There’s a very deep, important concept in economics that gets way too little attention from the public (and possibly from economists themselves). This is the idea of asymmetric information. The concept has been around for decades, and research about it has won Nobel prizes, but neither the profession nor the public has ever put it at the center of ...

  Leonid Bershidsky Another Tesla has crashed because the driver thought its self-driving technology could actually drive the car. As we read all the stories about magical technology and then use the hyped-up products, we ought to keep in mind that the “magic” hits the market long before they live up to their promise, which in some cases they will ...

  It’s a measure of international investors’ desperation that they are long the Russian ruble and other Russian assets. Even though fears of a major Russian onslaught in Ukraine are likely to prove unfounded, there’s nothing about the Russian economy that can support an asset boom, and it’s only a matter of time before the central bank is compelled to ...

  Bloomberg Checkout lines at most American retailers were noticeably shorter in July as sales stalled following one of the strongest quarters in years, indicating consumer spending will cool in the third quarter. The Commerce Department said purchases totaled $457.7 billion last month, little changed from the $457.9 billion in June. That reflected declining receipts at eight of 13 major ...

  Bloomberg United Continental Holdings Inc. won approval for a new contract with flight attendants and reached an “agreement in principle” with mechanics, setting the stage for labor peace for the first time since the 2010 merger that created the airline. The Association of Flight Attendants voted 53 percent in favour of a five-year pact that raises top pay rates ...

  Bloomberg Airline tycoon David Neeleman is seeing signs of a turnaround in his two main markets after months of struggle, with a massive recession in Brazil and a management shakeup in his European foothold. Neeleman, the founder and chief executive officer of Brazilian carrier Azul Linhas Aereas Brasileiras SA, said a measure of pricing power known as revenue per ...

  Bloomberg Contract talks between Delta Air Lines Inc. and its pilots have been suspended for three weeks by a federal mediator because of a lack of progress. The two sides were notified of the break August 3 by the National Mediation Board, according to a letter posted on the union’s website from John Malone, chairman of the Air Line ...

  Bloomberg With its 40 stories and monthly rents of as much as $25,000, a new Los Angeles apartment tower is reaching Manhattan’s heights. And its amenities may make New Yorkers jealous: a chauffeur-driven Rolls-Royce, in-house Botox and your latte brewed to order before you even ask for it. In a city known for sprawling mansions, the 283-unit Ten Thousand, ...

  Bloomberg Fewer US housing markets are seeing double-digit gains in prices as affordability becomes more of a challenge in some areas. In the second quarter, prices rose 10 percent or more from a year earlier in 25 metropolitan areas, down from 28 markets in the first quarter and 34 in the second quarter of 2015, the National Association of ...

Bloomberg London is famous for its numerous parks and gardens, but even those green spaces aren’t safe from pollution. The air in many city parks surpass legal limits for nitrogen oxide set by the European Union, according to data website Asiopendata.com. The pollutant is largely from vehicle exhaust. The finding’s support Mayor Sadiq Khan’s effort to keep the issue at ...