With Big Data and artificial intelligence fuelling a growing market in the supply of algorithms by software and data analytic companies to assist firms in the pricing of their products and services, there are concerns that competitors contracting with the same third party could coordinate price increases. This column summarises a new approach for uncovering […]
Style choices are an important dimension of culture and are often used to demonstrate individualism or belonging to a group. This column uses over 14 million images from high school yearbooks to track cultural change in the US over space and time. Style characteristics of men and women converged from the 1960s onwards, driven by […]
Fertility rates have been declining in high-income countries for decades. This trend, along with increasing human longevity, poses a challenge for advanced economies. This column argues that a holistic set of policies can be implemented to address the economic risks. These policies should stimulate human capital accumulation and education, which are more important than population […]
Harnessing the potential of artificial intelligence has become one of the top priorities for policymakers around the world. Yet, doing so first requires a thorough understanding of the effects of these technologies on labour markets. Using data across US commuting zones over the period 2000-2020, this column presents evidence that AI adoption has reduced employment, […]
Demographic ageing is putting considerable pressure on the economic and social systems of industrialised countries. This column highlights that although the US is in a more favourable position than other OECD countries with respect to the expected future change in old-age dependency ratios, it is also characterised by large differences in labour market outcomes across […]
Raising the legal age for purchasing tobacco products to 21 has emerged as a preferred strategy to reduce the rates of youth smoking and vaping in the US. This column uses both self-reported and biomarker measures to assess the impact of implementing such policies. The authors find that self-reported smoking rates decline markedly upon introduction […]
Households differ considerably in terms of the inflation they experience at any point in time. This column examines the nature and sources of inflation differences for purchases of supermarket goods across a large panel of French and German households. The main reasons for the differences are that prices (and thus price changes) differ from place […]
Whether post-pandemic inflation can be explained by demand-side versus supply-side factors is critical for setting monetary policy. Nevertheless, there is widespread disagreement about the underlying sources of recent inflation. This column argues that part of the disagreement is due to differences in (i) the variables being studied (inflation or interest rates), (ii) the countries analysed, […]
Human-induced climate change is making disasters more frequent and more intense. Policy could help reduce the economic costs of climate change by helping firms withstand extreme weather events. This column explores how management practices shape the impact of environmental shocks on firms. Well-managed firms are doing more to adapt to climate change and are more […]
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. This column uses a new database to investigate the influence of trust, a key element of social capital, on labour productivity in intangible-intensive industries. In such industries, productivity gains from […]
