One of the scariest ideas in the world is the possibility that technological progress is petering out. Without it, there can be no long-run economic expansion or ongoing improvement in the human condition. Modern societies and economies are built on the assumption of growth, but even if they were to be reorganized to adapt to a static world, it could ...

Britain’s supermarket industry is in upheaval. And the planet’s retail giant may yet make its mark. Amazon.com Inc. tried to open talks to buy Waitrose last year, according to the Sunday Times. The John Lewis Partnership, which owns the grocer known for its posh clientele, denied that an approach had been made, while Amazon declined to comment. This odd couple ...

I’ve been doing some reporting in the Caribbean and elsewhere abroad recently, which led me to begin using WhatsApp for the first time. In large swaths of the world, people use WhatsApp as their primary texting tool: It’s free, it’s fast, and you can send photos, videos and audio as well as text. And you can set up a chat ...