Opinion

  A recurring theme at Gadfly is Amazon.com Inc.’s ambitions to do everything under the sun. It looks as if the company now wants to become a quasi app store similar to Apple or Google’s mobile versions. Amazon has created a single spot for people to sign up to digital subscriptions from companies including the Los Angeles Times and digital …

  Officials may not say so directly, but the US appears to consider Germany a currency manipulator. Germany’s large trade surplus, the accusation goes, comes at the expense of US companies. So, as German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble traveled to Washington on Wednesday for an International Monetary Fund meeting, he brought along an eight-page primer on the German current account …

  The last thing President Trump now needs is for the stock market to go south on him. After all, he’s got worries aplenty: abroad, North Korea, Syria, Russia and Brexit; at home, the stalled effort to repeal Obamacare; and uncertainty surrounding “tax reform.” Compared with this tapestry of troubles, the stock market has been a splendid blessing. It’s called …

  Activist investors, Japan’s the next place to go. Yes, you heard right. In the past two weeks, Hong Kong-based Oasis Management Co. has managed to score victories against two of the country’s oldest and biggest companies. The hedge fund got Panasonic Corp. to up its offer for a unit the electronics maker is seeking to take private, while also …

  The euro-zone economy is looking a lot healthier. After years of stagnation, growth has finally picked up and unemployment is falling. Fears of a paralyzing bout of deflation have receded as well. Yet there’s a risk of relapse — and Europe’s banking ‘doom loop’ is the reason. Close links between government finances and the banking system were a main …

  France voted on Sunday in the first round of presidential election which has overturned the country’s traditional politics. The poll took place amid high security, with 50,000 police officers deployed throughout the country. France declared a state of emergency in 2015 following deadly terrorist attacks. It’s not the security concern that makes this year’s election so different from other …

  One of the scariest questions in economics is whether human labor will someday be made obsolete by machines. Consultants and academics put out reports telling you how likely you are to lose your job to a robot. Economists argue back and forth about whether it’s possible for humanity to go the way of the horse. Technology industry leaders boldly …

  It’s been nearly 10 years since the Great Recession zapped consumers’ jobs, 401(k)s and spending, sending retailers into a tailspin and megastores like Circuit City and Linens ‘n Things out of business. For retailers, the mantra became “only the strong will survive.” But here we are, a decade later, and another wave of retailers from The Sports Authority to …

  The man who set up the most popular social network in Russia axed all of his online friends in one fell swoop on Monday. Having them, he wrote, was so 2010. That may be a sign of the times: Predictions from a few years ago that social networks would lose ground to messenger apps appear to be coming true. …

  If I were teaching a college-level course on political economy, my midterm exam would ask students to spot the errors in an op-ed with the headline, “Do You Want Reagan’s Economy or Obama’s?” Why? Because this particular article, by former Republican Senator Phil Gramm and Michael Solon, a GOP policy adviser, provides a perfect opportunity to show how partisan …