CAMBRIDGE ― This year marks the 100th anniversaries of two distinct institutional innovations in American economic policy: the introduction of the federal income tax and the establishment of the Federal Reserve. They are worth commemorating, if only because we are at risk of forgetting what we have learned since then.Initially, neither the income tax nor the Fed was associated with the explicit concepts of fiscal and monetary policy. Indeed, it wasn’t until after the experience of the 1930s that

Last Friday, the Labor Department reported that 236,000 new jobs were created in February. That’s good news ― but not nearly good enough. Even if this rate were to continue, which seems unlikely, the United States wouldn’t be back to pre-recession levels of unemployment for another four years.American workers remain in a bear market. More than 12 million Americans are still without work. Another 8 million are working part time but would rather be working full time. Many have given up looking. Th

Each human being is different from any other, having a mix of strengths and weaknesses that are unique. In the same way, societies differ from each other, having evolved out of different historical circumstances. For example, in the 19th century, the British Empire was a source of pride in the United Kingdom, being a small island that took control of more than half the planet and converted its resources to its advantage. India’s view on the same empire is different, for it saw its share in the g

WASHINGTON ― The Obama administration’s approach toward North Korea has been described as “strategic patience.” A more accurate evaluation of U.S. policy would be “failure.” The administration has alternately wooed and threatened North Korea for four years, with no discernible effect.Here’s what failure looks like: Since President Obama took office, Pyongyang has conducted several missile tests and two nuclear weapons tests, the most recent on Feb. 12. When the international community has tried

PRINCETON ― Last month, Oxfam, the international aid organization, launched a campaign called “Behind the Brands.” The goal is to assess the transparency of the world’s 10 biggest food and beverage companies concerning how their goods are produced, and to rate their performance on sensitive issues like the treatment of small-scale farmers, sustainable water and land use, climate change, and exploitation of women.Consumers have an ethical responsibility to be aware of how their food is produced,

It is an aphorism in Western society that those who cannot work successfully in their chosen profession often resort to teaching the very same discipline. While this statement does injustice to the numerous teachers who passionately pursue their chosen field of education, it is uncannily accurate in describing the faculty of South Korean law schools. The accuracy of the aphorism stems from the fact that the vast majority of law professors in South Korea were unable to pass the South Korean bar e