Politicians often interfere with central banks, but it is not clear how to measure such political pressure systematically and therefore difficult to quantify its economic consequences. This column uses archival records to build a dataset of personal interactions between US presidents and Federal Reserve officials between 1933 and 2016, and isolates personal interactions that reflect […]
As artificial intelligence makes inroads into the financial system, it exacerbates existing channels of instability and creates new ones. This column identifies several such channels, malicious and misinformed use, misalignment and the evasion of control, and finally risk monoculture and oligopolies. All arise when AI vulnerabilities interact with economic fragilities like strategic complementarities, problems of […]
Classical economic models routinely included land as a production factor, a practice economists later abandoned. This column argues that adding natural capital in economic models is necessary for achieving environmental sustainability. The EU has comparatively advanced data on resource use and ecosystem services, but this covers only part of what is needed to fully understand […]
Are the goals of combating climate change and ending global poverty at odds with each other? This column estimates the economic growth needed to reduce poverty, and the greenhose gas emissions that this growth is likely to generate, to show how the answer to this question depends in part on the evolution of global and […]
Adolescent girls in Sub-Sharan Africa (SSA) are at a higher risk of dropping out of upper secondary school. According to UNESCO, over 19.3 million adolescent girls of upper secondary school age are out of school in SSA and for those who make it to upper secondary school, studying Science, Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) particularly […]
China has admitted its electric-car drive has gone too far. The country’s vice minister of industry and information technology on Friday pledged to reduce EV makers’ overcapacity, saying that the government will take “forceful measures to prevent superfluous projects.” Amid a brutal price war at home and heightening trade tensions abroad, it’s a welcome step. […]
A magnitude 7.1 earthquake struck the Kyrgyzstan-Xinjiang border region on Tuesday with reports of several injuries and collapsed houses, Chinese state media reported. The epicentre of the quake struck at 2:09 a.m. (1809 GMT) and at a depth of 22 km (13 miles) in the mountainous border area of Wushi County in northwest China’s Xinjiang […]
22nd & 23rd February 2024, Navigating the Cybersecurity Landscape Singapore, January 18: In the heart of Southeast Asia’s technological revolution, Singapore’s vibrant digital landscape is a beacon of innovation and progress. Yet, with the boundless opportunities of the digital era come the challenges of securing a dynamic and interconnected cyberspace. Navigating this transformative landscape requires […]
The main objective of the African Continental Free Trade Area is to eliminate trade barriers and boost intra-Africa trade. This column argues that implementing the Trade Facilitation Agreement’s provisions would be a powerful complement to the free trade area’s tariff-reduction agenda. A realistic implementation of TFA measures could reduce time in customs for imports by […]
‘Climate matching’ refers to the idea that migrants seek out destinations with climates similar to those of their origin. This column analyses flows of German, Norwegian, and domestic migrants in the US and shows climate matching does occur for immigrants in the US, both historically and today. Migration increased more between locations whose climate converged […]
