Opinion

Donald Trump won the US presidency in large part on a promise to help American workers displaced by trade and technology. That’s a worthy goal — but if he wants to deliver, he’ll have to rethink his approach. Above all, he’ll need to recognize that the modern economy is not just about digging holes and bashing metal. To date, Trump …

The International Monetary Fund just pointed out that “South Africa’s vulnerabilities have become more pronounced.” That’s one way of putting it. A potentially prosperous and dynamic economy is on the fast track to ruin. Altering its course will take real political reform. Unemployment has risen five percentage points since 2008, to a hope-crushing 28 percent. The country’s population is expanding …

Will China ever become democratic? That question has been a staple of geopolitical discussion since the 1990s, and at times many commentators thought a democratic China was not so far away. Today, as restrictions on political speech and opposition increase, hardly anyone thinks this is a realistic scenario. Yet it’s still worth asking why China might never democratize, and what …

The reason for the stock market’s vanishing volatility may not be what many people think. It may have more to do with local community boards or town reps than the Federal Reserve. Volatility, which has slumped this year, has been a big topic of discussion among market participants, and not all of it has been positive. Low volatility is usually …

A new report by Bloomberg News about Russia being suspected of recently hacking a dozen US power plants, including a nuclear one, is far more serious than any possible attempt to influence an election. It could be a sign of something even scarier: two military superpowers stepping up a cyberwar in the shadows and without rules of engagement that protect …

This is not your father’s inflation — and that’s good news. Business cycles often end when higher inflation causes a country’s central bank (the Federal Reserve in the United States) to raise interest rates, slowing the economy and, perhaps, triggering a recession. The good news: The next recession may be delayed, because the Phillips Curve has shifted. The Phillips Curve …

Growth is back at Xiaomi Corp. After suffering some pretty brutal quarters at the hands of compatriot competitors and a weakening global smartphone market, the Chinese startup trumpeted its return last week at an all-hands staff meeting. Shipments in the second quarter climbed 70% from the prior three-month period to 23.16 million handsets, founder Lei Jun said in a statement …

The freedom to move in pursuit of opportunity is a basic — and constitutionally protected — American value. Yet it’s a value in decline. American workers are half as likely to relocate to another state as previous generations. Lower mobility may be one reason why job openings in the U.S. are at an all-time high. The country’s irrationally restrictive system …

It took brave, radical thinking for President Emmanuel Macron to transform French politics so completely. Reforming the French economy will demand no less focus and ambition. To judge by the speech he gave at Versailles last week, there’ll be no lack of ambition: It was positively regal. Focus, though, was less apparent. Once he turns to the task of governing, …

When United Airlines called security to drag passenger David Dao off of his flight back in April, some observers cheered the airline’s falling stock price, expressing the hope that this would punish the company’s executives and owners and spur them to implement a more passenger-friendly attitude. United’s stock quickly recovered. But even had it fallen a lot and not bounced …