Opinion

  At dawn on Tuesday in West Quoddy Head, Maine, America’s easternmost point, it was certain that by midnight in Cape Wrangell, Alaska, America’s westernmost fringe, there would be a loser who deserved to lose and a winner who did not deserve to win. The surprise is that Barack Obama must have immediately seen his legacy, a compound of stylistic ...

  Welcome, American liberals. Welcome to the special torment of discovering that you do not know your country. You thought, no doubt, you were exempt — immune from the shocks that liberals throughout the world have felt in recent years. And I can understand why: Because while you have suffered defeats at the hands of Reagan and the Bushes, and ...

  Donald Trump has made history as the first man with no government experience to reach the highest office in the land — and as the least popular and most divisive candidate ever to do so. The burden is now on him to leave a mean-spirited campaign behind and demonstrate that he can bring people together to move the country ...

  Climate diplomacy is becoming a core element of global negotiations and business propositions around the world. With Donald Trump’s stunning victory, the role of climate diplomats has assumed more significance. Even as the US election sends shivers down the spine of many environmentalists, climate diplomats have got down to brass tacks in Marrakech to decide on the rulebook to ...

  Everyone has a lot to digest in the wake of Donald Trump’s presidential victory, but for markets one question looms large: What should it change in the policies of the world’s most powerful central bank, the U.S. Federal Reserve? The answer differs depending on whether you’re looking at the next few months or the next several years. In the ...

  One of the best things to do when confronted by a major surprise is to see what there is to be learned from the experience. I always try to identify what sorts of lessons can be gleaned from nonmarket events. You would be surprised at how often there are rules and insights to be had about investing. In the ...

  Noah Smith As you might expect, economists tend to talk about lots things in terms of supply and demand. Macroeconomics is no different. The basic model of recessions and booms that gets taught in undergrad classes relies on the notions of aggregate demand and aggregate supply. Just like the demand for oranges is the number of oranges people want ...

  Worried by the rise of populism in politics? Blame the central banks. Every populist politician in the world will go to bed tonight dreaming the dream after Donald Trump’s surprise victory in the U.S. presidential election. Every member of the so-called elite — however you choose to define that amorphous concept — needs to take a long, searching look ...

  President Obama should focus on three foreign policy challenges, post-election, to finish fights that began on his watch. These include setting rules for cyber behavior with Russia and other nations, pressing on toward Raqqa and the destruction of the Islamic State, and a “Hail Mary” effort to pass the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal during the lame-duck session of ...

  The shipping industry accounts for more greenhouse gas emissions than airplanes, buses or trains. Yet it was not included in last year’s Paris accord — and an attempt last month to redress this failure manages to be both unambitious and impractical. The world’s 90,000 shipping vessels burn about five million barrels of petroleum products each day, and their emissions ...