People tend to like big, sweeping theories of economic history. When Karl Marx foretold a supposedly inevitable series of class conflicts and revolutions that would end in a communist utopia, the idea was so powerful that it inspired revolutions, alternative economic systems and wars. Other thinkers depicted economic history as the triumph of a particular culture, or the inevitable ascendance ...

After three years of hand-wringing, India has finally done the right thing by its struggling banks. The 2.1 trillion rupees ($32 billion) capital infusion into state-run lenders announced by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday evening has been well received by rating companies, despite its unconventional structure. As much as 1.35 trillion rupees will come from banks’ own resources. The ...

Zhou Xiaochuan, the long-serving and respected governor of the People’s Bank of China, raised eyebrows last week when he cautioned that the country could have a ‘Minsky Moment’ if “we are too optimistic when things go smoothly.” Although he was right to warn against policy complacency and general economic overconfidence, particularly in the context of a growth model that still ...