Opinion

  A funny thing happened on the path to disruption. This decade, most of Silicon Valley’s big societal claims have turned out to be wrong. These claims arguably began around the time this cycle’s real expansion began, in late 2011. Two scholars’ 2011 text, “Race Against the Machine,” looked at some of the problems plaguing the U.S. economy —stagnant wage ...

  Pankaj Mishra Africa is “rising,” or so authoritative sources declared a few years ago. An Economist cover story in 2013 amplified the claim; the Wall Street Journal carried a series of articles on economic growth in Africa under this title. African “lions,” according to a report published as recently as September by the McKinsey Global Institute, are “on the ...

  Deutsche Bank is in trouble — and that’s bad news for all of us. Deutsche Bank is Germany’s biggest bank with 100,000 employees around the world and operations in more than 70 countries. Its assets total about $1.7 trillion. One worrying sign of the bank’s distress is its stock price, which is trading now at about $14 a share, ...

  Every Western city’s food scene seems slowly to be turning into a carbon copy of every other: The same global fast-food chains selling hamburgers and fried chicken with only modest concessions to local tastes. Chains would seem to be the wave of the future. Certainly in the U.S.: A recent report by NPD Group tells us that in the ...

  India beats China on one national measure at least: Its air has rapidly become more unbreathable. Urgent action is needed to cleanse Indian skies. This week, air pollution in New Delhi has been truly off the charts: Tiny particulates, which are especially deadly, topped 999 micrograms per cubic meter — 40 times what is considered safe and beyond what ...

  The initiative to introduce energy rationalization lessons in UAE high school curriculum qualifies for praise. The decision taken by the Education and Energy Ministries will not only instill consciousness of energy conservation, but would also go a long way in shaping a future generation that uses the limited natural resources judiciously and with care. When students realize the far-reaching ...

  Canada, let’s agree, has much to teach the world. Following the signing of its new trade deal with the European Union, its lessons on the future of Britain and Europe are especially timely. The Economist just celebrated Canada’s distinctive achievements with a cover and supporting articles. The magazine was full of admiration for Canada’s liberal, outward-looking centrism. Yet what ...

  Earlier this year I suggested that there was a problem with the tools we use to measure economic productivity: “The way we capture formal productivity data hasn’t kept up with modern ways of doing business. As a result, I believe economists underestimate productivity increases.” I have since refined that conclusion: Productivity models don’t properly capture gains created by the ...

  There was a brief but impressive show of new U.S. aircraft technology this week. The problem is that the planes belong to the Chinese military. Aided in large part by espionage against the Pentagon and U.S. firms, the People’s Liberation Army air force unveiled its new J-20 stealth fighter, which it says is a so-called fifth-generation fighter like the ...

  As the presidential campaigns sink to the challenge of demonstrating that there is no such thing as rock bottom, remember this: When the Clintons decamped from Washington in January 2001, they took some White House furnishings that were public property. They also finished accepting more than $190,000 in gifts, including two coffee tables and two chairs, a $7,375 gratuity ...