Sri Lanka has a habit of selling off its assets when times are tough. And it doesn’t get much tougher than this. The tiny island nation is in default and in desperate need of $4 billion to pay for food, fuel and fertiliser to stave off a deeper crisis. The newly appointed prime minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe — his sixth time ...

At first glance, the acute shortage of baby formula seems like an advertisement for breast-feeding. If only women did what came naturally, the thinking might go, maybe there wouldn’t be a problem at all. This argument would draw on evidence that multinational corporations like Nestle did much to persuade women to give up breast-feeding in favour of formula. Their 20th-century ...

  Cryptocurrencies are the exact opposite of a prudent investment: They’re volatile, have little practical use beyond speculation and crime, often get lost or stolen, and lack the real-world cash flows that underpin the values of stocks and bonds. It should thus go without saying that they have no place in a retirement savings plan. Unfortunately, it appears to require ...