It is often posited that population growth must inevitably result in the exhaustion of natural resources, environmental destruction, and even mass starvation. Only last month, a much-discussed study in the journal Nature Sustainability insisted that “Humanity faces the challenge of how to…

Last night, the British people voted to leave the European Union. When Britain joined the European Economic Community in 1973, the EEC was little more than a customs union. Over time, the EEC evolved into a supranational entity that at…

This morning, I saw a TV ad for Lasik eye surgery and that got me wondering, “What’s happened to the price of Lasik since I had my procedure 10 years ago?” We hear a lot about the rising cost of healthcare….

Last month, President Thabo Mbeki was forced to call in the military to help the police restore order in townships across South Africa. A wave of xenophobic violence left 50 dead. Though the mob mostly targeted illegal immigrants from other…

The governing parties in the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia came to power promising to end corruption. The Hungarian opposition, which lost last year’s election by the narrowest of margins, promises to do the same. The collapse of the Polish…

Sir John Cowperthwaite, who died at the age of 90 on January 21, 2006, was Hong Kong’s Financial Secretary between 1961 and 1971. I had the honor of knowing him and learning from him. He was a principled and modest…