At a recent forum, China’s Vice Finance Minister Zhu Guangyao warned that a ‘zero-sum’ mentality in economic relations between the US and China hurts both countries. He’s right: Rising protectionism, of the kind favored by President-elect Donald Trump, is a danger to the still-sputtering global economy. What China doesn’t yet accept is that much of the ire against free …

  The UK government is no longer the largest shareholder of Lloyds Banking Group Plc, the recipient of a 20 billion-pound ($24 billion) bailout at the height of the financial crisis. That’s good news for the British taxpayer, which wants its money back, and for the bank, which wants independence. But it’s only an incremental step in a very long …

  Lots of economic policy debates end up going like this: First, one economist or policy wonk will propose a government intervention — a minimum wage increase, a tax on sugar or subsidies for solar electricity. Another person, usually someone of a more free-market bent, will demand to know exactly which market failure justifies the intervention. A market failure, in …