Trust, intangible assets, and productivity

Business environments dominated by information flows and autonomous tasks, typical of knowledge-intensive industries, are likely to require enough social capital to be viable and productive.
The impact of road connectivity on fertility and child health in rural India

Expansion in access to public infrastructure has been found to improve a host of development outcomes. This column uses variation in the access to paved
The state of gender inequality in Latin America

Women in Latin America have higher educational attainment than men, and gender inequality in maths and reading scores has fallen over time. Yet, gender gaps
The speed of firm response to inflation

Firm inflation expectations are a key driver of future price growth. This column uses a large economy-wide business survey to understand the response of firms
The green transition and public finances: Balancing climate mitigation and fiscal sustainability

The need to mitigate climate change has never been more urgent. Governments play a critical role in the green transition, through green public investment, subsidies,
Enhancing mothers’ employment quality through longer school schedules: Lessons from Chile

Working mothers often face lower wages, fewer formal contracts, and less job security than their male counterparts, a disparity that is exacerbated by traditional gender
Heterogeneity in gender differences in willingness to guess

Multiple-choice tests are widely used to evaluate job candidates, but attitudes towards risk can influence gender differences in test performance. This column analyses data from
Software’s impact on labour’s income share: New evidence

The declining labour share of income in advanced economies is an important topic for policymakers. This column studies how different types of capital interact with
Why the stock market has risen so much

If you invested one dollar in the post-war years in a diversified portfolio of all publicly traded firms, by 1980 you would have seen a
Household inflation expectations: Taking stock of the recent research insights for monetary policy

Household inflation expectations feature prominently in current central bank policy discussions. This column summarises key insights from the recent literature on household inflation expectations for

