Britain can’t afford to quit the European Union

If it votes to leave the European Union in next month’s referendum, Britain will bear a substantial and lasting economic cost: That’s the conclusion of several authoritative new studies. Campaigners for exit must either refute these findings or say why they don’t matter. Their efforts up to now have fallen far short.The Vote Leave campaign has cast the referendum mainly as a decision about sovereignty, democracy and immigration -- legitimate concerns. But the economic consequences can’t be waved

May 4, 2016

[Francis Wilkinson] Warren Buffett falls into confidence trap

Warren Buffett, chairman and chief executive of Berkshire Hathaway, is a confident man. Having built one of the greatest businesses in history, and having become one of the world’s richest men in the process, he sees great prosperity in the rearview mirror, and more of the same ahead.Speaking Saturday at his company’s annual shareholders meeting in Omaha, Buffett said, “Twenty years from now, there’ll be far more output per capita in the United States in real terms than there is now. In 50 years

May 4, 2016

[Kim Haeng-jung] A family month present

On April 16, something unusual happened at our farmhouse, marking a milestone in our rural life since we started farming and gardening about 10 years ago. My wife and I held an unveiling ceremony of stone toads in commemoration of a short fairy tale I wrote.The ceremony was attended by our grandkids and their parents. Prior to the unveiling, I briefly mentioned that the love of my grandkids motivated this writing, and thanked them. And I said that it was only a beginning and that there would be

May 3, 2016

Mexico’s faltering fight against corruption

Corruption in Mexico is not just a legal and moral problem. It is an economic one. The annual cost amounts to 5 percent of gross domestic product, according to one report, which also found that almost half of business owners said officials have sought money in exchange for contracts or business opportunities. Worse, those who are caught have rarely been punished: Only 1.5 percent of corruption cases lodged in Mexico end in conviction. In Singapore, in contrast, the share is 80 percent. In fact,

May 3, 2016

[Thitinan Pongsudhirak] A role reversal for Myanmar and Thailand

Rarely do next-door neighbors move as rapidly in opposite political directions as Thailand and Myanmar have in recent years. After more than a half-century of military dictatorship, Myanmar has restored democratic rule, and now has a civilian-led government led by the former political prisoner Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy. Thailand, by contrast, has twice reverted from popular rule to military dictatorship in the past decade, owing to coups in 2006 and 2014. What accoun

May 3, 2016

[Albert R. Hunt] Candidates’ claims of American decline are hype

As in any U.S. national election without an incumbent president, this race’s candidates are painting an ugly picture: The country is “going to hell,” bluntly asserts the Republican front-runner, Donald Trump.One of his Democratic challengers, Sen. Bernie Sanders, isn‘t much kinder, and even Hillary Clinton is starting to focus more on challenges than successes.To many voters the message is: The economy is terrible, the social fabric is disintegrating and America is losing respect around the worl

May 3, 2016

[Mohamed A. El-Erian] Bank of Japan finds it can’t win

Pity the Bank of Japan. Disappointed by the central bank’s decision at Thursday’s policy meeting to delay further stimulus measures, markets pushed the yen higher, making exports less competitive, and drove share prices lower, which damped animal spirits. This makes the prospects for a recovery of Japanese growth even dimmer.　Yet these reactions are similar to those of a few weeks ago, when the central bank surprised markets with its activism, taking policy rates into nominal negative territory.

May 2, 2016

[Jeffrey D. Sachs] Shift to clean energy calls for new politics

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 surely the tough part. Governments need a new approach to an issue that is highly complex, long term, and global in scale.At its core, the climate challenge is an energy challenge. About 80 percent of the world’s primary energy comes from carbon-based sources: coal, oil, and gas. When burned, they emit

May 2, 2016

[Mark Buchanan] Why we fear spiders more than climate change

People tend to fear spiders and snakes more than they do electrical sockets or fireworks, even though the latter present a far greater danger. This might help explain why humans have such a hard time seeing the threat of climate change.　Evolutionary psychologists argue that much of human behavior can be understood only by studying our ancient ancestors. Through 99 percent of human history, they lived in small groups of hunter-gatherers, with brains evolved to handle specific tasks, such as recog

May 2, 2016

[Shamshad Akhtar] Increasing Productivity Key to Asia and the Pacific

The Asia-Pacific region’s successful achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development needs to be driven by broad-based productivity gains and rebalancing of economies toward domestic and regional demand. This is the main message of the Economic and Social Survey of Asia and the Pacific 2016, published last week by the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific. Such a strategy will not only underpin the revival of robust and resilient economic growth, but also improve the

May 1, 2016

A second life in space for Cold War nukes

In the tradition of turning swords into plowshares, it’s an appealing idea: converting the U.S.’ ballistic missiles into rockets for civilian space transport. It’s also a sensible one -- and Congress should change the law to make it happen.For two decades, on national security grounds, Congress has barred the sales of parts of decommissioned intercontinental ballistic missiles such as the Minuteman III. The collapse of the Soviet Union and ensuing arms treaties resulted in hundreds of ICBMs bein

May 1, 2016

[David Ignatius] Slow and shaky takeoff for Mosul offensive

From a sandbagged hilltop outpost here, you can see the front line of the Islamic State group in the muddy brown houses of Al-Nasr, a village on the next ridgeline, about a mile and a half west. The Iraqi army was supposed to have captured this target a month ago. But the offensive was repelled. The battle for Mosul, about 56 kilometers north, must begin with the seizure of such Islamic State group positions along the Tigris River. But the Iraqi army isn’t ready yet to take a small, well-fortifi

May 1, 2016

[Des Browne, Daryl G. Kimball, Kairat Umarov] More work needed to ban nuclear bomb tests

The Nuclear Security Summit process, which concluded earlier this month in Washington, D.C., shows what can be achieved when political leaders come together to concentrate on a global problem. The six-year initiative, focused on preventing nuclear terrorism, produced important outcomes on eliminating, minimizing, and securing dangerous nuclear and radiological materials.Unfortunately, however, the nuclear threat is still far from being neutralized. The dangers posed by terrorist groups are growi

April 29, 2016