Opinion

The Phillips Curve is dead; long live the Phillips Curve. One of today’s economic mysteries is: Why is inflation so low? The unemployment rate is a puny 3.8%. The recovery from the 2007-09 Great Recession is nearly a decade old, just when tight labour markets and strong demand usually push up wages and prices. Yet inflation (measured by the consumer ...

The world’s preoccupation with the Carlos Ghosn affair hides in plain sight the pathetic state of Nissan Motor Co.’s business and the value destruction that has continued since his arrest. In a video message, the company’s deposed chairman spent much of his time talking about what’s going on at Nissan rather than addressing the growing pile of allegations against him. ...

More than at any time since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, nuclear war may be something to worry about. At the moment, tensions between India and Pakistan, North Korea’s small arsenal, Iran’s nuclear program, and the US withdrawal from its treaty with Russia on intermediate-range nuclear missiles are all roiling the status quo of global security. But ...

The world’s finance ministers and central bank governors, gathered in Washington for meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, were assigned some grim reading this week. The IMF’s new forecasts predict a further slowing of the global expansion, and warn of serious downside risks as well. No single factor accounts for this cloud over the world’s ...

The mantra “take back control” meant different things to different Brexit voters during the June 2016 referendum. But it’s pretty certain no one thought they’d be getting what came out of European Union (EU) summit. When they finally emerged in the early hours on April 11, the EU’s leaders had agreed to push back the UK’s Brexit deadline yet again, ...

Chief executive officers are going out of their way to brace investors for what could be the worst first quarter in years. As of the end of last week, more than 20% of the companies in S&P 500 had pre-announced details of how they did in first three months, and nearly 80% of them told investors to lower their expectations. ...

Looking for the hottest residential real estate in Asia? Go to Ho Chi Minh City. Ever since Vietnam allowed foreigners to own apartments in July 2015, its luxury housing sector has been on a tear. Three years ago, when local developer Dai Quang Minh launched the first residential complex in the Thu Thiem area – a 657 hectare grassy plot ...

As the German economy reverts to a slow and steady growth trend after a short-lived boom, it can rely on an unusual resource that helps to protect it from declines: A bigger low-paid workforce than even most economists realise. Last week, Markus Grabka and Carsten Schroeder of the German Institute for Economic Research in Berlin reported on this phenomenon. They ...

Heading into an election, India’s enthusiasm for cars and motorbikes has all but evaporated. It’s unlikely to return anytime soon, despite all the grand promises to improve the lives of masses. Passenger car sales, which have been sliding since last summer, fell another 6 percent last month while those for motorbikes – the larger and more profitable market – collapsed ...

It could have all been so different. Debenhams Plc, is expected to be taken over by its lenders in a restructuring after they rejected a 200 million-pound ($261.6 million) lifeline from Sports Direct International Plc. The equity, including the 30 percent stake held by the sportswear retailer, will be wiped out. The shares were suspended early on Tuesday. After operating ...