Bret Stephens of the New York Times made a splash the other day with a column questioning the scientific consensus on climate change. Stephens didn’t cite any skeptical research papers or alternative theories — his doubt was based purely on distrust of those who make confident predictions. We live in a world in which data convey authority. But authority ...

  Emmanuel Macron looks on course to become France’s new president, ending the threat of a euroskeptic at the Elysee. Even if Macron wins, though, it’ll be too soon to celebrate a new phase of stability in the euro zone. Across the Alps, an economic and political storm is brewing — and there’s no sign anyone can stop it. Italy’s ...

  The United States is a land of diminished economic prospects. Today the recession is over but the slowdown isn’t: The most recent projections by the Federal Reserve imply future growth in output per head of barely 1 percent a year. That matters for many reasons. For one thing, as Benjamin Friedman argued in “The Moral Consequences of Economic Growth,” ...