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Global Business and Finance Magazine > Blog
Finance Business Featured

Monetary policy transmission to households: The importance of consumers’ attention to interest rates and financial literacy

Differences in the attention that households pay to economic news may offer important insights for the business cycle and the propagation of economic shocks. This column uses responses from the ECB’s Consumer Expectations Survey to show that in a high-inflation, high-interest-rate environment, consumers pay much more attention to price developments than to interest rates. The […]

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Education Economy Featured Finance

The fundamental role of education in the reduction of global poverty and gender inequality

Global poverty has decreased markedly since the 1980s, whilst access to education has improved significantly over the same period. This column uses a novel database and distributional growth accounting model of education to identify the portion of reduced global inequality that can be attributed to widespread education. The author finds that private returns to schooling […]

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trade Economy Featured World

To comply or not to comply: Understanding neutral country supply chain responses to Russian sanctions

Increasing geopolitical fragmentation can create dilemmas for neutral countries. This column studies how firms in neutral countries adjusted their supply chains in response to Western sanctions on Russia. Firms in non-sanctioning countries reduced exports of sanctioned products to Russia when their headquarters were in sanctioning countries. However, domestic firms in neutral countries significantly increased exports […]

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Economy Featured Finance

High government debt in the EU or the end of ‘enjoy now, pay later’

Concerns over government debt have been on the rise, with a growing number of observers and institutions pointing to the unprecedented levels reached in many EU countries. In parallel, there is an even more lively debate about the need to find additional public resources to tackle pressing challenges such as the green transition or strengthening […]

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Economy Featured Healthcare

Closing the health gap: How chronic illness drives health inequality early on

Though health disparities have long been the subject of research and debate, life expectancy gaps between rich and poor remain striking, even in countries with universal access to healthcare. This column analyses the roots of health inequality using data from the Netherlands. While mortality differences are most apparent at old-age, chronic illness starts shaping these […]

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Finance Banking Featured

Cheapflation and the rise of inflation inequality in 2021-2023

Inflation rates soared over the period 2021-2023, driving down households’ real incomes in the UK and other countries. This column uses detailed data on price and spending patterns for groceries to assess the relative impacts of inflation across rich and poor households. Significant differences in grocery price inflation experienced by rich and poor households only […]

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Business Featured Finance

r* may be lower than you think

Many market participants, analysts, and policymakers believe that interest rates will remain significantly higher than in the pre-pandemic era after the current monetary policy cycle concludes. This column argues that the combined forces of constrained aggregate demand due to global debt and a likely normalisation of the risk premium suggest a different outcome – a […]

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Economy Business Featured World

How Russian firms use international risk-sharing to mitigate the effects of sanctions

The recent economic sanctions imposed on Russia and several other countries, including Syria, Iran, Venezuela, and North Korea, have reignited interest in the use of sanctions as a tool of foreign policy. While numerous studies have debated the effectiveness of sanctions on Russia, particularly during the initial phase in 2014, opinions remain divided. This column […]

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Finance Business Featured

Consumer demand for central bank digital currency as a means of payment

What factors could drive transactional demand for central bank digital currency? This column analyses payment survey data to arrive at a framework for understanding the role of adoption frictions and design strategies in shaping demand for such a currency. The results of the analysis show that, while consumers may initially prefer to use more traditional […]

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Development Economy Featured

Mission completed: Empowering local communities to shape their own destinies

Despite the billions of dollars spent on development assistance annually, disagreements persist about the impact of foreign aid on developing countries. This column explores a historic episode in Korea, when missionaries from two Protestant denominations fared quite differently. Presbyterian missionaries empowered local Korean churches to aim for self-governance, while Methodists employed a hierarchical structure with […]

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