The vast majority of high-level economic officials gathering at the International Monetary Fund-World Bank annual meetings in Washington this week will welcome and embrace both the recent and the prospective improvements in the global economy. And they should. The ongoing synchronized pick-up in growth has taken a long time to materialize, and is occurring in the context of unusually subdued …

Three years since their banking union began to take shape, European Union regulators are seeking fresh powers to deal with lenders in trouble. Their plan would let them stop withdrawals from a failing bank for a few days while they address the problem, with the aim of preventing a run. But this approach could easily have the opposite effect, spreading …

A candid memoir by former US Defense Secretary Ash Carter provides a rare opportunity to better understand President Barack Obama’s Syria strategy before it recedes into the historical distance. His many valuable insights raise one big question, however: Why did the US even get involved? The apparent goal of Carter’s detailed reminiscences is to establish his role in the defeat …