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Global Business and Finance Magazine > Blog
Technology Featured World

Should AI stay or should AI go: The promises and perils of AI for productivity and growth

There is considerable disagreement about the growth potential of artificial intelligence. Though emerging micro-level evidence shows substantial improvements in firm productivity and worker performance, the macroeconomic effects are uncertain. This column argues that the promise of AI-related economic growth and social welfare hinges on the rate of adoption and its interplay with labour markets. Policies […]

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Economy Business Featured

How and why work-from-home rates differ across countries and people

The COVID-19 pandemic significantly accelerated the shift to work from home around the world, but with significant cross-country variations. This column explores how factors such as lockdown stringency, population density, and individualism affected the adoption of working from home across 34 countries. Individualism has the strongest association with work from home, followed by lockdown stringency […]

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Economy Business Featured

The geography of EU discontent and the regional development trap

Political discontent has been on the rise across Europe. This column draws on the concept of regional ‘development traps’ to examine the complex relationship between regional economic stagnation and increasing Euroscepticism within the EU. Regions mired in long-term economic decline, with limited economic prospects and a declining standard of living compared to more prosperous regions, […]

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Banking Featured Finance

Changing central bank pressures and inflation

Despite the large surge in inflation across advanced economies since 2021, long-term expectations are mostly in line with central bank targets. However, this column argues that the factors which facilitated low average inflation for decades have started to reverse. These include globalisation, de-unionisation, and a deepening of the Washington consensus including especially fiscal restraint. Using […]

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trade Environment World

The promises and pitfalls of a green supply chain

Global supply chains are central to economic policy debates. This column examines recent attempts to regulate climate sustainability within supply chains. By analysing the corporate climate action and governance practices from a global sample of firms, the authors find increasing customer pressure on suppliers to decarbonise, but no evidence that emissions or energy inputs decrease […]

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Finance Banking Featured

Transformation of activities and risks between bank and non-bank financial intermediaries

Non-bank financial intermediaries have surpassed banks as the largest global financial intermediaries, yet they remain lightly regulated. This column argues that the intermediation activities and risks of non-bank financial intermediaries and banks have become intricately intertwined and should not be thought as operating in parallel or as substitutes. Examples of this transformation include corporate and […]

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Development Education Featured News

Open science as a means for development aid: Fostering scientific research and innovation

Access to existing work and technical information is key to the emergence of new scientific knowledge and innovation. But access to academic publications is particularly problematic for scientists based in developing economies that often lack the necessary resources. This column examines The Research4Life initiative, which aims to increase the availability of academic resources in eligible […]

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Business Featured Finance

Unlocking efficiency: Optimal monetary policy when capital misallocation matters

The design of monetary policy has traditionally considered aggregate total factor productivity as an exogenous variable over which the central bank has no control. This column argues that monetary policy can affect aggregate productivity through the allocation of capital. In the face of an expansionary monetary policy shock, firms with a high marginal product of […]

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Uncategorized Featured Finance World

The impact of higher interest rates on UK firms

Firms across many advanced economies have faced a significant increase in the interest rates paid on borrowing and received on deposits since 2021. This column uses new data from the UK to study how higher interest rates are impacting their sales, employment, and investment decisions. By the third quarter of 2023, firms report that higher […]

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trade Featured transport

Sailing through storms: The fallout of Red Sea disruptions for global trade and inflation

Attacks by Houthi rebels in the Red Sea are jeopardising trade in a crucial maritime shipping route. This column discusses the consequences for oil prices, trade, and inflation, and looks at the effects of more protracted disruptions. Overall, shipping disruptions have had muted effects on trade and inflation. The economic effects are likely attenuated by […]

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