Many nations in recent years are trying to wall themselves off from the rest of the world, but financial markets are immune: Money is moving freely, showing financial markets at least remain as intertwined as ever. In Asia, Australia, Europe and the Americas, yield curves are inverting simultaneously. Investors, fearing that the protectionist nations will be successful against globalisation, are ...

Shouldn’t we have space colonies by now? Instead there are signs that the pace of technological progress is slowing — even as researchers pump out papers at a prolific and increasing rate. With slowing progress in computing power, medicine and agriculture, my Bloomberg Opinion colleague Noah Smith warns that the stakes could not be higher. Surely some of the fault ...

In the highly entertaining Channel 4 drama about the 2016 referendum campaign “Brexit: The Uncivil War,” Benedict Cumberbatch, playing the mastermind of the Vote Leave campaign, is sometimes found crouched in the narrow pantry where he retreats to think. It’s not hard to picture the real Dominic Cummings doing just that. Cummings is no mere political curiosity. Though unelected and ...