Businesses use checklists to exercise managerial control and ensure quality, but excessive bureaucracy can frustrate skilled workers and reduce morale. This column presents a randomised control trial in a German bakery chain that removed two time-consuming, non-essential checklists in selected stores. After abolishing the checklists, sales rose by 2.7%, customer ratings improved, and qualified workers […]
Education is a foundation for good jobs and the surest way out of poverty. We know a good education equips learners with important foundational skills—literacy, numeracy, and socio-emotional competencies—which are essential for work and life. These skills help today’s children become tomorrow’s productive workers and enable workers to reskill or upskill later in life. Investing […]
Professional race cars and hydromet (weather, water, and climate forecasting) systems may seem worlds apart, but they have more in common than we realize. Both perform at high levels, requiring purpose-built designs and constant technological advancement, and for both, there are no off-the-shelf solutions. Every part needs to be acquired with overall compatibility and connectivity […]
Foreign direct investment (FDI) plays a critical role in the world economy. Global FDI flows averaged almost $2 trillion per year during the past decade, up to one-half of which have been directed to emerging market and developing economies (EMDEs) in recent years (figure 1.A). FDI inflows are an important source of private capital, especially for […]
In January 2026, the European Union will require importers of certain carbon-intensive goods to pay for their products’ embodied carbon emissions. The policy, known as the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), could raise the cost of exporting these goods to the EU market, potentially affecting the competitiveness of exporters. To help developing countries assess the potential […]
Studies of the impact of robots on labour markets often conceptualise jobs as bundles of distinct tasks. In such frameworks, technologies substitute or complement workers. But this view may overestimate the potential adverse effects of automation, particularly in developing countries. This column distinguishes between technical feasibility and economic viability of adopting industrial robots and artificial […]
The tariff spree during the first 100 days of the current US administration created bewildering economic policy chaos. The first 100 days also marked the largest tax increase in more than a generation. This column, taken from a CEPR book on the economic consequences of the second Trump administration, discusses the consequences of the tariffs […]
In 2021, China’s electronics exports exceeded those of the other five leading exporters combined. This column analyses the rise of China as a centre for electronics manufacturing. It argues that the key drivers of growth were intense competition, education that facilitated technology transfer, and infrastructure development. However, China’s nonlinear innovation model also leaves it dependent […]
How can the euro area’s return to fiscal sustainability be organised in view of soaring debt levels and the sovereign debt crisis? How can debts be financed efficiently, not least to prevent debt crises in weaker countries where high debt levels compounded by a hike in risk premiums on government bonds can create a debt […]
China’s growth model has continued to rely on expanding industrial capacity and exporting to the world, rather than on domestic consumption. This has lead to a significant increase in China’s global share of manufactured exports and has raised concerns about overcapacity (Figure 1; Xu, 2025). The imbalance arises because China’s expanding production capacity is outpacing […]
