Society

San Francisco vaping ban shows warped agenda

28 Jun 2019

Juul Labs’ home is the first U.S. city to block its sales. Local agencies can’t use facial-recognition software. Meanwhile the area has a property-crime problem and human feces on its streets. The place boasting the highest density of billionaires is neglecting basic services.

Viewsroom: What makes companies proud of Pride?

27 Jun 2019

Neither profit nor investor pressure explain U.S. firms lining up to mark 50 years of the LGBT-rights movement. They may simply be doing the right thing. But the nation still has a long way to go. Plus: how the UK prime minister race affects the Bank of England’s next boss.

Pride brings out best in self-serving companies

25 Jun 2019

Big brands are flaunting their support for the LGBT community, including some who once did the opposite. It’s easy to be cynical, but if only short-term profit mattered, such gestures wouldn’t happen. With so much still to do, the support matters more than the motivation.

Review: Counting the poor can miss the point

21 Jun 2019

A posthumous book by poverty expert Anthony Atkinson recounts the many complications of measuring deprivation. The efforts have been valiant and valuable. Still, numerous assumptions and estimates often hide the scandal of hardship, and the gains in the fight for human dignity.

Schwarzman’s Oxford gift widens UK university gulf

19 Jun 2019

The Blackstone founder is giving 150 mln pounds to the 900-year-old institution for a humanities centre bearing his name. Oxford and other top universities already outspend less prestigious peers. Weaker players will have to borrow more to keep up, increasing their vulnerability.

Tech can help uncover the basics of basic income

10 Jun 2019

Seed-capital guru Y Combinator is the latest to study the pros and cons of giving people a guaranteed monthly stipend. Its project is bigger, longer and less restrictive than the Finnish state’s or the U.S. city of Stockton’s. The higher standard should yield more useful results.

The Exchange: Dick’s sticks to its guns

10 Jun 2019

Dick’s Sporting Goods lost sales, customers and suppliers when it banned assault-style weapons from its stores last year. Over a year later, boss Ed Stack tells Breakingviews what he learned from taking a stand on gun violence, and addresses his newer challenge of China tariffs.

Review: Rockonomics nicely reflects the real world

7 Jun 2019

Alan Krueger’s posthumous work on the finances of rock and roll functions in equal parts as a basic industry primer, a textbook on broader economic concepts and a guidebook for musicians wanting to start a band. It’s also a window, if an imperfect one, into the author’s soul.

China’s censors expose a truth about corporate JVs

4 Jun 2019

Reuters’ 30th anniversary coverage of Tiananmen was blocked by Blackstone-backed partner Refinitiv in China amid pressure from Beijing. The $20 bln data provider’s priorities deviate from those of the news publisher. It’s a prime example of how partnerships can be strained.

As impact investing grows, its purpose strays

30 May 2019

Investing for social or environmental good, once a niche for foundations and development banks, now attracts the likes of Blackstone and KKR. There’s plenty of demand for the sector’s $500 bln of capital. For the biggest players, though, it’s still all about market-rate returns.

Dick’s assault on gun violence goes click not bang

29 May 2019

Over a year after it banned assault-style weapons, the U.S. sporting goods retailer’s sales and profit have held up. Chain stores sell only a fraction of America’s guns, limiting the impact. But Dick’s example suggests companies don’t have to pay a price for being principled.

For U.S. patients, knowledge isn’t power

28 May 2019

Forcing hospitals and doctors to disclose net prices to consumers, as President Trump is proposing, is a good idea. Patients can only shop around if they know what they will pay. Even so, healthcare still fails many other tests of being a competitive market.

Breakdown: ESG investing faces sustainability test

28 May 2019

Assessing environmental, social and governance risks is the hot topic in asset management. Support from politicians, millennials and fund houses, along with high-profile votes like those at Amazon and BP, should boost the $1 trln asset class. But success could create problems.

Hadas: “Zero privacy” is both blessing and curse

22 May 2019

Back in 1999 a computer executive told people worried about disclosing personal data to “get over it”. They mostly have. Shared information is now too useful for regulation to restore lost innocence. For oppressive governments, meanwhile, individualised media is also valuable.

The Exchange: The trouble with America

20 May 2019

The country no longer loves the unremarkable and its inequitable universities are unsustainable, NYU’s Scott Galloway tells Breakingviews. As his new book “The Algebra of Happiness” hits the shelves, he also discusses his prescient Amazon call and why Big Tech needs breaking up.

Hadas: CEOs would benefit from more humanities

8 May 2019

Companies rely on science and engineering grads, especially in the Big Data era, but many tough problems are cultural and psychological. The best way to face them is with the liberal arts, which deal with grand dramas and complex conflicts. It's time to rethink C-suite education.

Capitalists on defensive even as good times roll

30 Apr 2019

There’s a sense of foreboding at the annual Milken confab in LA. The U.S. economy is robust and valuations frothy. But last year’s tax cuts are history and a downturn may be looming. That could redouble the need to address tough challenges like diversity and inequality.

Viewsroom: Will millennials kill Silicon Valley?

25 Apr 2019

Young, tech-savvy adults say everything from high prices to climate change may prompt them to leave the San Francisco area. Other U.S. cities can benefit. Also: Why CEO Jack Dorsey should favor Square over Twitter. And what to expect from Indonesian President Widodo’s second term.

Silicon Valley has a millennials problem

17 Apr 2019

The high cost of living, homelessness, and climate change are prompting young adults to consider leaving the Bay Area, recent surveys show. Such intractable issues aren’t new. But they’re now threatening the region’s ability to attract and keep talent. That’ll hit its economy.

America’s opioid legal blitz is a smoking mess

8 Apr 2019

Overdose deaths are surging, Oklahoma won a $270 mln settlement, and a blizzard of lawsuits is bearing down on makers and distributors of the drug. It recalls the tobacco crisis that ended with a $206 bln pact. Yet proving liability and apportioning blame will be much harder.