[Robert J. Fouser] Future direction of social media

This summer, I decided to cut back on my use of social media. I limit my use to a few 10-minute checks a day. That gives me time to wish people happy birthday and interact with posts about important life events. It leaves little time for my own posts and photos. The break has helped me focus on people in the real world and it has given me a chance to think about the meaning of social media at the end of the second decade of the 21st century.Since the rise of mass consumption in the mid-20th cent

July 31, 2018

[Anjani Trivedi] Fathers, your time off is past its due date

It’s 2018 and much of the world is still trying to justify why fathers matter.　The US doesn’t federally mandate parental leave of any sort, bracketing it with countries such as Suriname and Papua New Guinea. Large swaths of Asia including India and China have policies only for maternity leave. New Zealand is the sole country with a primary caregiver policy that applies to mothers and fathers.　Ironically, even when time-off policies for fathers are in place, they may mean little in practice. Japa

July 30, 2018

[Leonid Bershidsky] Twitter and Facebook need bigger cleanup

The plunge of Facebook and Twitter shares in the last two days shows that both companies are hostages to investors’ unrealistic perceptions of how quickly they should grow even as they purge bots and trolls. Moving to eliminate all fake and malicious accounts, as well as making new ones very hard to register, would be scary given these inflated expectations.　Facebook fell 19 percent Thursday after its quarterly earnings announcement, in part because it missed revenue expectations, but also becau

July 29, 2018

[Conor Sen] The future of the US looks a lot like Chicago

Of all America’s major cities, Chicago may be unique. The rest of the nation -- particularly newer, faster-growing cities -- should pay close attention to its evolution, because the future of America looks a lot like Chicago.　While Chicago has a vibrant core, it’s not as dauntingly expensive as New York or San Francisco. Chicago lacks the population growth that Sun Belt metros like Houston and Atlanta have, but it is no symbol of Rust Belt decline like Detroit has been. How did it achieve this r

July 26, 2018

[Noah Smith] Lesser-known universities do more with research money

Productivity growth in developed countries has been slowing down, threatening to cause a long-term stagnation in living standards. One contributing factor could be that it’s getting more expensive to find new scientific and technological ideas. Economists Nicholas Bloom, Charles I. Jones, John Van Reenen and Michael Webb recently tried to measure innovation in various fields, and found that more and more researchers were needed to produce the same pace of discovery.　That’s an ominous trend. Gove

July 26, 2018

[Timothy L. O’Brien] The Trump brand is hurting. Just ask Ivanka.

The “aize slingback kitten heels” ($125) and the “starburst dress” ($128) wont be available much longer. The “ketty sandals” ($99), the “lapis stud earrings” ($25) and the discounted ($109) “classic blazer” will also go to the fashion graveyard. That’s because Ivanka Trump has decided to shutter her namesake apparel and accessories business, about 18 months after her father’s inauguration made her an influential White House figure and globetrotting quasi-diplomat.　The New York Post and the Wall

July 26, 2018

[Leonid Bershidsky] Iran faces consequences of snubbing Trump

Trump’s latest tweet telling Iran it would suffer “consequences the likes of which few throughout history have ever suffered before” is an almost-verbatim rehash of his August 2017 threat to North Korea; then, Trump promised “fire, fury and frankly power, the likes of which this world has never seen before.” It’s about as serious this time around, but there’s more bad blood behind Trump’s deployment of all caps against Iran.　Trump’s tweet is a response to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s speec

July 25, 2018

[Shannon O’Neil] Latin America looks past US on trade

This weekend a beleaguered Argentina hosted the G-20 finance ministers to work out the agenda for their leaders’ December conclave in Buenos Aires. While officially focused on infrastructure and the future of work, these more technical discussions were overshadowed by US tariff threats and President Donald Trump’s belligerence toward allies and the World Trade Organization.　The US attack on the global trading system comes as Latin America is finally embracing free trade. In a resurgence of marke

July 25, 2018

[Noah Smith] The poor don’t deserve toxic waste dumps in backyards

The American left has a lot on its plate -- universal health care, climate change, stagnant wages, wealth inequality and more. But there’s one more issue that needs to be added to the list: environmental justice. Poor Americans, especially minorities, are exposed to too many toxins and environmental hazards, destroying their health and harming their opportunities for advancement.　One of the worst hazards is lead. There is now good evidence that banning leaded gasoline contributed to significant

July 25, 2018

[Ann Friedman] Kylie Jenner didn’t build that

When Forbes put Kylie Jenner on the cover of its latest issue and declared her one of the “60 richest self-made women,” the magazine seemed to think it was telling a simple, inspiring tale: About how the youngest child of America’s reality TV royal family, the Kardashians, became an almost-billionaire cosmetics mogul before the age of 21. But the meaning of the story was in the politics of the beholder.　There are two basic ways to read the cover. The first is that there are more bootstrapping en

July 24, 2018

[Ferdinando Giugliano] Donald Trump is pushing Europe into Asia’s embrace

With friends like these, it’s wise to look around for some new ones.　Donald Trump has called the EU a “foe” and advised British Prime Minister Theresa May to sue the rest of the bloc over Brexit. The US president has already levied tariffs on European steel, and is threatening to do the same on lots of other products, including cars. So it’s hardly a surprise that Europe’s leaders are turning eastward in search of new allies.　Last week, the EU signed a landmark trade deal with Japan, known as JE

July 24, 2018

[Francis Wilkinson] The accused Russian agent as Trump Republican

Here are some things we know about Maria Butina. She is a 29-year-old white woman with an enthusiasm for guns who has attended multiple National Rifle Association events, socialized with NRA leaders and repeated NRA talking points.She attended Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s 2015 announcement seeking the Republican nomination for president, and later supported Republican Donald Trump for president. She attended the National Prayer Breakfast, a Republican gathering place, in Washington this year.　B

July 24, 2018