It has been 10 years since the last financial crisis, and some have already started to predict that the next one is near. But when it comes, it will likely have its roots in Silicon Valley, not Wall Street.The world of finance looks very different today than it did 10 years ago. In 2007, our biggest concern was “too big to fail.” Wall Street banks had grown to such staggering sizes, and had become so central to the health of the financial system, that no rational government could let them fail.

Viewpoints Sept. 21, 2017

If you only read the headlines -- or, say, my columns -- you might be pessimistic about China’s economy. Recent news has been dominated by a crackdown on capital outflows, worries about rapid debt growth, and efforts to rein in a risky overseas investment binge.Yet ordinary Chinese are highly optimistic: The China Consumer Confidence Index hit 114.6 in July, a level not seen since 1996. This is a logical reaction to some significant improvements in China’s economic outlook. And for the governmen

Viewpoints Sept. 21, 2017

The large-scale Russian military exercise known as Zapad, which started in Belarus on Thursday, is already a propaganda success: It has alarmed Russia’s North Atlantic Treaty Organization neighbors and garnered so much Western media coverage that one might think it was an actual combat operation. But it has also provided an important insight into the fears of the Russian and Belarusian rulers, fears that are not necessarily groundless.To Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite, the exercise is m

Viewpoints Sept. 18, 2017

With China’s decision to phase out gas- and diesel-fueled vehicles, the end is nearer for the internal combustion engine. For their nation to reap the full benefits of this revolution, Chinese leaders will need to continue to be bold.Nations that account for almost 80 percent of the world auto market are now planning or considering plans to end over the next few decades the sale of cars and trucks powered by fossil fuels. Big carmakers, many of whom have responded only tepidly to previous govern

Viewpoints Sept. 18, 2017

With the United Nations imposing yet another round of sanctions on North Korea for its nuclear provocations, it’s worth asking why such penalties have been failing for more than a decade. One reason is that the North Korean economy is improving more than is commonly understood -- and that will make altering its behavior through trade barriers significantly harder.The current approach to sanctions is partly based on the assumption that North Korea’s economy is a socialist nightmare, but that’s no

Viewpoints Sept. 17, 2017

The first street protests against Emmanuel Macron’s proposed labor market reforms have been underwhelming. Several major unions stayed away. Estimates of the turnout varied -- from 223,000, according to fairly reliable police figures, to 500,000, according to the CGT, France’s biggest union, which called for the march. Whatever the real number, French unions are divided, and this helps Macron’s reform efforts.This is unusual. France’s unions are traditionally a united front against pro-market re

Viewpoints Sept. 17, 2017

Since Donald Trump assumed the presidency, European allies have worried he will fulfill his campaign promise and pull the US out of the Iran nuclear deal.Trump’s national security cabinet has a different idea. US officials tell me that a new strategy on the agreement is ready for the president’s approval. Instead of blowing it apart, the plan is to make it stronger.The idea can be summed up as “waive, decertify and fix.” On Sept. 14, Trump is expected to waive the crippling sanctions on Iran’s b

Viewpoints Sept. 11, 2017

There are, as is often noted, no good options for dealing with North Korea. All the more reason for the US not to make the few it does have even worse.That‘s what President Donald Trump is doing by linking the security threat posed by North Korea with his trade agenda. Irked by China’s failure to help the US rein in North Korea‘s nuclear program, and having been stymied in his attempts to retaliate against Chinese steel dumping and intellectual property infringements, he’s vowing an implausible

Viewpoints Sept. 6, 2017