Opinion

Catherine Putz SPECIAL TO EMIRATES BUSINESS Afghan refugees have returned to the headlines as European countries pursue avenues to send many of those waiting for asylum back to Afghanistan. A larger number reside in Pakistan and Iran, where they are stuck in the limbo of refugee camps. Meanwhile, many of those who have already returned remain in a difficult situation, …

Markets had a predictable immediate reaction to comments by Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen on Tuesday that they interpreted as relatively dovish signals about the thinking of the world’s most important central bank. Within minutes of her remarks, risk assets rose, government bond yields fell, the dollar weakened and the VIX declined. Sustaining this trend will require two policy signals, …

On March 24, Singapore unveiled an expansionary fiscal budget as part of the city-state’s ongoing drive to increase productivity, cope with economic headwinds, and ready itself for future disruptive technologies such as robotics and information and communications technology (ICT). A sizable part of the budget is also aimed at building a “caring and resilient society.” In other words, there is …

Michael R. Bloomberg / Joe Biden One of the most frightening words a patient can hear from a doctor is “cancer.” We know it from the experience of our families and friends, and the millions of Americans who hear it directly from their doctors each year. In President Barack Obama’s final State of the Union address, he compared the effort …

Inequality is, without a doubt, the hot topic in econ circles these days. Economics conference seminars on the subject are standing-room-only. Columns and blog posts about inequality are widely read and discussed, and Thomas Piketty’s book was a bestseller. But the question of how best to measure the phenomenon continues to be a contentious topic of debate. The most common …

On March 24, US oil futures settled at around $39 a barrel, up nearly 50 percent on January’s 12-year low of below $27. Meanwhile, the benchmark copper price on the London Metal Exchange closed at $4,945 a ton, up 15 percent from its six-year low in January, while iron ore prices have risen by nearly 30 percent this year to …

The UAE is on track to usher in a knowledge-based economy. Recently, it adopted the Science, Technology and Innovation’s Higher Policy, which includes 100 national initiatives in the educational, health, energy, transportation, space and water sectors. AED300 billion is being pumped into this ambitious plan. A knowledge-based economy has four requisites: education and training, information infrastructure, economic incentive and institutional …

Everyone knows that at some point, if we want to contain climate change, we’ll have to stop building polluting power plants. New research suggests that moment may come much sooner than we realize. In some areas, the world is making progress toward reducing harmful emissions. Earlier this year, the Business Council for Sustainable Energy reported that the use of coal-fired …

President Barack Obama’s surging approval rating is becoming a major plot line of the 2016 election. Obama has reached 53 percent approval from Gallup, a three- year high, and he’s been at or above 50 percent in that survey for four weeks. HuffPollster’s aggregate of all current polls gives Obama an average approval rating of 49.2 percent,compared with 47.3 percent …

As you’ve no doubt noticed, companies and investors around the world are feeling the pain of China’s economic slowdown. They’re worried about all the layoffs, cuts to surplus capacity and deleveraging to come on the mainland, which will further depress demand. The natural temptation is to blame China for the world’s woes. But outsiders should focus just as much on …