With the unemployment rate at generational lows, companies are increasingly trying to squeeze more economic growth out of their current workforces, rather than hiring. That may prove counterproductive, as shown in labor trends in fields where performance is closely monitored. While more difficult culturally, a better change would be to have more workers laboring for fewer hours each.　 "Do more with less" is the typical corporate response whenever labor is scarce or revenue is pinched. If an empl

One of the most controversial public intellectuals today is an eccentric, primly dressed professor who writes about esoteric mythology, dispenses old-fashioned wisdom such as “clean your room” and champions embattled ideals of manhood.　Jordan Peterson, University of Toronto professor, psychologist, bestselling author and YouTube star, has been hailed by some as a messenger of hope for young men perplexed by cultural upheaval, and denounced by others as a charlatan preaching patriarchy and fascis

Many Republicans felt that Barack Obama and Bill Clinton made no attempt to be president of the whole nation -- and many Democrats believed the same about George W. Bush and Ronald Reagan. They were wrong. Those partisans were projecting their own antipathy towards one or another president onto those presidents.　It’s true that all presidents do sometimes talk directly to only part of the nation, and when they do that they are most likely to speak to their supporters. It’s also true that all pres

Every year millions of Americans receive an asset that, based on past performance, promises to nearly double their lifetime incomes: a bachelor’s degree. Earning one is an achievement to be proud of. For the vast majority of young adults, however, this prize is increasingly out of reach. One answer is to make college more affordable -- by lowering tuition, increasing financial aid for poor students, and reducing the time needed to graduate. Such reforms deserve support. But a different answer is

One reason the US and China can’t figure out how to negotiate on trade may be that the Americans are making two sets of demands that are antithetical to each other, without even realizing it.　 On one side are threatened sanctions targeting the Made in China 2025 program of technology development and those against ZTE. The headline tariffs, sometimes $50 billion, sometimes $150 billion, are aimed at the 2025 plan but more broadly attack a range of Chinese industrial practices, as described in an

US President Donald Trump and his always enabling press secretary Sarah Sanders charged there was a “double standard” when a television network apologized for a racist comment made about a top aide to former President Barack Obama but didn’t apologize to the current president for its critical remarks about him.　This was sheer narcissism. There was no cause for an apology to Trump. But a double standard does exist in the political dialogue and media coverage. Sometimes it works against Trump. But

The novelist Margaret Atwood recently caused a stir when, during an interview with Variety, she said that the 9/11 hijackers “got the idea” to fly planes into buildings from watching “Star Wars.”　Atwood, the author of “The Handmaid’s Tale” and other dystopian classics, did not have the facts right. The 19 hijackers were not inspired by “Star Wars.” Al-Qaida wasn’t re-enacting the destruction of the Death Star.　But the premise of Atwood’s comment was not at all far-fetched. Literature and film ha

Poland is willing to spend $1.5 billion to $2 billion to entice the US to build a permanent military base there, according to a Defense Ministry proposal. The plan offers a strong incentive for the US to consider moving at least some of its forces from Germany, especially since the current deployment makes little military sense.　Placing US bases in Germany after World War II was a response to the need to deter a Soviet attack and prevent Germany from becoming a military threat again. The second

International cooperation is under strain. The voices of protectionism and nationalism are gaining strength, and governments are increasingly pursuing policy goals through unilateral or ad hoc measures, rather than by working together.Even against this backdrop, it remains abundantly clear that effective international cooperation improves economic outcomes and everyday lives. The automatic exchange of financial information based on the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s Comm

Democracy and freedom in East Asia have had a difficult time lately. The democratically elected president of South Korea, Moon Jae-in, was photographed embracing one of the world’s worst despots, Chairman Kim Jong-un of North Korea. Chairman Kim had his brother assassinated with a biological weapon of mass destruction, executed his uncle with an anti-aircraft machine gun, and holds an estimated 120,000 political prisoners in a North Korean gulag. President Moon equated their hastily arranged sec