Their size allows them to specialise in niche activities for instance, pumping out the last drips of oil from mature fields which giant firms tend to avoid because they take up so much management time.

ECONOMIST: Small oil firms

One proposal, for instance, involves using large, awkward magnetic fields to cool the electrons down.

ECONOMIST: Microelectronics

So if, for instance, as a benign god, you think your people are working too hard in the fields, and decide to provide them with a loaves-and-fishes miracle, they will stop working, assuming that they can now depend on miracles for food.

ECONOMIST: Using artificial intelligence to bond player and game