Meta Platforms said on Wednesday it will soon give users in more than 150 countries access to WhatsApp Channels, a broadcast service that enables them to receive private updates from celebrities, sports teams and thought leaders. The move comes as Meta makes a push to shore up engagement across its social media apps, positioning them as […]
Many individuals are experiencing for the first time inflation considerably above central bank targets. Yet despite this limited experience, inflation expectations of many households have been upward biased relative to ex-post realisations and target rates. This column proposes inflation shocks in the more distant past as an explanation for elevated inflation expectations. It shows that […]
Real estate is frequently used as collateral by firms in the euro area, potentially impacting borrowing and the broader economy when commercial real estate prices decline. Using data on almost five million pieces of real estate collateral across the euro area, this study examines how banks’ treatment of real estate collateral influenced firms’ access to […]
Building resilient infrastructure, promoting inclusive and sustainable industrialization, and fostering innovation are at the heart of SDG 9. Transportation is essential for ensuring access to better economic, health, and education opportunities. However, globally, 1 billion people live at least 2 kilometers away from a good road, facing reduced access to jobs, healthcare, and schools. That […]
In 2022, we published, Lessons for the education sector from the COVID-19 pandemic, which was a follow up to, Four Education Trends that Countries Everywhere Should Know About, which summarized views of education experts around the world on how to handle the most pressing issues facing the education sector then. We focused on neuroscience, the role of […]
Enfabrica, a Silicon Valley chip startup working on networking chips for artificial intelligence data centers, said on Tuesday that it has raised $125 million in venture capital, with Nvidia joining as a strategic investor. Founded by executives from Broadcom and Alphabet’s Google, Enfabrica is part of a broader trend of data centers being completely re-designed to create […]
Apple on Tuesday is expected to unveil a new iPhone 15 lineup as questions about market access in China and competition hang over the world’s most valuable listed company. The iPhone made up more than half of Apple’s $394.3 billion in sales last year, but it faces new challenges with selling in China, the Cupertino, California […]
The S&P 500 and Nasdaq fell on Tuesday as a jump in oil prices deepened worries about persistent price pressures ahead of crucial inflation readings this week, while Oracle slumped on downbeat forecast and results. Oil prices jumped more than 1% on Tuesday, building on a recent rally and stoking worries over sticky inflation in […]
The recent sustained high levels of inflation have increased focus on firm markups and profits. Some broad measures suggest increasing profits, but conflate market and non-market sector dynamics and omit important corporate costs. This column constructs an alternative measure of corporate profits to capture UK firm earnings in excess of all production costs. This measure […]
Walt Disney and Charter Communications said on Monday they have reached a deal that will see the media giant’s programming including ESPN return to the Spectrum cable service just hours ahead of the start of NFL “Monday Night Football.” News of the potential deal eased some fears that the traditional cable TV bundle, long a profit-engine for […]
