I’m a recovering smartphone addict, so you might expect me to welcome the French government’s decision to ban the devices in primary and middle schools. Actually, I don’t: The problem is the software, not the phones themselves. At best, banning smartphones would require kids to learn antiquated skills, something they arguably do too much of in school already. The modern …

Everything comes at a cost. To ensure steady economic growth, China is considering softening its focus on cutting debt in 2018, the Wall Street Journal reported. “Let’s face it. It’s not realistic to reduce leverage when the whole economy relies on banks for financing,” an official told the Journal’s Lingling Wei. For emerging-market bulls, that’s the best news this holiday …

Blockchain technology, which has already been adopted by gold traders, is starting to show the potential to transform other sectors of the global physical commodities markets. While it wouldn’t necessarily boost commodity prices, the innovation could offer a secure means of exchange of raw materials, open up channels of trade among buyers and sellers that had until now have been …