Opinion

It’s not particularly logical that, after years of permissiveness towards Chinese investors buying up German industrial jewels, Berlin has decided to ban the acquisition of Leifeld Metal Spinning — a technologically advanced but small firm from the town of Ahlen in North Rhine-Westphalia. While it sends a clear signal that the anything-goes era is over, it’s also a worrying consequence ...

It’s an axiom among many Americans that each future generation will live better than its predecessor. New technologies, greater efficiencies and a can-do spirit will reward us with higher living standards. There might be periodic stumbles, but the long-term trajectory is up. And the people most guaranteed to enjoy this bountiful future are the children of today’s upper-middle class. They ...

Monetary medicine in Japan is keeping the economy alive, but with nasty side effects. The search for a new cure should begin with a simple question: What if the Bank of Japan were to throw out its money-printing presses? Instead of pushing more yen into an economy that has already absorbed a threefold increase in cheap central-bank funds in five ...

Tesla Inc’s past few months have produced even more drama than usual: CEO Elon Musk’s refusal to answer “dry” analyst questions; his Trumpian media tirade and #Pravduh thingy; Kanye; an alleged saboteur (or wannabe whistleblower). The company’s quarterly results almost feel like a commercial break. Earnings came in short of expectations. This is not a number that, in isolation, means ...

First, the good news: Traders don’t anticipate that Bank of England’s interest-rate increase heralds the start of a series of hikes. Now, the bad: If Brexit sees Britain leaving the European Union without a deal, the UK central bank may have to swiftly reverse course, scaring the horses more than if it had left well enough alone. The Monetary Policy ...

Google has some explaining to do. Recently, The Intercept outlined the company’s discussions to possibly resume its internet search service in China, followed by another news report that said Google is also developing a potential digital news app for the country. It has been nearly a decade since Google scaled back operations in the country because cyberattacks on company’s computer ...

India’s government seems intent on abandoning good ideas for dealing with the country’s banking crisis and encouraging bad ones. Perhaps that shouldn’t be surprising, given that the bureaucrats don’t yet seem to have grappled with the real nature of the problem. The latest terrible proposal for dealing with the bad loans weighing down India’s state-owned banks, which control more than ...

Big changes have been happening in the economics profession, but many people still don’t seem to realise this. Maybe it’s the steady drumbeat of think pieces reiterating the same outdated critiques. Or maybe there’s a lingering collective memory of the time when the public face of economics was strongly libertarian. Or perhaps think tanks and pundits have publicised a caricature ...

With only eight months left until Brexit, the UK government has become desperate for a transition deal. For all the talk of stockpiling food and medicines, no self-respecting politician would take the country through the economic calamity of a “cliff-edge” Brexit. The prime minister is doing the rounds to promote her “Chequers” blueprint, which includes a free trade area for ...

The earnings season three months ago raised one key question for corporate America: Did companies have the pricing power to respond to rising freight and commodity costs by raising their own prices? This quarter’s earnings season is providing an answer: Yes. So companies are going to raise prices. That aims to protect their profit margins. At whose expense? The whole ...