A financial adviser I know, Frank Astorino, says nothing destroys wealth like divorce. That’s a warning China and the US should keep in mind as they intensify their trade war. If they continue down the road they’re on, an economic separation between the world’s two-largest economies is a very real possibility. And the costs would likely exceed any marital spat in history.　Sure, there’s always a chance that Donald Trump and Xi Jinping could renew their friendship and hash out a deal. But if they

Viewpoints Aug. 12, 2018

Monetary medicine in Japan is keeping the economy alive, but with nasty side effects. The search for a new cure should begin with a simple question: What if the Bank of Japan were to throw out its money-printing presses?　Instead of pushing more yen into an economy that has already absorbed a threefold increase in cheap central-bank funds in five years without any sign of the much-awaited 2 percent inflation, maybe it’s time to abolish cash altogether.　While previous BOJ chiefs were rightly blame

Viewpoints Aug. 12, 2018

In light of the recent demonstrations in Iranian cities, one might think the Donald Trump administration would want to link Monday’s re-implementation of sanctions to the struggles of Iran’s freedom movement. 　After all, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo last month detailed the corruption of the current regime in Tehran in a speech at the Reagan Library in California. In May, the Treasury Department implemented sanctions against Evin Prison, the dungeon where many demonstrators and activists end up

Viewpoints Aug. 9, 2018

Almost three decades ago, the Texan oilman T. Boone Pickens attempted to charge into a Japanese boardroom. He had accumulated around one-third of the company -- worth almost $1 billion at the time -- yet a seat at the table eluded him. There was nothing to force the directors to accept him.　Japan Inc. has come a long way since Pickens took on Koito Manufacturing, a supplier of parts to Toyota Motor. Backed by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s economic revival plan and corporate governance reforms, act

Viewpoints Aug. 6, 2018

Let’s make a deal: I’ll sell you a can of soda for a dollar.Actually, scratch that, $2. Or maybe I’ll give it to you for free.　On second thoughts, you can have a chocolate bar for $2. But you have to give me a liter of soda in return.　It’s not hard to see from the real world why we don’t like to deal with unpredictable negotiators. When a counterparty’s objectives are unclear and her gambits contradictory, we tend to give up on her.So what’s going on with the US government’s attempts to improve

Viewpoints Aug. 2, 2018

Donald Trump may well be the best thing that’s happened to Southeast Asia’s humble electronics industry in quite a while.Relatively small, and frankly not as sexy as their North Asian cousins, makers of components and devices with factories dotted around the region may get some time in the spotlight thanks to the US administration’s decision last month to levy an additional 25 percent import tax on 818 separate items from China.　The assembly of name-brand gadgets like Apple’s iPhones tends to gr

Viewpoints Aug. 1, 2018

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

Viewpoints July 30, 2018

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

Viewpoints July 29, 2018

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

Viewpoints July 26, 2018

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

Viewpoints July 26, 2018

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

Viewpoints July 26, 2018