A social science like economics is supposed to be free of partisan vitriol. Yet economists now routinely stoop to ad hominem attacks and inflammatory polemics.

BANGKOK China s government and Hong Kong s wealthiest man, the much admired Li Ka shing, have been waging an acidic spat one that increasingly looks like a bitter divorce being played out in tabloid newspapers. Indeed, Chinese media have lately been directing a relentless stream of vitriol at Li.

Nor does the eurozone have the automatic fiscal shock absorbers that as is widely understood by now are essential to stabilize incomes across the union. When the price of oil drops and Texas and Oklahoma fall into recession, money flows their way on a moment's notice and without any political vitriol.

He understood that Argentines were tired of the Kirchners imperious (one might even say authoritarian) political style, whereby anyone who disagreed with them was branded a lackey of dark imperialist forces. Even for a country with a political history as tumultuous as Argentina s, partisan polarization and vitriol had reached levels that seemed extreme.

That retraction appears to be causing as much embarrassment and diplomatic vitriol in Japan and South Korea today as the original series did. But, at a time when both countries cannot afford to permit partisan or sloppy abuses of history to roil their bilateral relations, Asahi s careless work has turned out to be more than abysmal journalism it has introduced a dangerous element into regional diplomacy.