The New Year has demonstrated that what goes up frequently comes down. Emerging markets – more sensibly known as ‘high growth economies’ – have become a victim of their own previous success, with investment perceptions damaged by a mixture of growing inflationary pressures, export-damping currency appreciation and fears of political and social unrest. The February Bulletin takes a global view both on the effects of the sovereign debt crisis in Europe, evinced by John Kornblum’s magisterial front-page essay, and on the growing strains in the emerging markets. Ousmène Mandeng makes a powerful plea for central banks to accept the logic of a declining world role for the dollar by adopting targets for investing in emerging market currencies.