London, the newspaper is owned by the Economist Group, with its core editorial offices in the United States, as well as across major cities in continental Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.

Throughout the mid-to-late 20th century, it greatly expanded its layout and format, adding opinion columns, special reports, political cartoons, reader letters, cover stories, art critique, book reviews, and technology features.

[10][11] Its extensive use of word play, high subscription prices, and depth of coverage has linked the paper with a high-income and educated readership, drawing both positive and negative connotations.

[13] The Economist was founded by the British businessman and banker James Wilson in 1843, to advance the repeal of the Corn Laws, a system of import tariffs.

[28] In 1999, Andrew Sullivan complained in The New Republic that it uses "marketing genius"[29] to make up for deficiencies in original reporting, resulting in "a kind of Reader's Digest"[30] for America's corporate elite.

[30][31] The Guardian wrote that "its writers rarely see a political or economic problem that cannot be solved by the trusted three-card trick of privatisation, deregulation and liberalisation".

[34] In 2012, The Economist was accused of hacking into the computer of Justice Mohammed Nizamul Huq of the Bangladesh Supreme Court, leading to his resignation as the chairman of the International Crimes Tribunal.

[37][38] An investigation by the Intercept, the Nation, and DeSmog found that The Economist is one of the leading media outlets that publishes advertising for the fossil fuel industry.

Since its 1843 founding, the editors have been the following: Although it has many individual columns, by tradition and current practice the newspaper ensures a uniform voice—aided by the anonymity of writers—throughout its pages,[51] as if most articles were written by a single author, which may be perceived to display dry, understated wit, and precise use of language.

It usually does not translate short French and German quotes or phrases but describes the business or nature of even well-known entities, writing, for example, "Goldman Sachs, an investment bank".

[55] The Economist has traditionally and historically persisted in referring to itself as a "newspaper",[2][56][57] rather than a "news magazine", due to its mostly cosmetic switch from broadsheet to perfect-binding format and its general focus on current affairs as opposed to specialist subjects.

[65] Online blog pieces are signed with the initials of the writer and authors of print stories are allowed to note their authorship from their personal web sites.

"[67] According to one academic study, the anonymous ethos of the weekly has contributed to strengthening three areas for The Economist: collective and consistent voice, talent and newsroom management, and brand strength.

American author and long-time reader Michael Lewis criticised the paper's editorial anonymity in 1991, labelling it a means to hide the youth and inexperience of those writing articles.

[72] John Ralston Saul describes The Economist as a newspaper that "hides the names of the journalists who write its articles in order to create the illusion that they dispense disinterested truth rather than opinion.

This sales technique, reminiscent of pre-Reformation Catholicism, is not surprising in a publication named after the social science most given to wild guesses and imaginary facts presented in the guise of inevitability and exactitude.

"[73] The Economist's primary focus is world events, politics and business, but it also runs regular sections on science and technology as well as books and the arts.

For example, the survey of corporate social responsibility, published January 2005, produced largely critical letters from Oxfam, the World Food Programme, United Nations Global Compact, the Chairman of BT Group, an ex-Director of Shell and the UK Institute of Directors.

[79] Rebuttals from officials within regimes such as the Singapore government are routinely printed, to comply with local right-of-reply laws without compromising editorial independence.

[102] In both features, the newspaper publishes a review of the social, cultural, economic and political events that have shaped the year and will continue to influence the immediate future.

[119] Often columnists from the newspaper write technical manuals on their topic of expertise; for example, Philip Coggan, a finance correspondent, authored The Economist Guide to Hedge Funds (2011).

In order to ensure transparency in the team's data collection and analysis The Economist maintains a corporate GitHub account to publicly disclose their models and software wherever possible.

[140] Among others, the most well-known data indexes the weekly publishes are: The editorial stance of The Economist primarily revolves around classical, social, and most notably, economic liberalism.

[154] The Economist consistently favours guest worker programmes, parental choice of school, and amnesties,[155] and once published an "obituary" of God.

But it has also endorsed Harold Wilson and Bill Clinton, and espoused a variety of liberal causes: opposing capital punishment from its earliest days, while favouring penal reform and decolonisation, as well as—more recently—gun control and gay marriage.

[169] The Economist also called for Bill Clinton's impeachment,[170] as well as for Donald Rumsfeld's resignation after the emergence of the Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse.

[172] In an editorial marking its 175th anniversary, The Economist criticised adherents to liberalism for becoming too inclined to protect the political status quo rather than pursue reform.

The Economist posts each week's new content online at approximately 21:00 Thursday evening UK time, ahead of the official publication date.

The government charged him with violating a statute on "publishing untruth" for writing that a woman was decapitated by supporters of the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front party.

According to the letter sent by the department, prisoners were not allowed to receive the issue because "1. it constitutes a threat to the security or discipline of the institution; 2. may facilitate or encourage criminal activity; or 3. may interfere with the rehabilitation of an offender".