[Leonid Bershidsky] Putin has to find way to raise incomes

The Russian presidential election is such a formality that President Vladimir Putin won’t even be filmed for his own TV spots. One thing, though, Putin is keen to ensure before the election: that Russians’ real disposable incomes as measured by official statistics don’t decline. So the State Statistical Service has made sure of it.On Monday, the government agency reported that in January, the disposable income measure was unchanged from January 2017. To produce that result, it had to disregard a

Feb. 25, 2018

[Noah Smith] Wakanda’s prosperity isn’t so far-fetched for Africa

Moviegoers have been going crazy over “Black Panther,” the new Marvel comic book superhero film. In addition to being a fun romp, the movie holds special emotional significance for many -- not just because of its mostly black cast, but because of its setting, Wakanda. A fictional country located somewhere in Africa, Wakanda avoided colonization by foreign powers, and is now wealthy and highly developed. That image speaks powerfully to many in the global African diaspora, and to many Africans as

Feb. 25, 2018

[Cathy O’Neil] Are you poor? Here’s your virtual hamster cage

What are the limits of inequality? In a world with virtual reality, history might be an unreliable guide.　Time was you could imagine a peasant revolt: If the poorest were starving, they wouldn’t wait around patiently for political change. Riots would disrupt the status quo. If things were really bad, the army might join in. Self-preservation would then compel elites to respond by redistributing wealth, rather than continuing to hoard resources. For a while, society would be more equal.　In the de

Feb. 25, 2018

[Alexander Nazaryan] Will coffee come with cancer warning?

How do you like your cup of cancer in the morning? I take mine with fake sugar and skim milk. Lame, I know. But there’s no accounting for taste in carcinogens. Or, in this case, coffee.　You’ve probably seen the bemused headlines: “Coffee in California may soon come with a spoonful of cancer warnings.” There’s wacky California, doing its liberalism-through-regulation schtick again.　At issue is a lawsuit brought by the Council for Education and Research on Toxics against coffee purveyors such as S

Feb. 23, 2018

[Christopher Koopman, Veronique de Rugy] The US Department of Venture Capital?

The Trump administration released its infrastructure plan this month, hoping to jumpstart more than $1.5 trillion in new investment. Digging into the details, however, it seems that’s not the only thing the administration hopes to spark.　Buried within the 55-page document is an outline for a new $20 billion federal “Transformative Projects” fund intended to boost “bold, innovative, and transformative infrastructure projects that could dramatically improve infrastructure.” In short, the administr

Feb. 22, 2018

[Robin Abcarian] No good vibes in the Trump marriage

America asks a lot of its first couples. Fairly or not, they become national marital role models. We don’t really care if they have separate bedrooms, but we do expect them to demonstrate a certain amount of mutual respect and fondness for each other.　We like it when they seem to be in love, like George and Laura Bush, or Barack and Michelle Obama. Even Bill and Hillary Clinton, for all their woes, seem to take pleasure in each other’s intellects and achievements. We also want them to be devoted

Feb. 22, 2018

[Faye Flam] The machines are taking over space

People concerned about robots taking away jobs might want to consider where it’s already happened. Machines with varying levels of intelligence have quietly taken over the most glamorous, coveted and admirable job in the world -- space exploration.　 It’s not that people can’t still be astronauts -- it’s just there aren’t nearly enough jobs for all the people with the desire and ability to do it. And in terms of gathering data, we can’t catch up to the robots, which have in recent years been plun

Feb. 22, 2018

[Letter to the editor] Shameful lack of teamwork

It was so heart-wrenching to see Noh Seon-yeong so sad and abandoned by her teammates. Park Ji-woo and Kim Bo-reum obviously lack the spirit of what the Olympics is all about. They should be ashamed of themselves and are very poor role models for the future young athletes of South Korea. I hope that South Korea does not condone “bullying” and will hold people, no matter what their status, accountable for their actions.From, Jo Ann NagatoriHonolulu, Hawaii

Feb. 22, 2018

[Noah Smith] Apple’s business model will backfire in self-driving cars

Fans of self-driving cars will have breathed a sigh of relief at news that Uber and Google’s Waymo, two giants in the industry, have settled their intellectual property lawsuit. This removes a huge distraction for companies, and frees them up to focus on their own research.So that’s good. Driverless cars will be an incredible boon to society. They could save tens of thousands of American lives every year, and even more in countries such as India and China, and prevent millions of injuries. They

Feb. 21, 2018

[Dave Hyde] Listen to Douglas students -- they offer America hope

Just listen to them. They’re so remarkable.　They’re Ariana Ortega, at the funeral of her friend Alexander Schatcher, saying, “We’re here to make change. We don’t want another community going through this.”　They’re Christine Yared, writing an op-ed column in the New York Times under the headline, “Don’t let my classmates’ deaths be in vain.”　They’re Emma Gonzalez, saying at a rally, “The people in the government who are voted into power are lying to us. And us kids seem to be the only ones who no

Feb. 21, 2018

[Los Angeles Times] South African democracy survives the sordid presidency of Jacob Zuma

Jacob Zuma stepped down as president of South Africa on Wednesday, leaving a nation weakened by his nine years of rule yet in the hands of the same political party -- the African National Congress -- that has won every election since universal suffrage began in 1994. Zuma’s fate was sealed when the ANC rejected his preferred candidate for party leadership in December in favor of anti-apartheid leader-turned-businessman Cyril Ramaphosa. The job was completed last week when the ANC-dominated Natio

Feb. 21, 2018

[Ferdinando Giugliano] What eurozone can learn from US

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and UK Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Boris Johnson traded barbs over how far the EU intends to push its integration agenda. In a speech Wednesday, the UK foreign secretary accused the EU of seeking to create an “overarching European state.” Not true, Juncker responded: “I am strictly against a European superstate. We are not the United States of America.”　This exchange of views looks baffling to an economist. The question is not what lev

Feb. 20, 2018