Opinion

  After the US and China ratified the Paris climate accord, there is growing optimism that the agreement can take effect by the end of the year. It has to be signed by 55 countries responsible for 55% of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. And ratification by the two economic giants — who emit 38% of the climate-harming GHSs — is ...

  In recent years, digital currencies have shown considerable promise. Research by the People’s Bank of China suggests that the best way to take advantage of these innovations is for central banks to take the lead, both in supervising private digital currencies and in developing digital legal tender of their own. At the PBOC, this effort is underway. In approaching ...

If you believe that government meddling in financial markets was responsible for the last recession and the lackluster recovery, you might be right. But probably not in the way you think. Imagine what would happen in a free market if everyone suddenly decided that future economic growth would be very slow. The price of safe assets such as U.S. government ...

Apple’s legal defense against European Commission charges of improper tax avoidance is yet to be heard. But even based on the company’s own reporting, Apple’s claim that it has always paid all the taxes it owed is disingenuous. The recent ruling — forcing Ireland to hit the iPhone maker with 13 billion euros ($14.5 billion) in back taxes — throws ...

  Susan Rice is the latest national security adviser to inherit the framework of Sino-American relations that was created in 1972 by Henry Kissinger: The Chinese ever since have wanted to deal directly and discreetly with the White House as they pursue a relationship that’s somewhere between cooperation and confrontation. Rice will be channeling Kissinger when she travels with President ...

  In the age of colonialism, there were mainly two kinds of countries: empires that controlled their economic destinies, and colonies, which were denied the chance to industrialize. After World War II and the end of colonialism, a different divide emerged — many countries were trapped behind the Iron Curtain, held back by inefficient communist systems. Meanwhile, the capitalist countries ...

  The inconclusive August jobs report might not provide the Federal Reserve with the impetus it needs to take interest rates higher in the near future. That’s particularly true since by some important measures, the economy still isn’t quite back to where it was even at the beginning of earlier tightening cycles. The employment report portrays an economy still growing ...

  It is a sheer coincidence. On September 4, 2015, Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel had initiated the open-door refugee policy to let thousands of migrants into the country. Exactly one year later, her Christian Democratic Union (CDU) faces elections in the northeastern state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania — the home state of Merkel — whose results could be a litmus test ...

  Over the last 20 years, Amazon has taught us to buy everything on the web. At least in urban areas like mine, we are close to realizing the dream of a retail environment that consists entirely of storefronts selling food and beverages, while delivery trucks whiz back and forth before diners beneath umbrellas. But is Amazon content with this ...

Global growth is weak, and will be eroded further by Brexit. Oil prices are low, and likely to plunge further. The world has excess capacity and a wage-depressing labor surplus. Corporate profits are shaky. And deflation is laying bare the impotence of central banks. So where would you logically expect financial markets to be going, given that economic, financial and ...