Opinion

  On November 8, Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India surprised investors and consumers by declaring that 86 percent of the nation’s money stock would no longer be a medium of exchange or store of value. In meetings in Mumbai and New Delhi recently, I learned that the move was intended to ferret out illegally garnered funds, and that the ...

  Maybe it’s not so bad to have algorithmic overlords — at least when they are pressured into protecting people rather than exploiting them. Earlier this week, Facebook declared that it will no longer let certain kinds of advertisers engage in racial profiling. Specifically, it will prohibit credit, housing, and employment advertisers from using “ethnic affinity” categories — marketing profiles ...

  Fake news on social media stymied the presidential campaign of Hillary Clinton. Now, businesses are wondering what they should do if they’re targeted next. For some, it’s too late. Pepsi’s chief executive never told Trump supporters to “take their business elsewhere,” but websites still falsely claimed she did. Coca-Cola had to deal with bogus reports that a “clear parasite” ...

Of the many puzzles posed by Donald Trump’s administration, the role of the National Security Council (NSC) is among the trickiest. The NSC usually tries to act as an “honest broker” among Cabinet agencies. But how will it function under a headstrong president who sees his role as disruptor and tweeter-in-chief? This challenge falls to national security adviser Michael Flynn, ...

  Dig around on finance corners of the internet and you find people touting the logic of May-December corporate romances. If Apple bought all or parts of Time Warner or Disney, or Amazon hitched up with Macy’s Inc., or Google owned a traditional automaker, it would be a sweeter combination than chocolate and peanut butter. The experienced hand and the ...

  Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe comes to Washington this Friday bearing gifts, reportedly including a proposal to invest billions in U.S. railroads, bridges and highways. The investment is sorely needed, and the offer will no doubt be appreciated. Still, it’s hard not to ask: Has it come to this? President Donald Trump seems to favour a transactional approach to ...

  Silicon Valley’s biggest firms strongly reacted to US President Donald Trump’s travel ban. They argue that tech world needs immigrants’ creativity and energy to stay competitive. About 58 percent of the engineers and other high-skill employees in Silicon Valley were born outside the US. Hence it is nature that tech giants are against the travel ban. Though the tech ...

  When the International Monetary Fund’s board met on Monday to discuss Greece, it was heartening to read that “most Executive Directors” agreed with the staff’s view that the country’s debt, at 179 percent of gross domestic product at the end of 2015, was “unsustainable.” Yet “some directors had different views on the fiscal path and debt sustainability.” This division ...

  The Reserve Bank of India has not exactly covered itself in glory since Nov. 8, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi sprung the news on a startled nation that 86 percent of its currency would be worthless within a few hours. The central bank’s refusal to release up-to-date data about the demonetization, its constant stream of confusing and contradictory orders ...

  President Donald Trump is right about one thing: The US trade deficit with the rest of the world — which topped $500 billion last year — is unhealthy. It puts upward pressure on U.S. unemployment that can only be countered with policies that lead to rising debt. It doesn’t follow, however, that the worst culprits are always the countries ...