Opinion

  The post-Brexit battle for Europe’s capital markets business has already started, even before official exit negotiations have been triggered. Bloomberg News reported Thursday that London’s biggest investment banks seem resigned to losing the $570 billion market for clearing trades of euro-denominated derivatives. Some London-based banks want Theresa May’s government to strike an interim deal to protect financial services now. …

  Guess what? A President Trump could adopt his new trade agenda without any authorization from Congress — and this could trigger a global trade war and a deep U.S. recession. Policies that promise to make us stronger economically could do the opposite. That’s the main take-away of a study by the Peterson Institute, a Washington think tank, of the …

  Even during the presidential primaries it was obvious that traditional TV advertising wasn’t working as well as it once did: Four Republican candidates were outspending Donald Trump but losing to him, and Bernie Sanders spent more on TV spots than Hillary Clinton. Now, with the general election campaign in full swing, the efficiency of TV ads remains in doubt. …

  If the most famous U.S. government secret revealed by Edward Snowden had been the only one he divulged, deciding whether he deserves a pardon from President Barack Obama would be a tougher call. Snowden famously disclosed in 2013 that the National Security Agency had been collecting Americans’ electronic metadata in bulk. The program was authorized only by a dubious …

  The global spotlight on the refugee crisis has been prompted by the unprecedented migrant wave, not seen even during World War II. And the wave isn’t ebbing. Instead, it continues to grow and has brought in its wake a tsunami-like impact. How far the New York Declaration adopted at the recent UN Summit for Refugees and Migrants would help …

  What a moment for President Obama to deliver his valedictory address to the U.N. Tuesday — defending the liberal international order at a time when it’s under severe stress around the world. Obama’s speech was preceded by some sickening reminders of how global security is fraying: The day before, a Syrian, or perhaps Russian, airstrike had ravaged a U.N. …

  Self-driving cars got a green light from the U.S. government this week, but still have their own challenges: erratic human drivers, compromised visibility, unexpected route changes. Here’s one they won’t face until they catch on: zoning. As soon as self-driving cars are readily available, proponents will run into political battles over land use, a challenge familiar to urbanism advocates. …

The idea that the world is awash in savings — one factor driving the theory of secular stagnation — is, on the surface, a persuasive one. Too bad it may not be true. Yes, the postwar generation is wealthier than any before it. But the ultimate value of any investment depends upon being able to convert it into cash and …

  Technology has put powerful computers in billions of pockets, but an invention much more mundane than the smartphone — the shipping container: a rectangular steel box — also has changed the world. Because of it, two of today’s preoccupations — infrastructure and globalization — are connected by a chain of events that began more than 60 years ago and …

  Many people seem to expect Chancellor Angela Merkel to apologize. Her party, the Christian Democratic Union, keeps underperforming in regional elections. Most recently, the CDU took a drubbing in parliamentary elections in Berlin on Sept. 18. The reason: the backlash against the kindness Merkel showed toward refugees last year. There have been five defeats this year, in every state …