Opinion

India’s billionaires believe in rugged, muscular capitalism—so at the first hint of trouble, they go running to mommy. Sunil Mittal, who controls India’s biggest wireless service, and Kumar Mangalam Birla, who’s in the process of merging his number 3 operator with the second-ranked local unit of Vodafone Plc, are seeking the Indian government’s intervention. The big three claim the entry ...

There’s a disconnect between the way Uber, the ride-hailing company, is trying to transform itself and what it really needs to fix to become a sustainable business. Instead of reconsidering its business model and protecting itself against a regulatory backlash, it has decided to go politically correct. As a result of much highly public soul-searching, caused by accusations of mistreating ...

After being surprised by broad-based protests in late March, the Russian authorities were ready to prevent a repeat on Monday. Police detained hundreds across the country as well as opposition leader Alexei Navalny. The protests themselves were thinner, too — planning to be arrested, which is likely, is not for everyone — but thousands still turned out. As I watched ...

Clashes between central banks and governments happen the world over. India is no different, yet the recent friction between the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government over a controversial rate call offers up a test case of central bank independence in this $2 trillion economy. Last October, the RBI led by governor Urjit Patel adopted ...

Like too much else in Washington, the slow-motion collapse of Obamacare was an eminently avoidable crisis. The question, now that it is happening, is whether President Donald Trump and Congress want to work together to contain it. With Anthem Inc.’s alarming decision to quit Ohio’s health-insurance marketplace, 18 more counties can now be added to the territory where people who ...

So the presidential election was no fluke: The voters of France have put Emmanuel Macron’s new République En Marche (Republic on the Move) party on course for a big parliamentary majority. If this is confirmed in the June 18 runoff, Macron will control not just foreign policy but domestic policy as well. His task in reforming the French economy, as ...

The social media giants based in the US may soon face a new attack in Europe: There’s a perception among activists and officials that the basis of their business model — targeted advertising — can be a threat to democracy. In a speech, Commissioner Margrethe Vestager — who, as the top European Union antitrust official, has been the nemesis of ...

Markets have enjoyed a sustained rally on low volatility caused, in part, by uncertainty about the outlook for fiscal policy. Financial conditions have loosened substantially, which has presented a window of opportunity for central banks to tighten policy. The dilemma for central banks is how quickly monetary policy accommodation can be removed against the backdrop of political uncertainty and below ...

Call it the mystery of missing wage growth. The euro zone recovery is gathering pace, but there are no signs this spurt of activity is giving workers the pay rise they have been waiting for. Wages rose by a mere 1.6 percent at the end of last year. This is well below the historical average of 2.1 percent. This puzzle ...

It’s time to take a brief break from Donald Trump. Whatever you think of him, there’s no denying that he dominates the news cycle. We seem to assume that the nation’s future depends on Trump’s fate, for better or worse. The reality is otherwise: The nation’s future also hangs on larger economic and social trends that no president can shape. ...