Hello and welcome to the Intelligence, from the Economist. I'm Jason Palmer.

And I'm Aura Ugunbi. Every weekday we provide a fresh perspective on the events shaping

your world.

Egg freezing is supposed to give women the opportunity to delay having children. Their

fertility is well frozen in time. But as yet, there's not much data on how successful

it is. We pick through some of the best numbers that are available.

And Aura Bittrary's editor remembers Isabel Crick, the Canadian anthropologist who saw

the founding of the Chinese Communist Party and became an ardent supporter of its cause

despite its horrors.

Her ownership is a cornerstone of the American dream, but it has rarely been harder to attain

than today. Those looking to enter the property market face costly mortgages and limited

choice. They also face high property prices, despite changes from the Federal Reserve.

In July, the Fed raised interest rates yet again for the 11th time since March 2022.

In that time, that bank rate has gone from near zero to more than 5%, and according

to Chairman Jerome Powell, there may well be more hikes on the horizon.

We are prepared to raise rates further if appropriate, and intend to hold policy at a restrictive

level until we are confident that inflation is moving sustainably down toward our objective.

Such rate jumps would normally address at least one of the problems facing prospective

homeowners, cost, even as it makes loans harder to come by. But while the property sector

is usually sensitive to interest rate changes, the US housing market remains stubbornly buoyant.

Interest rates in America have gone up quite dramatically, and that has pushed mortgage

rates to their highest in four decades. Simon Rabinavitch is the economist's US economics

...