Opinion

  Jack Rivkin, who introduced many of the innovative research practices that eventually became commonplace at Wall Street’s biggest firms, passed away last week. He was 76. He was a warm and witty observer of the investment business, and was best-known for his work running Shearson Lehman Brothers’ research department. He also served as chief investment officer of Neuberger Berman, ...

  This year has been full of news about the slowing or perhaps even end of globalization. The main evidence is that global trade volumes appear to have stopped rising, something that hardly ever happens outside of a recession. Still, if you step back a little, you can make a case that the globalization train is still chugging — slowly ...

  Democrats and progressives, you lost. You can fight President-elect Donald Trump, or you can join him. There will be time enough for fighting, but for now, I suggest that you join him — at least on some of his high priority items. As it turns out, several of them are your priorities too. 1: Infrastructure. The president-elect is a ...

  Donald Trump was not the only septuagenarian with some strong notions about world affairs to score big in the Americas this month. On Nov. 6, Nicaraguan guerrilla-turned-strongman Daniel Ortega won his third consecutive presidential mandate. To hear Ortega’s boosters tell it, his re-election was a much needed affirmation for the Latin American leftist leaders who are now faltering or ...

  By December 2015, China had endured four years of declining producer prices. Coal was down 38 percent on the year, and steel down 31 percent. That month, the Communist Party hit on a new plan for reversing this dynamic. They called it “supply-side reform,” and it was widely perceived as an attempt to eliminate the surplus capacity at mines ...

  The Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) will shape the world’s future. It has already dawned on us. The UAE is joining the World Economic Forum (WEF) to lead from the front as it ushers in the 4IR and gives fillip to technological advancements. While setting up the world’s first permanent policy council that will study and implement the plans of ...

  Russian President Vladimir Putin has been rather consistent lately in making it clear that senior officials were not immune from corruption charges. Yet Economy Minister Alexei Ulyukayev’s arrest in the wee hours of Tuesday still stands out. It raises questions about the future of Putin’s highly professional, technocratic economic team as well as one of the president’s closest associates, ...

  Pity the poor pension fund manager. Toward the end of October, there was finally a chance to add some yield to a European fixed-income portfolio by lending money to Austria for 70 years at a yield of 1.53 percent. The sale raised 2 billion euros ($2.2 billion); it could have fetched more than six times as much, given the ...

  There will be the temptation to see Hillary Clinton’s defeat as evidence that a woman can’t rise to the top. If we’re not careful, the dominant gender will whisper in the backroom, let’s not nominate one of them again. But it will happen, nonetheless —and thanks to Clinton. Just seeing her win her party’s nomination and triumph in three ...

  The politician who ought to be most immune to the populist rage sweeping the world’s democracies should be Italy’s Prime Minister Matteo Renzi. A former mayor who won election in Florence at the age of 29 as the radical alternative to an establishment candidate, Renzi has solid populist credentials. Moreover, Italians have already had their Donald Trump. Billionaire businessman ...