Economists have come to rival even journalists and politicians in lack of public esteem. That might be partly because so many economists seem as interested in journalism and politics as in advancing their science. But there’s also a deeper problem: Far from advancing, the science of economics has been going backwards. Economists tend to be either practitioners or theorists. …

  North Korea allegedly carried out a ballistic missile test on early Sunday. But there was no confirmation from Pyongyang. The US Strategic Command reported that it was a medium- or intermediate-range ballistic missile. Japanese government confirmed that the missile fell in seas between the Korean Peninsula and Japan. Kim Jong Un, the reclusive leader of the pariah state, warned …

  When it comes to robots displacing humans from the job market, government bureaucrats are generally not what springs to mind. The recent McKinsey report on the future of jobs estimates the automation potential of administrative jobs at just 39 percent, far less than the 73 percent potential for accommodation and food services. And yet the public sector is one …