There are few more eloquent expressions of faltering Russian living standards than the rise and rise of discount retailer Fix Price Group Ltd., set to begin trading in London and Moscow. An equity value of $8.3 billion assumes sizeable ongoing appetite for cheap detergent and affordable cosmetics. It says everything that Russia’s hottest initial public offering in years is a ...

After about a decade of stasis, big things are afoot in the world of social media. Audio chat app Clubhouse, newsletter platform Substack, and video-sharing app TikTok, among others, are giving rise to an explosion of new conversations and building large followings for the early adopters. But even more importantly, the new platforms are partially unbundling Twitter, threatening to make ...

Biden’s $1.9 trillion Covid-19 relief bill has passed the Senate, clearing the way for it to become law. Much of the legislation is dedicated to handing out cash to individual Americans. This is a sign post for a tectonic shift that’s underway in US policy thinking towards unconditional money transfers as the optimal way to help people in need. When ...