I don't follow it that closely, but aren't they also pretty up-front about their own bias?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Economist_editorial_stance

Indeed, and that is why I very rarely read it - for me, it would be too echo-chambery. I read the NYT quite deliberately and every day, enumerate why Krugman and Blow are wrong about whatever they are pontificating about...

Has The Economist shifted? I started reading it in about 2000, and at the time I really liked it because it seemed so intelligent and neutral. It seemed like such a pleasure to read something that went deep into interesting topics without an obvious axe to grind.

In the past ten years it seems to have drifted gradually leftward. Sometimes I can't reconsile The Economist of 2000 with the one of 2016. Did The Economist move gradually to the left or did I move to the right?

I think you've moved to the right, or this is another case of "reality having a leftwing bias". Or perhaps issues not reducing clearly to left/right.

The Economist were always Mill/Smith liberals, in favour of free trade, light but effective regulation, against the War on Drugs, pro-migration etc. They have a strong tendency to recommend economic liberalism regardless of what the problem is. These days the "right" have moved to "illiberal" positions - restricting free trade and migration. That may be what you're seeing.

If $xyz seems neutral to you, then it might mean you are politically and tonally aligned with $xyz ?

They have shifted over the past years, from small-business, fair/relatively-free market stance towards elitism/globalism.

My subscription is up in January, and -for the first time in 25 years- will NOT be renewed.

Left? The Economist has a blatant liberal slant.

I think it depends on your viewpoint.

I think The Economist is pretty open about their liberal slant (Adam Smith liberal, not US politics liberal).

I would think that a publication called 'The Economist' would be Adam Smith free market liberals.

Essentially it is, with caveats. The Economist was originally a publication set up to protest the Corn Laws and their distortion of the marketplace. The stance has shifted over the years but the tone is often inline with the founding idea that people and businesses should be left up to their own devices unless there is an excellent reason to intervene.

...compared to those outlets where is not that evident ?

Because I cannot think of any publication that I would call completely impartial (it also would make for pretty dry reading).