Opinion

Economics pundits like me spend a good deal of time worrying about productivity. When discussing the issue, we often begin by noting that in the long run, productivity increases are the only way that living standards can improve. We recount the history of technological breakthroughs like the internal-combustion engine and the invention of electricity that supercharged productivity. And we wring …

An Israeli Cabinet minister is proposing that they all share a railway link that could cut overland travel distances between the Mediterranean and key Arab destinations by a half or two-thirds. The Regional Landbridge & Hub Initiative has been developed by Yisrael Katz, Israel’s minister of transportation and intelligence and a potential rival to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for leadership …

The mini-deal on U.S. trade with China announced by Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross last week deserves a cautious welcome. It’s narrow in scope, and the reasoning behind it, as related by Ross, is questionable at best, but it gets the main thing right: It expands rather than contracts the opportunities for mutually beneficial commerce. One can only hope that the …

How many more atrocities committed by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on its own people will go unpunished? What will it take for Syria’s allies to say ‘enough is enough’ and international community to act decisively against the brutality of Assad regime? Syrian president has carried out worst atrocities — widespread kidnappings, torture, barrel-bombings and chemical weapons attacks — unleashed against …

The smoother the road, the faster people are likely to drive. The faster they drive, the more excited they are about getting to their destination in good, if not record time; but, also, the greater the risk of an accident that could also harm other drivers, including those driving slower and more carefully. That is an appropriate analogy for the …

These days, nobody wants to be a British supermarket. Tesco Plc, the UK’s biggest grocer, is buying wholesaler Booker Plc, while J Sainsbury Plc last year snapped up catalog retailer Argos. As for Wm Morrison Supermarkets Plc, it is building its own wholesale business using the manufacturing facilities that already make about half of its fresh foods. The only one …

Last month, Chinese President Xi Jinping directed his government to build a new city for the “millennium to come.” It would rise on rural land about 60 miles south of Beijing, guided by the principles of “ecological protection and green development.” And it would become a model for a new kind of urban expansion. It was an attractive vision. Over …

On Tuesday night, a few hours after President Trump’s sudden announcement that he was firing FBI Director James Comey, a prominent Republican politician gave me this simple, blunt assessment of the Trump White House: “These guys scare me.” Trump’s impulsive, vengeful decision to dump Comey has scared a lot of people. It suggests a pent-up anger and lack of judgment …

The investment metric on which Indian banks appear most eager to ape their Chinese peers is the price-to-truth ratio. While investors know better than to take the People’s Republic’s published bad loan ratio of 1.74% at face value, they have been reasonably certain that Indian lenders are more honest, following a 2015 review of asset quality by the central bank. …

Britain’s new relationship with the European Union is still a long way from being settled, but Brexit has started a process that is bound to hurt the City of London. Earlier this month, the European Commission launched a review of the rules governing one of the City’s lucrative lines of business — the clearing of derivatives denominated in euros. The …