Social and mobile networking tools are helping to build financially-independent communities by facilitating informal trading markets. The services are a response to international banking crises. 

I’ve been thinking quite a lot lately about what spiritual development and spiritual attainment actually mean these days. What is the purpose of being on a spiritual path for the most […]

When most people think of evolution, they think of the growth and development of the exterior dimensions of reality—the biological evolution of natural species, the development of the cosmos from […]

After I finished giving a lecture at the 2009 Parliament of the World’s Religions in Melbourne, an American rabbi approached me. “I’ve been following your work for some years now,” […]

Almost everyone agrees that poverty is not a good thing.  Almost everyone would like to end poverty.  Almost everyone would benefit from ending poverty.  So why don't we?  To find […]

Romi Haan on why entrepreneurs need to understand sales, and how she succeeded anyway.

If Romi Haan, the founder and CEO of South Korea’s Haan Corp could start over again, she (says she) would spend at least two years learning about home appliance sales […]

In a piece about the Barclays traders who colluded to fix the London interbank offered rate (LIBOR), the Economist declared that the LIBOR scandal “could well be global finance’s ‘tobacco moment’….[It is imperative] to change the way […]

In order to solve America's faltering economy, we must understand its causes. For University of Chicago business school professor Raghuram Rajan, it was an eviscerating of the middle class.

Fresh off the press from TEDGlobal, Marc Goodman's talk on the future of crime has been causing a bit of stir on the blogosphere. Goodman is a global security advisor and futurist focused on the disruptive impact of technology in security, business and international affairs - and has a unique perspective about what the future may hold.

The American economy is capable of rebounding, thanks to government protection of property rights and a risk-taking culture. But what should the next president do to help?

Modern relationships have become ambivalent, insecure and indeterminate, says sociologist and professional student of modern love, Eva Illouz. Could BDSM really be a solution?

The extramarital alliance has an interesting history of its own.  It’s not all clichés from John Updike and Gay Talese. Here’s a snapshot of how various moments in history might […]

A German court has effectively criminalized male circumcision, and while the ruling is not binding on any other body, debate over religious and individual freedom has erupted. 

What's the Big Idea? Ever wonder how Michael Jordan came to be the best basketball player that ever lived? Unlike the stories we hear of many world champions who set […]

The pace of Chinese economic growth is slowing and wages are increasing. As the economy matures, transitioning to service industries and importing more goods, the West stands to gain. 

By Peadar Coyle It is said that education is something people have strong opinions about. A growing literature has emerged around randomized evaluations of interventions, most notably Esther Duflo’s work on […]

You know you’ve made the big time when you rate a Google Doodle, as Gustav Klimt did this past weekend in recognition of the 150th anniversary of his birth. Anyone […]

It’s France, 1785. An Englishman offers a surgeon money to perform a pretty standard operation: leg amputation. However, for the surgeon, there is no good medical reason to do so, […]

Entrepreneurship is booming: we can see it in all the startup accelerators, incubators, and hackathons filling up and expanding around the world.  But for every success story there are hundreds […]