When you read words like ‘output,’ ‘economic growth’ or ‘national income,’ you’re almost always reading about gross domestic product. This measure, more than any other, has come to be equated with national prosperity and living standards. We use it to compare countries with each other, and also to compare the present with the past. But GDP misses many important things. ...

Google CEO Sundar Pichai can count the early success of Tez, the online payment system he custom-built for India, as a promising start to a gruelling fight. The first click in online shopping is shifting away from search engines like Alphabet Inc.’s Google to e-commerce behemoth Amazon.com Inc. But Google isn’t bowing out. Even with more product searches beginning within ...

Tencent Holdings Ltd. is doubling down on retail. Investors shouldn’t act so surprised. Days after confirming plans to pay around 4.2 billion yuan ($635 million) for a 5 percent stake in Yonghui Superstores Co., the Chinese social-media king announced it would outlay a similar amount for a similar stake in Vipshop Holdings Ltd. Yonghui operates a chain of supermarkets, Vipshop ...