The COVID-19 pandemic led to the partial or full closure of schools in almost all countries around the world. On average, across OECD countries, school buildings were fully closed for 13 weeks and partially closed for a further 24 weeks between March 2020 and October 2021, which combined is equivalent to around one full school […]
Wage inequality is on the rise as much as wealth inequality. There is consensus that part of this rise is due to technological progress. The exact mechanism by which modern technology adoption affects inequality, however, is still open to debate. Katz and Murphy (1982) have popularised the view that, by assigning large premia to education, […]
Despite an extensive literature on the productivity gains associated with large cities in developed economies, little is known about this issue in the context of developing countries. Investigating agglomeration economies in the rest of the world is crucial for several reasons. First, the growth rate of the world’s urban population is being driven by urbanisation […]
On a global scale, the extent of COVID-related lockdowns is massive, and their socio-economic impact is expected to be far-reaching (Barba Navaretti et al. 2020, McKibbin and Fernando 2020). When it comes to the estimated effects of containment measures, timing seems to matter (Deb et al. 2020). In Germany, significant actions to reduce the spread […]
Companies face a huge gap between the skills they need to prosper in the changing economy and the skills available in the labour market. Nearly three-quarters of executives say that changing the skill composition of the workforce is their top priority for dealing with future disruptions, but only 17% believe that their employees are ready for such […]
Cybersecurity is a growing challenge to sustainable economic development. Cyber incidents can impact the safety, prosperity, and resilience of a country and can undermine the benefits of its digital transformation. Achieving better cybersecurity and cyber capacity is becoming a growing priority for both developed and developing countries. However, many developing countries struggle to effectively manage cyber risks […]
As the region emerges from the pandemic, businesses should adopt more flexible approaches to developing talent for digital jobs, while workers must embrace lifelong learning of digital skills. As one of the fastest-growing regions in the world, Asia and the Pacific has witnessed rapid digitisation in recent years. While the trend was evident before the […]
Roughly two-thirds of the world’s poor work in agriculture (Castaneda et al. 2016). Policy interventions aimed at increasing agricultural productivity – such as programmes that provide access, training, or subsidies for modern inputs and production techniques – have therefore been central in the fight against global poverty. In a push for ‘evidence-based policymaking’, recent years […]
Historically, despite being high in international comparison, European energy prices did not constitute an insurmountable obstacle to industrial expansion because of the exceptional energy efficiency of the local manufacturing sector (Rezessy et al. 2015). However, the recent developments in energy markets have driven an extreme wedge between prices in Europe and some other regions, as […]
With year-on-year inflation rates reaching 10% in 2022, central banks in Europe and the US have been raising interest rates to ensure price stability. These policy decisions involve a delicate balancing of risks to inflation, growth, and financial stability, which have featured prominently in the surrounding debates (Acharya and Rajan 2022, Ball, et al. 2022, […]
