How China manages its currency is likely to be the global economic story of 2017. Despite the government’s best efforts, capital continues to leave the country at a brisk pace, with a balance-of-payments deficit through the third quarter of $469 billion. Attempts to arrest this flow probably won’t work. But they may well create new risks. Capital outflows began …

  Last month’s Circles drama highlights the struggle Jack Ma’s empire faces in expanding its financial services business. To recap, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and its affiliate Zhejiang Ant Small & Micro Financial Services Group Co. added social features to Alipay’s smartphone app to help promote engagement. In theory, more engagement should lead to greater use of its marquee function, …

  There’s new data out on the taxes that people and corporations in the world’s affluent nations paid in 2015. The US total tax burden of 26.4 percent of gross domestic product (that includes state and local taxes) once again lands us pretty far down in the rankings. Of the 35 members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, …