What should we call the literary age of Vasily Grossman, who wrote "Life and Fate," the greatest Russian novel of the twentieth century?

I was initially assigned the working title, "Pursuing Equality in Health Care for the Elderly Is Futile." I prefer to think of that particular dead end of health policy as one of listening to the wrong music for too long. Hence, this article revises the title song of the movie, Urban Cowboy, to "Looking for better health [rather than either "love" or "love of equality"] in all the wrong places.

Written fifty years ago, Vasily Grossman's "Life and Fate" has more to say about human freedom than any other novel of the century.

Diplomacy can never supplant the importance of military victory. Obama may want to bring the troops home, but the diplomacy-first strategy hampers peace. As the history of drinking tea with the Taliban shows, talk is not only cheap; it is deadly.

When any economy faces challenges, the first thing it should do is determine if it has any self-inflicted wounds, as those are the easiest to correct. The evidence is clear that the benefits of skilled immigration are high. The costs of bad immigration are also high. It is past time for the nation to stop shooting itself in the foot.

As the 2008 elections begin to heat up, concerns ranging from health care to wages and employment dominate the domestic political discourse. In these discussions, Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer, is often vilified as an evil corporate empire determined to place profits before its employees. Are such characterizations true or...

While there is no such wide-ranging immigration reform bill currently making the rounds in Congress, the "Stopping Trained in America Ph.D.s from leaving the Economy" (S.T.A.P.L.E.) Act, sponsored by Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) has bipartisan support and is a step in the right direction.

The offshoring debate of the past few years has obscured some basic insights from economics and about economic policy in a globalising world.