Philosophers have speculated that an AI tasked with a task such as creating paperclips might cause an apocalypse by learning to divert ever-increasing resources to the task, and then learning how to resist our attempts to turn it off. But this column argues that, to do this, the paperclip-making AI would need to create another […]
Raising awareness about climate change is important for support and action, but the effects of anticipating its impact are still unclear. This column introduces a new framework to estimate the economic impact of climate change on all US counties, revealing it to be roughly twice as large as previous studies. Anticipation of future changes plays […]
Assessing changes in private leverage is essential for maintaining macro-financial stability. This column examines EU corporate credit and leverage trends and reveals a significant decline in corporate leverage since 2008, with non-financial corporations reducing debt and increasing cash reserves. Potential factors contributing to this trend include regulatory reforms, lower tax shields, a decline in investment […]
More than two decades under an authoritarian regime have left scars on The Gambia’s economic and social fabric, as witnessed by stagnating GDP per capita and widening gap compared to Sub-Saharan Africa (Figure 1). Still, the country has made progress since its democratic transition in 2017. Real GDP growth averaged 6.1% between 2017-2019 compared to […]
What does it take to accelerate gender equality and ensure that women have the same opportunities as men to build successful lives? As the World Bank Group develops the new 2024-30 Gender Strategy, we have been inspired by initiatives that support women’s economic empowerment, human capital development and leadership. Egypt’s Takaful and Karama programis one of these. In […]
SDG 3 aims to ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all. COVID-19 took a catastrophic toll on global health with many excessive deaths resulting in lower global life expectancy at birth by over 1.5 years. A reversal of global life expectancies at this scale was unprecedented since the early 1960s. But COVID-19 vaccines were developed […]
Indonesia has launched a national crypto asset bourse to provide regulators with transaction records and better protect crypto investors, the government announced this week. The launch of the exchange and clearing house is also intended to strengthen monitoring of the booming sector amid a transition in regulatory oversight, according to the Commodity Futures Trading Regulatory […]
Indonesia’s history, size, location, demographics, and resource endowments suggest that it should be an international trading powerhouse. Yet, evidence indicates that trade as an engine of economic growth has not been fully tapped . Supported by a steep decline in trade costs, advances in information technology, the liberalization of trade, and the expansion of global value […]
Political clientelism and corruption are usually regarded as isolated acts intended for personal financial and political gain. Accordingly, an army of competent auditors, a good dose of ethics, democracy, and a vibrant civil society are expected to provide the cure. But what if the orthodoxy is wrong? Indeed, new research suggests it may be time to abandon […]
More people than ever before 828 million, according to the most recent estimates—do not know where their next meal will come from. Yet we are producing more food than ever, with cereal grain production at an all-time high. How did we get so far off track in ending hunger and how do we get back on […]
