Opinion

So the presidential election was no fluke: The voters of France have put Emmanuel Macron’s new République En Marche (Republic on the Move) party on course for a big parliamentary majority. If this is confirmed in the June 18 runoff, Macron will control not just foreign policy but domestic policy as well. His task in reforming the French economy, as …

The social media giants based in the US may soon face a new attack in Europe: There’s a perception among activists and officials that the basis of their business model — targeted advertising — can be a threat to democracy. In a speech, Commissioner Margrethe Vestager — who, as the top European Union antitrust official, has been the nemesis of …

Markets have enjoyed a sustained rally on low volatility caused, in part, by uncertainty about the outlook for fiscal policy. Financial conditions have loosened substantially, which has presented a window of opportunity for central banks to tighten policy. The dilemma for central banks is how quickly monetary policy accommodation can be removed against the backdrop of political uncertainty and below …

Call it the mystery of missing wage growth. The euro zone recovery is gathering pace, but there are no signs this spurt of activity is giving workers the pay rise they have been waiting for. Wages rose by a mere 1.6 percent at the end of last year. This is well below the historical average of 2.1 percent. This puzzle …

It’s time to take a brief break from Donald Trump. Whatever you think of him, there’s no denying that he dominates the news cycle. We seem to assume that the nation’s future depends on Trump’s fate, for better or worse. The reality is otherwise: The nation’s future also hangs on larger economic and social trends that no president can shape. …

How far can the euphoria over Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. go? Even by the standards of online retail, its rise has been extraordinary. Revenue has grown by an average 52 percent annually over the past five years. Its 158 billion yuan ($23 billion) of sales in the 12 months through March was more than 10 times the 2011 figure. Far …

The White House has called it a “revolution,” the “beginning of a new era,” and the “single most exciting thing we can do.” More modestly, you might just call it a pretty good idea. At an otherwise grim moment in Washington, that’s something to cheer. President Donald Trump announced a plan to turn the air-traffic control system over to a …

Leaders of the European Union are allowed a moment of joy at the outcome of the UK election. Britain’s voters have just handed the Conservative Party, author of the country’s Brexit disaster, its head. But the EU shouldn’t let the cosmic justice of this outcome cloud their judgment about where their own interests lie. The Brexit decision is unlikely to …

No country has more potential for the improvement of the human condition than India. Home to more than 1.3 billion people and soon to overtake China as the world’s most populous country, India is also still desperately poor — its gross domestic product per capita is less than $6,000 in purchasing power parity terms, less than half that of China …

It’s a bad day to be a UK press baron. Fleet Street’s finest had lined up to endorse Theresa May ahead of an election that backfired badly for her. Rupert Murdoch’s tabloid Sun, credited for swinging elections in the past, had called on Brits to keep Jeremy Corbyn’s “sinister Marxist gang” from power. Given the result could also jeopardize his …