People shouldn’t be as worried as they are about the risk of a US recession. That said, it wouldn’t take much to trigger one, which is why the Federal Reserve should take out some insurance by providing added stimulus. Market participants see all sorts of reasons to fret about an imminent slump. Global growth is slowing, trade wars are adding ...

As Christine Lagarde takes over as president of the European Central Bank (ECB), the job looks less daunting than what greeted her predecessor, Mario Draghi, in 2011. Don’t be misled. Thanks to his efforts, the euro system is no longer in imminent danger of breaking apart. But this certainly doesn’t mean all is well. Sooner rather than later, in fact, ...

Most environmental problems are concentrated in the area where the pollution is produced. This is good, because it’s a lot easier for a single city or country to deal with an environmental challenge than it is for the international community. There are two huge exceptions to this. The first is global warming, which (as the name implies) affects everyone. The ...