WASHINGTON ― After months of war fever over Ukraine, perhaps the biggest surprise is that citizens there will be voting to choose a new government in elections that observers predict will be free and fair in most areas. This electoral pathway for Ukraine seemed unlikely a few weeks ago, given Russian President Vladimir Putin’s annexation of Crimea and his covert campaign to destabilize the Russian-speaking areas of eastern Ukraine. There were dire warnings of a new Cold War, and even of a ground

STANFORD, California ― Like many others, I first met the Nobel laureate economist Gary Becker, who died earlier this month, by reading his seminal works “Human Capital and The Economics of Discrimination.” Several dozen outstanding economists have won the Nobel Prize in Economics since Sweden’s central bank began awarding it in 1969, but Becker is among the handful who have fundamentally transformed how economists (and social scientists more generally) think about a wide array of important econo

A short visit to Jeonju over the weekend revealed much about urban policy in Korea today. Jeonju has long been famous for food and traditional arts. In recent years, the revitalized hanok neighborhood has become one of the most popular tourist destinations in Korea. The city has also become known for the Jeonju International Film Festival and the Jeonju International Sori Festival.On Saturday afternoon, the hanok neighborhood of traditional-style Korean houses, or “Hanok Village,” as it is offic

In the eyes of foreigners, Americans look like very affectionate people who are not reluctant to express their affection freely. Indeed, Americans do not seem to refrain from hugging and kissing in public or habitually whispering “I love you” in their spouse’s ears. These days, many Koreans, too, have become Americanized and thus tend to say “I love you” to their loved ones frequently. In the past, however, most Koreans could not pronounce the phrase without blushing, even to thier husbands and

NEW HAVEN, Connecticut ― Thomas Piketty’s impressive and much-discussed book “Capital in the Twenty-First Century” has brought considerable attention to the problem of rising economic inequality. But it is not strong on solutions. As Piketty admits, his proposal ― a progressive global tax on capital (or wealth) ― “would require a very high and no doubt unrealistic level of international cooperation.”We should not be focusing on quick solutions. The really important concern for policymakers every

NEW YORK ― With escalating violence in southern and eastern Ukraine and no solution in sight, the Ukraine crisis has become the world’s most turbulent geopolitical conflict since that triggered by the terrorist attacks against the United States in 2001. The U.S.-led sanctions strategy will neither deescalate the tensions between the West and Russia nor bolster the imperiled pro-Western Ukrainian government. But, even with tightening sanctions against Russia and growing violence in Ukraine, there