Opinion

On the sidelines of a G20 conference in Shanghai last week, Indonesian finance minister Bambang Brodjonegoro said in a Reuters interview that he is willing to exceed the 2015 budget deficit. These comments were certainly calculated to reassure investors and concerned observers at a time when the global engines of growth are slowing, most notably China, taking its toll on …

China’s new Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) has been the source of considerable debate. While its supporters believe the bank will fill a much needed investment gap in Asia’s economic development, its naysayers worry that China will use it to further its own economic and strategic goals in the region. They say the very structure of the AIIB allows China …

EU President Donald Tusk’s stark warning to economic migrants not to come to Europe because it will not welcome them anymore, reflects the deepening refugee crisis in Europe, where some states have been restricting their borders to stem the influx of refugees. “I want to appeal to all potential illegal economic migrants wherever you are from: Do not come to …

A commentary by Vasily Kashin, published by Russian news agency Sputnik on March 1, straightforwardly wrote that China has overestimated the effect of its “economic diplomacy,” and has underestimated the influence of factors like politics, ideology, and military relations. Kashin argues that China has upheld a rather naive belief that as long as it increases trade and investment, it will …

Adam Minter Airline passengers are being packed into planes “like sardines,” says U.S. Senator Charles Schumer. So he wants the Federal Aviation Administration to set minimum seat-size guidelines. The point, Schumer suggested, is to right an injustice: “It’s just plain unfair that a person gets charged for extra inches that were once standard.” In other words: Everyone could soon get …

The annual budget of India is often an expression of not only the economic direction of the country over the coming year, but also the political intentions of the ruling party. The 2016 budget, which was presented in the Indian parliament on Monday, however, contains more political substance than economic heft. It reveals the political thinking of the Bharatiya Janata …

On Wednesday, the United Nations Security Council voted to impose a new round of sanctions on North Korea in response to both its January 6 nuclear test and February 7 satellite launch (widely believed to double as a missile launch test). The new sanctions have been characterized by various media sources as “sweeping” and the “toughest” yet imposed because they …

Singapore’s minister for foreign affairs, Vivian Balakrishnan, spent two days in China this week, meeting with Chinese officials to set a positive tone for both the bilateral relationship and the China-ASEAN relationship. It was Balakrishnan’s first visit to China since assuming his post in October 2015. In an op-ed for China Daily, Balakrishnan cited Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore’s first prime …

We’re going to need some time to digest what happened on Tuesday night on the Republican side. Donald Trump won the most votes. He won the most states. He won the most delegates. But did he move closer to winning the nomination? That isn’t so clear. FiveThirtyEight’s delegate maven, David Wasserman, said going in that “a disappointing night for Trump …

By 1915, the United States was the world’s richest nation — and yet, most Americans were dirt poor by today’s standards. Adjusted for inflation, men’s average wages were about a third of what full-time workers now earn. The average work week in manufacturing hovered around 50 hours, and many employees worked a half day on Saturday. Less than a third …