From Peter Thiel to Sergey Brin to Sebastian Thrun, Stanford University has incubated more than its share of alumni who have gone on to become titans of industry and finance. But the university is not content to rest on these laurels; it has just announced that it will begin directly investing in startups created by […]

An overwhelming number (74 percent) of Indian business executives want Narendra Modi to be the country’s next Prime Minister, while only a scant few (7 percent) prefer Rahul Gandhi, according to a poll by India’s Economic Times.Modi is the controversial Chief Minister of Gujarat and the presumptive PM candidate for the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party, whose main rival, Rahul, […]

Start-ups are the key to American economy, and they’re the key to American health care as well. Wired profiles several new start-up companies that could help dramatically improve service delivery and price transparency. There’s HealthTap, that is trying to bring back “the village doctor” and “house calls” by digital consultations. Castlight Health offers price comparison services. […]

At the ongoing G20 summit in Russia, Syria seems to have split word leaders into roughly three camps: those for doing something (the US, the UK, Canada, France, and Turkey), those staunchly opposed (Russia and China), and those who think some level of international consensus is critical before anything is done. Germany and Italy in […]

Back in August, German Chancellor Angela Merkel caused a ruckus in Europe by suggesting that Brussels might need to devolve some power back to EU member states. New polling data released by Open Europe suggests that Merkel isn’t the only German ready for less Europe. Across the board, German voters remain opposed to expanded commitments to the EU and other Eurozone […]

There are three elections right now where center-right parties look to be doing well: Norway, Germany, Australia. We won’t know what happens for sure until the votes are in, but there are some interesting aspects of their campaigns that might hint at what center-right parties need to do to win in the 21st century.First, all […]

Municipal bond markets suffered their worst losses since the turn of the century as the markets responded to fallout in Detroit over the past two months. Ordinarily, the late summer months are a time when these funds tend to pick up steam, but as Detroit considers cutting its general-obligation bonds, the market has become increasingly […]

Taiwan will spend $106 million over the next three years to construct a naval outpost on Taiping Island in the heart of the disputed Spratly archipelago, according to a member of the country’s foreign affairs committee. Taiping (also known as Itu Aba) is the largest of the Spratly Islands and currently features an airstrip and […]

The Center for Education Reform has created a new “Parent Power Index“—a state-by-state ranking of parents’ ability to control their children’s education.States are graded on five criteria: the prominence of charter schools, the availability of school choice, state efforts to remove barriers to entry for high-quality teachers, the transparency of school data, and enthusiasm for […]

The BRICS are continuing their summer crumble. Tumult in credit markets and a roller-coaster ride in emerging market currencies has upended growth expectations and sent a number of emerging economies tumbling. Now even the IMF is beginning to face up to reality. In a confidential note, the IMF backtracked on its optimistic projections for emerging […]