As the economy recovers and fuel prices ease, U.S. airlines are doing better. Prospects for the summer and the rest of 2012 look brighter, particularly because there are fewer carriers after the mergers of the last five years. Yet U.S. airlines face a long-term challenge that should concern industry executives as well as investors. That impediment isn’t wages, fuel prices or a stagnant economy. It’s growth in demand for air travel, which has been anemic at best for more than a decade, even when

Lately I’ve spent a lot of time trying to help scientists explain in simple words what it is they do. Why in the world, you might wonder, should a nonscientific person worry about a thing like that? There are two pretty good reasons.For one thing, before a surgeon slices me open, I’d like him or her to do at least two minutes on what this is all about. What’s the problem? What are the chances this will work? Will I be able to play the violin when I wake up?In a way, scientists are operating on u

Korea, a country poor in natural resources, has turned itself into a major exporting powerhouse during the past six decades. It owes its rapid rags-to-riches transformation to huge export earnings.Korea’s prowess as an exporter, however, is nowhere to be found when it comes to trade with Japan. It has recorded no trade surplus ever since its liberation from Japan’s colonial occupation in 1945.At long last, however, Korea sees a possibility of selling more to Japan than buying from it. This possi

The rumor that former President Roh Moo-hyun kept 2 billion won in borrowed bank accounts is likely to be put to rest, as the prosecutors’ office has made a provisional conclusion that the late president had no such secret fund. The office summoned former National Police Commissioner Cho Hyun-oh on Monday for final questioning on his earlier remarks about the alleged fund.In a 2010 lecture to police officers, Cho, then as chief of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, claimed Roh took his life i

Average life expectancy is one of two statistics commonly used to compare the health-care systems of different nations. (The other is infant mortality.) One of the puzzles about the U.S. system is that we spend far and away the most money per capita for health care, but we rank 50th in average life expectancy ― after Macau, Malta, and Turks and Caicos, among others. We are all familiar with statistics about how much of health-care spending takes place in the last year of life, and with stories a

DUBLIN ― The greatest and most undeniable economic achievement of the euro is to have saved the European economy from fracturing in the economic and financial crisis unleashed by the collapse of Lehman Brothers. We know from the example of the 1930s how tempted national governments are to believe in times of economic crisis that devaluation and protectionism will serve the interests of their electors, and how devastating it is for all involved when national governments succumb to that temptation

The 6th World Ocean Forum opens today in Busan under the theme of “Vision of the Blue Economy and Ocean Governance.” The three-day conference brings together some 3,000 scholars, government officials and ocean industry leaders from Korea and abroad for discussion on sustainable use and development of the oceans. The term “blue economy” has not gained wide currency in Korea yet. It is being introduced to the public through the forum and the ongoing international exposition in Yeosu, whose theme i

Korea’s national debt totaled 774 trillion won as of the end of last year, according to a report submitted to the National Assembly by the Ministry of Strategy and Finance.The figure is about 354 trillion won higher than the 420 trillion won estimated by the ministry last month. The difference was caused by a shift in accounting method. Previously the government calculated national debt based on cash accounting, a method that recognizes expenses at the time when cash is paid. Under this approach

Now that it’s a virtual certainty Mitt Romney will be the Republican presidential nominee, and all the other candidates have likely dozed off with the rest of us during this preliminary series of political skirmishes, it’s time to wipe the sleep from our eyes and get ready for presidential playoffs. What should be included in Romney’s tactical playbook? Here are a few suggestions:― The world isn’t the same as it was when President Obama was elected at the outset of the economic crisis. The whiny