Are Capital Incentives Slowing the Diffusion of Cloud, Big Data, and AI?
We live in a world overflowing with data, yet turning this abundance into economic growth and job creation remains a significant challenge. Cloud computing has
Measuring what matters for business: The new B-READY data in the World Development Indicators
What makes a country a great place to start and grow a business? Among low-income economies across the world, only 29% have a single centralized
From farm to fork: boosting food security by fixing border bottlenecks
Imagine a truckload of fresh mangoes grown by smallholder farmers in Sri Lanka. The fruit is ripe, fragrant, and ready for export. But instead of
Explaining firm-level reactions to macro shocks
Understanding differences in firm responses to macroeconomic shocks is key for designing policy actions. This column identifies 67 macro shocks using ‘jump’ days in the
Why globalisation needs a leader: Hegemons, alignment, and trade
There is a growing concern that tensions between China and the US may lead to an unravelling of globalisation. This column discusses how rivalry between
Violent conflict and cross-border lending
How states leverage sovereign debt to support their military endeavours has been examined thoroughly, but the relationship between private finance and armed conflict remains underexplored.
The ripple beyond borders: Indirect effects of US export controls on Japanese firms
As part of the ongoing US-China trade war, since 2020 the US has restricted the exports of cutting-edge semiconductors from third countries to Huawei. This
Filtering labour market data optimally to detect recessions early and accurately
The timely detection of recessions is critical for policymakers to make informed decisions. This column presents an algorithm for detecting recessions early using labour market
Gender-neutral economics can no longer be the default
Economic research often treats tools such as tariffs, subsides, interest rates, monetary policy, and austerity measures as gender neutral. This column argues that when sex-disaggregated
Task-based returns to generative AI: Evidence from a central bank
How does generative AI affect real workplace productivity? This column reports results from an experiment at the National Bank of Slovakia, where staff were randomly
