Democracy everywhere is facing serious challenges. The United States is gripped by the most bizarre presidential primary campaign in living memory, with populist outsiders threatening to topple establ ...More
EJ Insight2016-05-10
In February in Addis Ababa, African health ministers signed a widely celebrated declaration of their commitment to keeping immunization at the forefront of efforts to save the continent’s children fro ...More
EJ Insight2016-05-06
"In this world, there are only two tragedies,” Oscar Wilde once wrote. “One is not getting what one wants, and the other is getting it.” As the US Federal Reserve inches closer to achieving its target ...More
EJ Insight2016-05-05
One of the most prominent questions concerning the global economy today is whether monetary policy is approaching the limit of its effectiveness. Inflation remains well below target in the eurozone an ...More
EJ Insight2016-05-03
The International Monetary Fund and others have recently revised downward their forecasts for global growth -- yet again. Little wonder: The world economy has few bright spots and many that are dimmin ...More
EJ Insight2016-05-03
From the strict perspective of some investors, astute financial management by a company to bolster its share price is a good thing. By this narrow logic, when it comes to the pharmaceutical industry, ...More
EJ Insight2016-04-29
The diplomats have done their job, concluding the Paris climate agreement in December. And political leaders gathered last week at the United Nations to sign the new accord. But implementation is sure ...More
EJ Insight2016-04-28
Much of the world’s attention is understandably focused on developments in the Middle East, Europe and Asia. These regions represent the vast majority of global population and wealth, their geopolitic ...More
EJ Insight2016-04-28
In Britain these days, one can’t avoid hearing and seeing more and more about the wretched campaign to spit in the face of the world (and of reality) and quit the European Union. Visiting the United S ...More
EJ Insight2016-04-27
Once again, Greece is at an inflection point. With its cash balances severely stressed, it seems unlikely to be able to pay the cascading debt payments that are falling due over the next few months. S ...More
EJ Insight2016-04-25
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
