We’ve seen this movie before. The top economists at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) — the global agency created after World War II to promote stability and growth in the world economy — unveil their latest forecast, which is almost always weaker than its previous forecast. The economists hold out the possibility that world growth will improve if the most ...

Japan’s biggest airline is betting that the future of travel isn’t traveling at all. For the last month, a married couple in Oita Prefecture has been interacting with a robot — called an Avatar — that’s controlled by their daughter hundreds of miles away in Tokyo. Made by ANA Holdings Inc., it looks like a vacuum cleaner with an iPad ...

Being an enormously profitable industry leader doesn’t mean what it used to. Johnson & Johnson and UnitedHealthGroup Inc., the world’s biggest health-care company and health insurer, respectively, reported third-quarter earnings results that should thrill investors. Both managed to beat Wall Street earnings estimates and boosted full-year profit guidance above expectations as they generated a combined $80 billion in sales. You’d ...

After eight difficult years doing whatever it took to support Europe’s economies, Mario Draghi is about to step down as the president of the European Central Bank (ECB). In taking up this challenge, his successor, Christine Lagarde, faces the same underlying problem: The currency union at the center of the European project is unfinished work. From the beginning, the euro ...

Much of the commentary about Michael Kremer, named as one of three winners of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, has justifiably celebrated his pioneering work in studying poverty — even now, many of us believe, the planet’s greatest moral challenge. But an important 2011 Kremer paper, overlooked in the celebration, helps to shed light on another great challenge ...

Starting next year, Singapore will treat packaged sugary drinks such as Coca-Cola the way that other countries treat cigarettes. Advertisements will be banned, and a label attesting to a beverage’s unhealthiness will be mandatory. The goal is to reduce the high rate of sugar consumption and associated health problems — such as diabetes and heart disease — that are now ...

British Conservatives, from the time of Margaret Thatcher, have long admired Singapore’s economic success. Low tax rates, minimal regulation and hyper-modern infrastructure are a magnet for foreign direct investment and keep government coffers overflowing. Could that be Britain after Brexit? The idea titillates Tories and terrifies European Union leaders. But such fears say more about the EU’s own vulnerabilities than ...

Bloomberg A federal judge in Chicago signalled he may let dozens of lawsuits against Boeing Co over the crash of a Lion Air plane be resolved in Indonesia. US District Judge Thomas Durkin said during a status hearing that US Supreme Court and appellate court rulings appear to support the idea of a venue change. “The law is pretty favourable ...

Bloomberg The Italian government is readying 350 million euros ($390 million) in bridge financing for bankrupt airline Alitalia SpA, seeking to keep the carrier flying as it scrambles to find bidders for a last-ditch rescue. The financing, due to cover six months of operations, was finalised in a cabinet decree document seen by Bloomberg. The companies leading the bid to ...

Bloomberg Gulfstream is signalling that it will reveal a new aircraft design on October 21 at a private-jet conference in Las Vegas. “History is made by those who dare,” Gulfstream said in an invitation to the event. “Please join us for the biggest announcement in business aviation.” The corporate-jet unit of General Dynamics Corp is touting the event less than ...