The 400th anniversary of the arrival of the first African slaves in what was to become America has reopened an old debate: How important was slavery to the rise of the US as an economic power?One school of thought argues that slavery in general, and cotton in particular, was the driving force behind the development of America’s distinctive brand of capitalism. The New York Times’ ambitious 1619 Project contains a good encapsulation of this argument. But not only has this theory come

Viewpoints Aug. 26, 2019

The world’s biggest tropical forest is back in the headlines, for all the wrong reasons. Leonardo DiCaprio and Madonna are worried. NASA and Amnesty International are tracking the ruin. French President Emmanuel Macron vowed to make the Amazon emergency a priority during the meeting of the G-7 countries in Biarritz and threatened to block the recently signed trade pact between the European Union and South America’s Mercosur countries because of Brazil’s dereliction of duty in t

Viewpoints Aug. 26, 2019

Singapore is buying insurance against the ill-effects of Japanese-style population aging. With some luck, the cover will extend to the city’s property prices, too.The retirement age in the financial center will gradually rise to 65 from 62. Including the five additional years employers are required to provide to older workers willing to continue, albeit at a lower pay, Singaporeans’ sunset years will effectively start at 70. That will make the city home to some of the world’s o

Viewpoints Aug. 21, 2019

Former Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen called US President Donald Trump’s reported idea of buying Greenland, a self-governed Danish territory, an out-of-season April Fools’ Day joke. Trump’s idea may be outlandish -- and impossible -- but that doesn’t mean there’s no benefit in thinking about reviving the market in sovereign territories, which once made America great. Besides acquiring Louisiana from France, Florida from Spain, Alaska from Russia and much

Viewpoints Aug. 18, 2019

In the fable, the tortoise wins the race because the hare lies down to take a nap after bolting into the lead. Slow, dogged persistence triumphs over flighty arrogance. If this were the story of the US-China trade war, it’s easy to see which would be which.Trade wars are good and easy to win, President Donald Trump famously declared on Twitter in March 2018. Since then, US policy toward China has shifted repeatedly as the president bounced from one position to another, alternately offering

Viewpoints Aug. 11, 2019

There are two basic ways to improve the economic situation of the middle and lower classes. First, you can use taxes and government spending to shift income down from the top, either via direct transfers or through services like health care. Second, you can change the laws governing markets, with the goal of producing better outcomes for low- and middle-wage workers. These two approaches are sometimes called redistribution and predistribution.Much of the Democratic presidential contest has focus

Viewpoints Aug. 8, 2019

If there is one thing the world should have learned over the last decade, it is that politics is usually more symbolic than pragmatic. A good policy attached to the wrong symbols can fail, while impractical or even irresponsible leaders can succeed by promoting popular symbols.And yet this is a lesson we are still learning. Take, for example, the policy of the European Central Bank to charge negative interest rates, currently at minus 0.4 percent. Practically speaking, this does not bring big ma

Viewpoints Aug. 7, 2019

Greta Thunberg, the 16-year-old Swedish climate activist, recently announced that she would cross the Atlantic Ocean by boat to attend a United Nations global warming summit in New York. She does not believe in flying in airplanes, for the obvious reason that air travel is a contributor to the carbon emissions problem.I am here with a simple message: Greta, it is OK to fly. Indeed, I encourage you to fly.This isn’t just about Thunberg. I often hear it argued that Al Gore is a hypocrite for

Viewpoints Aug. 6, 2019

Predictably, Iran is reacting badly to the announcement that Europe is planning to send a multinational naval force to protect merchant ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz. “We heard that they intend to send a European fleet to the Persian Gulf which naturally carries a hostile message, is provocative and will increase tensions,” said an Iranian government spokesman last week.In combination, the Europeans’ welcome decision to increase the warship count and the Iranian re

Viewpoints Aug. 5, 2019

Singapore is Asia’s Monte Carlo: a playground for the wealthy. The city-state has two casinos, an annual Formula One race and the third-highest concentration of ultra-rich individuals after Monaco and Geneva. It’s home not just to the “Crazy Rich Asians” caricatured in the eponymous movie, but also, increasingly, Brazilian and British billionaires.Even the affluent in recently turbulent Hong Kong are beginning to find the rival financial center a safer option for their mo

Viewpoints Aug. 5, 2019

July 27 saw a new post-Soviet era record set in Moscow: 1,373 people were taken into custody following a day of protests. Meanwhile, jailed opposition leader Alexey Navalny suffered a strange “allergic reaction” after calling for the demonstrations. These developments were set in motion by something seemingly trivial: An election to Moscow’s city council. One of Russia’s weakest regional legislatures, it can’t even hold the capital’s mayor responsible for doin

Viewpoints Aug. 1, 2019

It’s time for the Democrats to winnow.Twenty presidential candidates were set to debateTuesday and Wednesday. It’s their second round, and the last with so many candidates split over two nights. After this there’s a break until September, and the Democratic National Committee is making it harder to qualify for the next round. At best, maybe a dozen candidates will still be debating in September, and it’s hard to believe that anyone who can’t qualify can recover to w

Viewpoints July 31, 2019

One of the most striking things about Boris Johnson, who became UK prime minister last week, is how precisely he fits the stereotype of the eccentric upper-class Brit. With his elevation, Britain joins several other major nations led by people who embody their national stereotypes, and not the best of them at that; it could be argued, however, that it’s leaders defying such cliches who take their countries forward.In a paean to Johnson published on Quillette, his onetime Oxford schoolmate

Viewpoints July 29, 2019

On Wednesday, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, the likely successor to Chancellor Angela Merkel, took over as Germany’s defense minister. In a speech to parliament outlining her priorities, AKK, as she is known, said she would “hold fast” to the goal of increasing the country’s defense spending to 2 percent of economic output -- but that Germany would aim to attain military spending of 1.5 percent gross domestic product by 2024, when North Atlantic Treaty Organization member s

Viewpoints July 28, 2019