Opinion

  Since China’s four major state-owned banks reported results last week, analysts have been cheering. Profit growth was up and non-performing loan ratios were down. Much has been made about progress in improving underwriting standards. But it would be wise to hold off on the euphoric pronouncements — and to take a closer look at how the banks produced these …

  The US is in a period of institutional sclerosis, and more people are noticing it. Even JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon is sounding the alarm. But it’s reasonable to ask whether, despite all its difficulties, the US is still the proverbial best house in a bad neighborhood. Many other rich, industrialized nations are facing their …

  After its plan to offer free internet in India was rejected, Facebook Inc. may soon find that the fastest way to consumers’ hearts is through their wallets. Digitally. Its WhatsApp service is preparing to start digital payments in the country, a move that would leverage India’s rush to online transactions after November’s sudden demonetisation, the Financial Times reported. WhatsApp …

  Another day, another cloud of pepper spray and tear gas in the streets of Caracas. The autocratic government of President Nicolas Maduro has hardly changed its spots. It may have seemed otherwise, after the Venezuelan Supreme Court was forced last month to reverse its unconstitutional takeover of the country’s legislature. But Maduro has continued to suppress peaceful protests of …

  Once again, Assad gassed his own people. At least 74 civilians died, including a dozen children, in one of the worst chemical weapons attack in an opposition-held town of Khan Sheikhoun in northern Syria. The mind-numbing images of people gasping for breath and convulsing in the streets show that Assad regime atrocities against Syrians have crossed all limits. The …

  People in the West, certainly Americans, have long had a fascination with the East, with many predicting an inevitable “Asian century” marked by economic and market dominance. I have long disagreed with the consensus on China and other Asian Tigers, and others are beginning to agree. Many problems stand in the way of the “Asian century.” Japan dazzled Westerners …

  China is within striking distance of locking down its biggest-ever overseas acquisition, after China National Chemical Corp. won US and European Union antitrust approval for its $43 billion takeover of Swiss pesticide maker Syngenta AG. Just as well, because it may be the last big deal in a while. Although the transaction still needs the green light from regulators …

  Like repentant smokers, Europe’s politicians have promised to quit bailing out banks. They’re finding the habit hard to break. The Italian government wants to rescue three banks which are struggling under the weight of non-performing loans. The trade-offs, as always, are complicated: financial stability now against financial stability later; shielding taxpayers from the costs of a rescue against protecting …

  When people come up to me and declare that economists are charlatans, they usually mention how economists failed to predict the Great Recession. This is true. No mainstream macroeconomic model of the day managed to anticipate that the largest, longest economic downturn since the Great Depression was imminent, until it was already underway. Macroeconomists typically respond that forecasting isn’t …

  Looking at the headlong growth in Australian house prices — up 19 percent from a year earlier in Sydney in March — it’s tempting to believe that the market is simply uncontrollable. In 2014, the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA), announced measures to restrict the increase in investment mortgages. For three quarters it seemed to be working, with loan …