Opinion

  The unemployment rate is down to 4.6 percent, which sounds pretty good. But the unemployment rate doesn’t count people who’ve given up looking for jobs, which is why the employment-to-population ratio, especially the “prime-age” ratio for those 25 through 54, may be a better measure of the health of the labour market. After I wrote about this metric, several ...

  If only congressional Republicans were as confident in their ideas for replacing Obamacare as they are in their plans to repeal it. Then maybe the quick strike against the law that they have scheduled for the new year would be accompanied by a constructive debate about the vast yet troubled federal program that tens of millions of Americans have ...

  The Pentagon has accused China of seizing an unmanned naval probe in international waters in the South China Sea. The incident can stoke tensions around Beijing military presence in the disputed area. Reports that emerged after the incident said that the underwater vehicle was taken around 50 nautical miles (90 kilometers) northwest off Subic Bay in the Philippines. The ...

  This week, after four and a half years of faithful service, I finally replaced my old laptop. I will not bore you with the litany of troubles that led to this decision. The only interesting thing about my decision to replace my old 15-inch Macbook Pro is what I chose to replace it with: a nearly identical Macbook, about ...

  Last week, ECB chief Mario Draghi promised another nine months of quantitative easing, but cut his bond purchase program. While the move is a deft way to introduce the prospect of tapering without triggering a market meltdown, the economic backdrop suggests it’s still too soon for tighter monetary conditions. By reducing the dose while extending the prescription, the ECB ...

  Facebook has detailed its plan for combating fake news. It will effectively outsource the fact-checking of news stories flagged by users as possibly fake to third-party groups that should, at a minimum, be signatories to a code developed at the Poynter Institute, a Florida-based journalism training organization. But by making a small group of vetters the arbiters of “truth,” ...

  The fall of Aleppo is a human catastrophe. It’s also a demonstration of the perils of choosing the middle course in a military conflict. Sometimes it’s possible to talk and fight at the same time. But in Syria, America’s decision to pursue a dual-track, halfway approach made the mayhem worse. A battered Secretary of State John Kerry made one ...

  OK, I should have headlined it, “My favorite economics books of 2016.” There surely are many good books that I missed. Still, the four below share certain appealing characteristics. They tell us stuff we don’t know, which alters our view of the world. They are all deeply researched and reported. They’re clearly written. For your dedicated economics wonk or ...

  In questioning the “One China” policy that’s governed US-China relations for nearly four decades, President-elect Donald Trump seems to believe he’s wielding powerful leverage to persuade leaders in Beijing to give the US a better deal on trade. In fact, he’s setting himself up to fail —and ignoring the more effective tools at his disposal. The 1979 decision to ...

  The United States announced that it has withheld a major aid package to the Philippines over significant concerns about the rule of law under President Rodrigo Duterte. This comes as a response to Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte war on drug pushers. It has claimed more than 5,000 lives so far. Even before he was elected Philippines president, Duterte had ...