Opinion

  There’s new data out on the taxes that people and corporations in the world’s affluent nations paid in 2015. The US total tax burden of 26.4 percent of gross domestic product (that includes state and local taxes) once again lands us pretty far down in the rankings. Of the 35 members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, …

  The embattled Korean President Park Geun-hye defies pressure to resign. But the scandal-hit Park is ready to accept the result of looming and possibly lengthy impeachment process. The scandal that has served a body blow to Park and crippled the government pertains to her friendship with long-time confidante Choi Soon-Sil. Dubbed as female Rasputin, Choi has been charged with …

  Matteo Renzi came to power promising to change Italy or change his job. On Sunday, Italians made that choice for him, rejecting the constitutional reform on which he’d staked everything. It’s tempting to plot a continuous line from the UK’s June vote to leave the European Union through to the election of Donald Trump to the Italian referendum on …

  The emphatic rejection of Prime Minister Matteo Renzi’s proposed constitutional reform returns Italy to a state of political and economic uncertainty. As Renzi prepares to hand in his resignation, President Sergio Mattarella must establish whether the governing Democratic Party is stable enough to support another prime minister as he seeks to avoid the early election that could open the …

  Here are two things I’ll bet most people don’t know about Greece. The country’s just-appointed minister of economy and development, Dimitri Papadimitriou, was lured away from his position as head of the Levy Economics Institute at Bard College in America. He’s not a member of the ruling Syriza party. And the man appointed secretary general for public revenue in …

  The Pentagon has begun briefing key allies on plans for advanced weapons technologies aimed at offsetting Russian and Chinese military gains. But the next round of these discussions is on hold awaiting approval of the programs by the Trump administration. Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work said that he met in early November for “formal collaborations” with close foreign partners …

  Brazil’s stand-in president Michel Temer hasn’t had it easy. In the six months he’s been in office — following the suspension and then impeachment of his predecessor Dilma Rousseff for budget crimes — Temer has lost his sixth minister to scandal, stood by while key allies led a shameless assault on Brazil’s anti-corruption efforts, and seen a wan economic …

  Next week marks the 75th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor that triggered the U.S. entry into World War II. Now America’s two main antagonists in that war — Germany and Japan — will have to become more prominent defenders of the international order the U.S. built after its victory. President-elect Donald Trump — who adopted the prewar …

  Contrary to the global trend of economic slowdown, UAE posted a significant economic growth. Country’s vital sectors are growing at a substantial pace. The UAE has taken a major step forward in achieving socio-economic developments. A sustainable, diverse and globally competitive economy is the need of the hour. And this is possible only with participation of citizens, who are …

  Industrial Strategy is making a comeback. One of Theresa May’s first acts as prime minister was to create a new “Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.” That may sound impressive, but history is littered with equally well-intentioned but unsuccessful industrial strategies. For every case of success one can find more than one case of failure. Previous attempts at …