The greatest public speaker I’ve ever seen was former Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. Standing on a footbridge in 2005, I watched him from above as he gave a speech to a crowd outside a train station as he thundered, cajoled and generally mesmerized the assembled throng. This was all the more impressive given that the topic of his speech was something exceedingly dry and boring. The snap election that was the occasion for Koizumi’s stump speech was focused on advancing a plan to...

A very interesting report on the racial wealth gap just came out. A team of researchers led by economists William Darity Jr. and Darrick Hamilton set out to illustrate the scale of the problem, and to debunk certain myths surrounding the issue. Their results are sobering, but also offer important insight into how the problem might be addressed. The racial wealth disparity between white and black Americans is stark and persistent. Some portion can be explained by differences in education,...

Paul Romer’s departure last week as chief economist of the World Bank isn’t an event about just one man and his former job. His exit was undoubtedly influenced by individual factors, but it also illustrates broad challenges for the Bank as an institution. Romer is, to put it bluntly, a contentious man. A celebrated researcher of economic growth, he has spent years vigorously attacking the ideas of his doctoral adviser, macroeconomist Robert Lucas, and the very field of macroeconomics itself....

When most people think of wealth in the modern economy, they tend to think of stocks and bonds. The word “capital” is often synonymous with corporate ownership. Land wealth, meanwhile, is often relegated to a footnote. Yes, people own houses, but vast fortunes are made in the stock market, while the fates of nations rise and fall with the bond market. At least in the U.S., the bursting of the housing bubble has given some the idea that land appreciates more slowly than other assets. If one...

Back in 2012, I wrote a blog post calling for more private equity in Japan. Japanese companies are held back by a hidebound, inefficient workplace culture. Managers are often gray elder statesmen promoted up through the ranks, instead of dynamic outsiders ready to shake things up. Shareholders are often passive owners, doing little to push companies to raise profitability, while managers build empires instead of focusing on what their companies do best. Private equity has the potential to...