Opinion

Russian prime ministers are often swiftly forgotten. Few, like Vladimir Putin himself, have gone on to greater things. Since taking over as prime minister in January, Mikhail Mishustin has promoted himself out of the first group. The tech-savvy former tax chief became the face of the government’s coronavirus response after Putin, early on, faded from view. He’s pushing through an ...

The year 2020 was, by any measure, rich in awakenings and reckonings. None were as earth-shaking as those forced upon the United States, Britain and India. The pandemic found three of the world’s most prominent democracies shockingly underprepared, governed by leaders as incompetent as they were deluded and encumbered with states that had steadily rendered themselves incapable of performing their ...

The rare activist moment at China’s central bank was too late and too crude. For years, when it came to innovative business ideas, Beijing’s stance has been to let them flourish — there’s always room to regulate and rein in later. And thus gig economy superstars have blossomed. China’s version of Uber Technologies Inc, DoorDash Inc and PayPal Holdings Inc ...

From interest rates to fashion, pandemics in the past — like the Black Death in the 14th century — have left deep imprints on economic life. This time may be no different. In the aftermath of the coronavirus, governments can reimagine capitalism by giving all of us a stake in the most valuable byproduct of our day-to-day living: data. But ...

Britain’s free-trade agreement with the European Union, announced last week after months of fractious talks and days before the transitional Brexit arrangements were due to end, is certainly better than the alternative. Separating with no deal at all would’ve poisoned relations and been worse for both sides than what lies ahead. Yet this agreement settles less than you’d think. Supposing ...

The defining image of Britain’s Christmas Eve trade deal with the European Union was a beaming Boris Johnson with his thumbs up in the air. There were no celebratory pictures from any of his continental counterparts. Getting to this point is a win in itself for the UK. An end to Brexit’s drama should let the Brits reenter a more ...

For four of the biggest US technology companies — Amazon.com Inc, Apple Inc, Facebook Inc and Google parent Alphabet Inc. — 2020 was one for the books. During a year when the global pandemic put many companies out of business, these market leaders thrived, raking in profits that sent their stock prices soaring and left them more powerful and valuable ...

Should Chinese regulators determine Jack Ma’s Alibaba Group Holding Ltd to be a monopoly, they ought to look directly to Beijing for an explanation as to how it happened. China announced an investigation into alleged monopolistic practices at the Hangzhou-based e-commerce giant. Ant Group Co is also in the crosshairs, as the central bank and the banking watchdog will separately ...

The US economy runs on immigration. Immigrants support crucial industries, pay huge amounts in taxes, take care of children and the elderly, sustain American innovation and — perhaps most importantly — make the country a more attractive destination for multinational investment. Over the past few years, President Donald Trump, the Covid-19 pandemic and the end of the big Mexican migration ...

Now we know how this movie ends. “Brexit means Brexit,” Theresa May declared in those electric but mystifying opening scenes after the referendum back in 2016. It wasn’t clear then or for a long while after what Brexit meant. Nearly five years and two prime ministerial resignations later, Boris Johnson has finally defined it. Set against the perils of breaking ...