Elite Capture, Meritocracy and Social Stability: Evidence from the Chinese Imperial Examinations

Governments around the world have spent decades outsourcing their ability to think to expensive consultants, gradually ceding the knowledge and judgment needed to govern effectively. AI may now offer a way to reverse that trend, and Gulf countries are providing an early glimpse of what that may look like.

Recap – Crude surges as Saudi Arabia comes under attack and Iran blockade returns !“#$%&‘()*+,–./0123456789:;<=>?@ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ[\]^_`abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz{|} !“#$%&‘()*+,–./0123456789:;<=>?@ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ[\]^_`abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz{|}

At the beginning of 2013, when “Abenomics” was rolled out in Japan, the yen was significantly overvalued, and looser monetary policy was badly needed. Today, the opposite is true, indicating that interest-rate hikes may well be the right prescription for Japan. TOKYO—In my early years as an economics professor, I was occasionally asked to present…

Credibility is everything for Kevin Warsh. Congressional hearings this week showed how hard it will be for the new Federal Reserve chairman to keep it. Warsh had few, if any, major slip-ups amid intense questioning from Democrats — and supportive commentary from Republicans — in back-to-back days of testimony before the House and Senate on…

Scotiabank’s Shaun Osborne and Eric Theoret note USD/JPY is little changed despite strong verbal intervention from Finance Minister Katayama, who warned of decisive action at any time. Markets remain unimpressed, given repeated rhetoric and limited impact from actual Yen buying. They recall recent data showing a significant sentiment shift toward the Japanese Yen among local…

The Iran war took a turn for the better on the weekend as the US halted strikes after 13 days and Iran said it will maintain a ceasefire so long as the US remains on pause. The developments have raised hopes for peace and that should lead to a negative start in the oil market….