[Trent Bax] Juvenile delinquency -- evidence over emotion

The latest public uproar over juvenile delinquency has been fueled by two terrible cases, both involving girls (incidentally, the far less delinquent gender). Firstly, four middle school students in Busan brutally beat a 14-year-old girl. Publication of video footage of the attack along with a photo of the blood-soaked victim and the main perpetrator’s dismissive text messages caused this incident to go viral. Then an 18-year-old girl who had abducted, murdered and mutilated an 8-year-old girl i

Oct. 16, 2017

[Justin Fox] 65 is the new 55. And vice versa.

The civilian prime-working-age population in the US has barely budged over the past decade.The Wall Street Journal‘s Lev Borodovsky, taking notice of this phenomenon Wednesday, said it is making it “increasingly challenging to boost the speed of economic expansion.” But “prime age” isn’t necessarily what it used to be in the workplace, and this nation certainly has no shortage of 55-plussers.People 55 and older are less likely to be in the labor force than those aged 25 through 54 -- that‘s why

Oct. 16, 2017

[Nathaniel Bullard] Utilities accept the new, but will they embrace it?

Texas power generator Luminant announced Friday that it will close two coal-fired power plants in early 2018. Last week, it said it would close another coal plant that is more than 40 years old -- an announcement that came days before the clearly telegraphed effort to roll back the Clean Power Plan. The three plants join the ranks of more than 200 plants that have closed in the past decade due to age, a losing battle against low-cost natural gas and renewable energy, low or negative demand growt

Oct. 16, 2017

[Ana Palacio] International mediation not answer in Catalonia

On the evening of Oct. 10, Catalonia’s separatist president, Carles Puigdemont, stood before the regional parliament to deliver what was widely expected to be a unilateral declaration of independence. But he ended up offering a fudge. Despite asserting “the mandate that Catalonia become an independent state in the form of a republic,” he proposed “suspending the effects of the declaration of independence to undertake talks in the coming weeks.”The performance left more questions than answers, bu

Oct. 15, 2017

[Elaine Ou] Your computer might be working for currency miners

If you thought internet ads were annoying, consider this: The websites you visit could now be harnessing your computer to do cryptocurrency mining.Digital currencies demand a lot of computing power. To complete each block of transactions, computer owners around the world must race to solve an extremely difficult cryptographic puzzle, with the winner getting paid in the relevant cryptocurrency. To increase their chances, such “miners” invest vast amounts in processing capacity -- building server

Oct. 15, 2017

[Justin Fendos] Why Korean students lack creativity

One of the catchphrases in Korean education these last few years has been “creativity.” A number of government initiatives have been specifically designed to boost the creativity of students, both in primary and secondary education. A number of universities, including my own, have even built new buildings with names like “creativity center” or “institution for creative education.” Not that the name of a building can deliver results on its own, but it does show how important the issue is.Korea’s

Oct. 15, 2017

[Letter to the editor] Luis Suarez-Villa

History of US military miscalculationThe hacking of the US-South Korea Military Operations Plan 5015 -- and US President Donald Trump’s recent comments on war as the only apparent solution for the current tensions with North Korea -- brings to mind US military strategy during the Vietnam War. In December 1972, in what was anticipated to be a simple and successful operation, the Nixon administration sent dozens of B-52 bombers to obliterate Hanoi and decapitate the North Vietnamese leadership. Th

Oct. 15, 2017

[Tyler Cowen] Cities and suburbs are becoming pretty similar

A few decades ago the choice for most people was pretty simple: either the city or the suburbs. The city was exciting but a little dangerous. The suburbs were comfortable but bland. These days our suburbs and cities are converging, which is narrowing our lifestyle choices.Consider the Washington area. The Rosslyn, Clarendon and Ballston parts of Arlington, Virginia -- which are right next to the District of Columbia -- used to be considered suburban, and are still formally classified as such. Ye

Oct. 13, 2017

[Michael Schuman] Can Communists be good capitalists?

As it heads into a major leadership transition, China is attempting a strange breed of corporate reform. Rather than privatizing state-owned enterprises outright, the government is testing whether selling minority stakes to private investors may improve their performance. Meanwhile, state companies are busy revising their governing laws to give the Communist Party more control over management. The goals of these clauses include ensuring that apparatchiks hold greater sway over key corporate deci

Oct. 12, 2017

[Timothy O’Brien] Trump a world-leading gladiator in IQ smackdown

President Donald Trump has challenged Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to a duel, suggesting that he and his beleaguered adviser match scores from their respective IQ tests to see who’s smarter.To be fair to the president, Tillerson has reportedly called Trump a “moron.” Even away from Trumplandia, that’s a fighting word.“I think it’s fake news, but if he did that, I guess we’ll have to compare IQ tests,” Trump said of Tillerson in an interview that Forbes published Tuesday. “And I can tell you

Oct. 12, 2017

[Christopher Balding] Don’t expect China to change

For all the mystery surrounding who will rise and fall at next week’s big leadership conclave in China, only one question really matters to investors: Will President Xi Jinping, having sidelined any obvious opposition, attack head-on the enormous imbalances and risks building inside the Chinese economy?Optimists argue that he will. The Economist Intelligence Unit recently wrote, “Xi will find his ability to implement policy substantially reinforced by newly strengthened majorities. After the Par

Oct. 11, 2017

[Dakota L. Wood] US military in a death spiral

The more Americans hear about growing security threats worldwide, the more grateful they must feel to have a world-class military. But few know the disturbing truth: Our military, quite frankly, is in a death spiral.It’s too small for its workload, underfunded to repair and replace equipment that is rapidly wearing out, and ill-served by obsolescent infrastructure at its ports, bases, and airfields. And it’s increasingly unprepared for the rigors of a major conventional conflict, the likes of wh

Oct. 11, 2017