Three years ago, Narendra Modi was sworn in as prime minister of the Republic of India amid much hope and tremendous expectation. A good portion of the population remains optimistic that he’ll fulfill his promises to unshackle the Indian economy. But Modi’s tenure cannot yet be judged a success for one central reason: He’s signally failed to create jobs for …

As recently as two years ago, owning shares in a bad bank charged with cleaning up nonperforming loans in China probably seemed like a good bet. Not so any more, at least for China Cinda Asset Management Co. The Beijing-based firm’s costs are rising and soured-loan growth has leveled off, or in some cases, dropped at the banks Cinda purchases …

Innovation, everybody hopes, will rescue the world from economic stagnation. I’m not so sure. The extent to which an innovation is significant depends on the degree to which it alters existing activity or the performance of a function. It must create related and ancillary activities that in turn lead to employment, wealth and other discoveries in a virtuous cycle. It …