Opinion

“Beware of Greeks bearing gifts,” wrote the ancient Roman poet Virgil. In the 21st century, it’s the Greeks who should have been more careful about accepting offerings—specifically from the International Monetary Fund, which is now torturing the country in a misguided effort to get its money back. Greek officials have worked hard to shore up their economy and finances. From ...

The obvious interpretation of President Trump’s Dreamer deal with Democratic leaders is that he’s breaking promises to his supporters, especially in his suddenly diminished ambitions for the border wall. But what were those promises, precisely? And which ones matter the most to his presidency? The answer may be found in the work of political scientist Richard Fenno, whose formulation of ...

If America is in decline, that message hasn’t gotten through to the world’s most powerful unelected officials. Central bank chiefs the world over still mostly look to the Federal Reserve for guidance and precedent. Same goes for the armies of analysts, investors and journalists who follow monetary policy for a living. I broached this theme on a visit to Asia ...

The biggest increase in clothing prices on record is all down to the slump in sterling after the Brexit vote. That’s the obvious conclusion to draw from the Office for National Statistics’s report that clothing and footwear inflation picked up to 4.6 percent in in August. But it’s not quite right. Because retailers actually have more pricing power than you ...

The term “butterfly effect” was coined to describe how a hurricane’s intensity could be influenced by the fluttering of a distant butterfly’s wings. In the wake of the recent devastation by Harvey and Irma, we may have to contend with the widespread reverse impact that hurricanes could have on global financial markets. The human tragedy of lost lives and the ...

Whole Foods is providing the world with a very interesting economics lesson. Immediately after Amazon bought the upscale grocery store chain, it cut prices substantially for many items on the shelves. As a result, sales have boomed by around 25 percent. Was the price cut a good move? Actually, the real lesson might be how little economics has to say. ...

Last week was relatively eventful for bitcoin, the cryptocurrency that has been attracting growing attention from investors, speculators and regulators. Considerable price volatility was accentuated by reactions to commentary (some constructive and some less so) about a “disruptive technology” that responds to specific client needs, is here to stay, and will likely gain greater systemic influence, but is still early ...

The political winds in Silicon Valley are shifting. As Bloomberg’s Eric Newcomer wrote on Friday, a spate of critical essays and surprising revelations have recently framed the big tech companies as all-powerful, unaccountable and primed for greater antitrust scrutiny. But if you want to get fully up to speed on the case against Big Tech, there are two new books ...

How can news organizations avoid the trap that President Trump has laid for them in his attacks on the media as a one-sided “opposition party” that caters to anti-Trump elites and purveys “fake news” to readers and viewers? Part of the answer is simply for journalists to keep doing their jobs, aggressively and fairly. We’re not in the business of ...

President Donald Trump has to decide what to do with an American who was fighting for IS, captured by Kurdish forces in Syria and handed over this week to the US military. The best solution is also the simplest: Charge him with material support for terrorism, convict him and lock him up in an appropriate US prison for many, many ...