The US economy is still suffering from its most severe recession in seven decades. In the first of a series of US Election Analyses, Ethan Ilzetzki covers the key issue of taxes, spending and public debt, a major point of disagreement between the two candidates, President Obama and Governor Romney.

The latest economic growth figures confirm that the UK economy is slowly recovering from the deep recession of 2008/09. But according to researchers at the Centre for Economic Performance (CEP), the recovery will probably continue to be slow, and there is still no sign of a significant reversal...