The market creates income inequality; governments reduce it through taxes and social transfers. That’s the conventional picture — only it doesn’t work as well as it used to, and new ways of fighting inequality are needed, likely focusing on moving more people into better-quality jobs. In a recent paper (and a shorter blog post), two economists at the Organization for ...

Call it the carrot and stick. After the National People’s Congress repealed presiden- tial term limits, allowing Xi Jinping to rule beyond 2023, China’s 64-year-old leader is handing out some nice sweeteners. Two major announcements show the pace of financial reform is quickening. As Bloomberg News reported in January, China will indeed merge its banking and insurance watchdogs. At the ...

Active investment managers argue that increased market volatility provides an environment in which their stock-picking skills can shine. The world’s largest pension fund wants them to put their money — or rather their fees — where their collective mouths are. Japan’s Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF), which has about 163 trillion yen ($1.5 trillion) of assets, is changing how it ...