When considering what to do about pollution, there are two kinds of people: techno-optimists who assume humanity will eventually find a way to clean up all our messes, and those less fun but more pragmatic environmentalists who say that it’s always easier and cheaper to avoid making the mess in the first place. Battle just broke out between these two ...

After his victory last week in an internal vote to lead Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe looks set to remain in office till 2021 — longer than any Japanese political leader since the days of the samurai. He has a lot still to do in this third and last term, and shouldn’t waste his remaining time ...

It worked in the 1990s: The US economy continued to grow strongly for several years even after it showed signs of capacity constraints and low unemployment. The question is whether that can happen again, or whether this cycle is destined to end in a bout of inflation that prompts the Federal Reserve to raise rates and end the party. The ...