WASHINGTON — The story of American capitalism is a contradiction. It has succeeded brilliantly in creating widespread material well-being; and yet, it has not satisfied a popular yearning for a society with less economic insecurity and more “fairness” and equality. Can the two faces of capitalism coexist? Or is one bound to triumph over the […]

WASHINGTON — Competition is dying. That’s the latest complaint against American business. We have too many super-sized firms, excessively large and unnaturally profitable. Dubious mergers, permitted by toothless antitrust laws, boost companies’ market power and squash rivals. The lifeblood of a dynamic economy is competition; its erosion — if true — would be a momentous […]

WASHINGTON — Just when it seemed safe not to worry about the next financial crisis, up pops Italy. “In Italy, lavish plans may propel next crisis,” warned The New York Times. Or, “Italy’s budget rattles financial markets on debt crisis fears,” said Sky News. Exactly how a crisis might emerge isn’t clear. Would Italian interest […]

WASHINGTON — The Economist magazine is marking its 175th birthday with a special issue that looks back on its history and speculates about the future. It is a sobering exercise, highlighting the present breakdown in the world’s political order, a collapse made worse by Donald Trump but not caused by him. When the magazine was […]

WASHINGTON — It has long been an accepted axiom in the United States — and also in many advanced democracies — that the future would be better than the past. People took it for granted that living standards would rise and that life would be more comfortable and stable. Well, kiss that optimism goodbye. A […]

Does America adapt by crisis or consensus? Do we spontaneously change because we see we must, or must we be coerced by events that leave us no choice? — “The Good Life and Its Discontents: The American Dream in the Age of Entitlement” WASHINGTON — That is what I wrote more than 20 years ago. […]

WASHINGTON — The news is better than you might think. A decade after the onset of the 2008-09 global financial crisis — an event usually dated to the bankruptcy of Lehman Bros. — the world economy seems to be repairing itself. To be sure, worries remain. The latest is that overborrowed “emerging-market” countries — Argentina, […]

WASHINGTON — It is wages versus health benefits. With Labor Day behind us, just about everything seems to be going right for typical American workers, with the glaring and puzzling exception of wage stagnation. The unemployment rate is 3.9 percent, near its lowest since 2000. The number of new jobs exceeds the peak in 2008 […]