After his victory last week in an internal vote to lead Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe looks set to remain in office till 2021 — longer than any Japanese political leader since the days of the samurai. He has a lot still to do in this third and last term, and shouldn’t waste his remaining time ...

It worked in the 1990s: The US economy continued to grow strongly for several years even after it showed signs of capacity constraints and low unemployment. The question is whether that can happen again, or whether this cycle is destined to end in a bout of inflation that prompts the Federal Reserve to raise rates and end the party. The ...

There’s a flaw in the forecast for an ever-rising Asia: a vast gap in the financial system. Big slices of the population don’t have a bank account. It’s hard to see the region reaching its full potential, let alone surpassing the US as an economic superpower, until this bridge is crossed. An economy without broad use of banks cannot grow ...