Madagascar is endowed with significant renewable energy resources and yet has one of the largest energy access deficits in the world. Only 36% of the population has access to electricity. For those who do, the service is often unreliable. The recent power cuts (load-shedding that is becoming the norm), which severely impact households and businesses, […]
Tax progressivity is a cornerstone of government redistribution efforts worldwide. Yet, despite its widespread use, much remains unknown about how individuals respond – not just in their stated preferences, but also in their actual behaviour. This column examines the real-world impacts of a progressive tax reform in Argentina and finds causal evidence that the reform […]
In Japan, where intercorporate strategic shareholding is widespread, management often takes an active role in managing company ownership. This column describes how Japanese management manages ownership of their companies to promote and preserve strategic investments. The stock market reacts positively to this process and the transfer of blocks of shares from one strategic investor to […]
Like many other countries, Malaysia is confronted with a rapidly aging population. As it ages, Malaysia faces a number of policy challenges, including the financial protection of older people. This blog looks at the economic effects of Malaysians working for longer to ensure that they have enough savings for retirement. In the coming decades, aging […]
Menab, 8, from Ethiopia attends a school without electricity and has never used the internet. His teacher, Bethel, 25, wants to take a mobile-based teacher training course but can’t afford the data. With his teacher’s support, Hendrik, 14, from Estonia accesses and uses state-provided interactive digital learning materials on his device. Meanwhile, 10-year-old Juanfrom Argentina struggles with […]
How can the world respond to climate change? For a long time, answers to that question focused almost exclusively on mitigation – reducing the amount of carbon and other greenhouse gases emitted. Recently, adaptation has received more attention as the consequences of climate change have begun to manifest. But those two options – mitigation or […]
The flood of new economics research makes it hard for policymakers and researchers to keep up. Traditional keyword searches often fail to capture the nuance of a paper’s causal design or how variables interact. This column introduces a methodology that uses large language models to process and synthesise tens of thousands of economics papers. The […]
China’s emergence as the world’s leading producer of scientific publications has raised concerns about the West’s technological edge and the quality of China’s output. This column investigates the publishing phenomenon of ‘home bias’ – whereby researchers disproportionately cite papers from their own country – and finds that China exhibits the largest home bias across all […]
For years, water programs have focused on building infrastructure—pipelines, tanks, and pumping stations. But we see that in Uttarakhand, a hilly state in northern India known for its stunning natural beauty and rich cultural heritage, a pivotal shift is underway. Rather than just building more, the state is laser-focused on delivering reliable, high-quality water service […]
Imagine that everyone in Africa, from vendors in the bustling markets of Cairo, to agricultural workers in the remote villages of Kenya, had the power to save, borrow, and spend money with ease. This is the goal of financial inclusion in Africa. Data from the World Bank’s Global Findex 2021 reveals that while rapid expansion of mobile […]
