If America is in decline, that message hasn’t gotten through to the world’s most powerful unelected officials. Central bank chiefs the world over still mostly look to the Federal Reserve for guidance and precedent. Same goes for the armies of analysts, investors and journalists who follow monetary policy for a living. I broached this theme on a visit to Asia …

The biggest increase in clothing prices on record is all down to the slump in sterling after the Brexit vote. That’s the obvious conclusion to draw from the Office for National Statistics’s report that clothing and footwear inflation picked up to 4.6 percent in in August. But it’s not quite right. Because retailers actually have more pricing power than you …

The term “butterfly effect” was coined to describe how a hurricane’s intensity could be influenced by the fluttering of a distant butterfly’s wings. In the wake of the recent devastation by Harvey and Irma, we may have to contend with the widespread reverse impact that hurricanes could have on global financial markets. The human tragedy of lost lives and the …