In June 2014, a barrel of Brent crude – the main benchmark of the international oil market – sold for US$115. Today, less than two years later, the price is US$45 – or even less. Not surprisingly, tha ...More
EJ Insight2016-04-25
Five years ago, I stood before several thousand mostly native Japanese speakers and addressed them in English. From now on, I told them, Rakuten – Japan’s largest online marketplace, of which I am the ...More
EJ Insight2016-04-22
We have entered the age of migration. If all the people who live outside the country of their birth united to form their own – a republic of the rootless – it would be the fifth-largest country in the ...More
EJ Insight2016-04-21
On June 23, voters in Britain will decide whether their country will leave the European Union. They alone will cast ballots, but the political and economic impact of a vote to leave (“Brexit”) would b ...More
EJ Insight2016-04-20
Last week’s visit to Egypt by King Salman of Saudi Arabia resulted in 22 agreements, including a US$22 billion oil deal to prop up Egypt’s moribund economy. But the lavish aid came at a price: Egypt h ...More
EJ Insight2016-04-18
Most economists nowadays are pessimistic about the world economy’s growth prospects. The World Bank has yet again downgraded its medium-term projections and economists the world over are warning that ...More
EJ Insight2016-04-18
I wrote at the beginning of January that economic conditions this year were set to be as weak as in 2015, which was the worst year since the global financial crisis erupted in 2008. And, as has happen ...More
EJ Insight2016-04-14
The rise of anti-trade populism in the 2016 US election campaign portends a dangerous retreat from the United States’ role in world affairs. In the name of reducing US inequality, presidential candida ...More
EJ Insight2016-04-08
Conventional wisdom tells us that inequality is an inevitable by-product of strong economic growth. Talent, innovation and entrepreneurship will inevitably capture the lion’s share of the income being ...More
EJ Insight2016-04-07
In February, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called on the National Diet to amend Article 9 of the country’s constitution, which renounces war as a means of settling disputes. Drafted by the United ...More
EJ Insight2016-04-07
The Chinese are losing confidence in their currency. Faced with faltering economic growth, the People’s Bank of China has stepped up efforts to restore stability to the renminbi, using its vast foreig ...More
EJ Insight2016-04-05
One does not need to be particularly good at hearing to decipher the dog whistles being used during this year’s election campaign in the United States. Listen even briefly and you will understand that ...More
EJ Insight2016-04-01
During a recent visit to the United Kingdom, I was struck by the extent to which the question of whether the country should remain in the European Union is dominating the media, boardroom discussions ...More
EJ Insight2016-03-30
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations has long been envisioned as a foundation stone for stability, security and increased prosperity in Asia. But with uncertainty plaguing the political systems ...More
EJ Insight2016-03-30
Globalization is entering a new era, defined not only by cross-border flows of goods and capital but also increasingly by flows of data and information. This shift would seem to favor advanced economi ...More
EJ Insight2016-03-29
China’s recently finalized 13th Five-Year Plan maps out its economic strategy and ambition for the 2016-2020 period. Among its objectives are a doubling of GDP and average rural and urban household in ...More
EJ Insight2016-03-29
Barack Obama’s visit to Cuba is the first by a US president since Calvin Coolidge went in 1928. American investors, expat Cubans, tourists, scholars, and scam artists will follow in Obama’s wake. Norm ...More
EJ Insight2016-03-23
"I protested that it would surely be better for the universities to choose their own constitutional heads. But the universities would not allow me to resign gracefully." Hong Kong's last colonial gove ...More
EJ Insight2016-03-17
Something interesting has emerged in voting patterns on both sides of the Atlantic: Young people are voting in ways that are markedly different from their elders. A great divide appears to have opened ...More
EJ Insight2016-03-17
