For all the flaws of the Jones Act — the 1920 legislation requiring that all maritime commerce between US ports take place on ships owned, built and crewed by Americans — there’s no faulting its professed goal. The US needs a thriving maritime sector, for both economic and military reasons. The best way to achieve this is to lift the …

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 …