America’s population may be shrinking. That’s mostly because of COVID, but it’s also part of longer-term trends in fertility that show no signs of abating. These trends, which are worldwide, have already caused major economic dislocation and are likely to continue to do so. First, some data. From 1936 to 1956, the US fertility rate rose from 1.8 to 3.2. At the peak of the baby boom, the average woman in the US was having at least three children who survived until adulthood. (A

On Monday, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is poised to lift almost all of the remaining restrictions imposed to fight the COVID-19 pandemic in England. Even as the delta variant drives a rebound in infections, the government is determined to get customers back into shops, diners back into bars and restaurants, people out and about. I’m going to skip the celebration. For all of the claims that science would dictate the ebb and flow of restraints on civil liberties, the July 19 cessat

When the Apple II personal computer was shipped in 1977, it came with a detailed manual for upgrading and repairing the device. Parts were readily available from Apple (and, later, other manufacturers), and if Apple owners didn’t want to fix or upgrade at home, they could find plenty of small, competitive repair businesses to do the work for them. That was then. These days, Apple’s products arrive sealed shut, often with proprietary screws. Service manuals, circuit-board schematics

Former President Donald Trump’s lawsuits against Twitter, Google and Facebook for kicking him off their platforms are sure losers, legally speaking. The First Amendment protects people against state action, and tech companies aren’t state actors. Yet Trump’s main argument to the contrary -- that congressional Democrats coerced the platforms into cutting him off by threatening to repeal Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act -- deserves close scrutiny. Wittingly or not,

While the US Congress and White House wrangle over spending on infrastructure and social programs, the most pressing problem for the US remains little acknowledged and unaddressed: Tens of millions of people work full-time and can’t afford food, clothes, housing, health care and a proper education for their children. Their struggle is sowing division, fanning political and social tensions and raising doubts in many Americans’ minds about the merits of capitalism and democracy. It d

While US President Joe Biden took the center stage at his first NATO summit last month and German Chancellor Angela Merkel got some of the limelight for her last such appearance, a little-noticed piece of theater was playing out in the wings: The alliance‘s most antagonistic members were making nice. Meeting in Brussels, France’s Emmanuel Macron and Turkey‘s Recep Tayyip Erdogan agreed to a “verbal ceasefire” during what French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian de

Individualism is good, collectivism is bad. That’s what I first concluded as a teenager after reading Friedrich Hayek’s seminal treatise, “The Road to Serfdom.” Every life experience since then has confirmed my hunch. That makes it all the more irritating when opponents of individualism, out of ignorance or bad faith, keep distorting what it is. A particularly misleading charge is that individualism should somehow be tantamount to selfishness and egoism. Individualists t

China has now delivered more than 1 billion vaccine doses, hitting that COVID-19 milestone the same weekend that Brazil passed one of its own: more than 500,000 deaths. Daily case numbers remain worryingly high, and those hospitalized and dying include larger numbers of young people. India, meanwhile, is at risk of a third wave of infections sooner than predicted, after a devastating second. The end of the pandemic is almost here. But the tail is long and -- thanks to shortsighted global and na

The US has traditionally been a nation of optimists about technology. But just when the world seems poised for a technologically-driven productivity boom, Americans have acquired a dour outlook about the march of progress. Growing fears that not everyone will share in the benefits is leading to resistance that threatens to hold the nation back. Recapturing the bold attitudes of yesteryear will require more than rhetoric -- it’ll require sweeping policy changes. You’d think now would

Rising real estate prices are stoking fears that homeownership, long considered a core component of the American dream, is slipping out of reach for low- and moderate-income Americans. That may be so -- but a nation of renters is not something to fear. In fact, it’s the opposite. The numbers paint a stark picture. After peaking at 69 percent in 2004, the homeownership rate fell every year until 2016, when it was 64.3 percent, its lowest level since the Census Bureau started keeping track

The world is gearing up for a titanic battle over semiconductors. To secure its position in this most strategic of all industries, the US will have to weigh its strategy carefully and learn the lessons of the past. The right balance of support for both production and innovation will distinguish the winners. Of all modern industries, semiconductors -- i.e., computer chips -- are the most jealously guarded and sought-after by national governments, for many reasons. First of all, they‘re mil

Lots of companies have lately been victimized by ransomware hackers -- cybercriminals who infiltrate and encrypt IT systems, then demand money to unlock them. In addition to the much-publicized attack on Colonial Pipeline, recent victims have included one of the biggest US meat packers and the Irish health care system. Cyber pirates might have derailed my family’s annual Martha’s Vineyard vacation by targeting the Steamship Authority -- which controls ferry service to the Island -- a

Labeling misinformation online is doing more harm than good. The possibility that COVID-19 came from a lab accident is just the latest example. Social media companies tried to suppress any discussion of it for months. But why? There’s no strong evidence against it, and evidence for other theories is still inconclusive. Pathogens have escaped from labs many times, and people have died as a result. Social media fact-checkers don’t have any special knowledge or ability to sort fact fr

Even if we never learn whether COVID-19 escaped from a lab or jumped to humans from animals, the public is entitled to a closer look at what‘s going on in virology labs. Some scientists worry that laboratory scientists are getting too little oversight on projects that could potentially start pandemics. Others worry about the global proliferation of labs that work with dangerous viruses and other pathogens. The journal Nature accused politicians and the press of stirring up a “divis

Everybody loves the Olympic Games. Except when you’re the host nation in the middle of a pandemic. Unfortunately for Japan’s government, it’s not really up to them to decide whether the Games of the 32nd Olympiad get canceled. While Tokyo could theoretically pull the plug right now -- two months from the rescheduled start date -- the city is contractually obliged to go ahead. With COVID-19 cases once again surging, parts of the nation (including Tokyo) under a state of emergen

Investors have demanded that company bosses do more than just condemn racism, shaming them into releasing previously unseen data on workforce diversity. It’s a step forward, but it’s too soon to say this spells real progress toward equality. Companies need to lay out what they plan to do with the information -- or face more heat. In the wake of the police killing of George Floyd, investors dialed up pressure on the corporate sector to act. Among the most high-profile campaigns was N

As President Joe Biden and the Republicans haggle over the definition of infrastructure, some in the latter camp have raised the possibility of using public-private partnerships to pay for new projects. The government would get new roads and bridges funded by private companies, which would then collect a share of the “user fees” charged to people who drive on them. But the proliferation of toll roads is already doing damage to the national freeway system. You can question whether it

There are more than 10 effective COVID-19 vaccines in use around the world, so it‘s easy to forget those still in development. That’s a mistake. These candidates may be taking longer to arrive, but they‘re essential to the pandemic fight. Most of the world is still unvaccinated, keeping the virus threat alive, and wherever it is able to spread unchecked there’s a risk of variants cropping up that can evade the protection offered by the current crop of shots. Governments n

Singapore plans to vaccinate children under 16 years old after a recent rise of Covid-19 infections among students in the island state, according to Education Minister Chan Chun Sing. The ministries of education and health are working out plans for the “vaccination of our students,” Chan wrote on his Facebook page. “Once the approval for use is granted, we will roll out vaccinations to those below 16.” The ministry ordered home learning for seven primary schools for th

China’s slowest population growth in decades may be felt more acutely beyond its borders than within them. The economy will keep humming and incomes can continue to climb, albeit at a slower rate. The rest of us, however, will need to adjust to a persistently slacker pace of global expansion and the prospective ebbing of deflationary pressure. The caricature of China as an unlimited supplier of cheap labor holding down the cost of everything from dishwashers to dolls should be consigned