Independent shops and services lining high streets across the UK serve more than a commercial function. This column studies how different types of commercial spaces – from garages and convenience stores to pubs and bookshops – affected the electoral fortunes of the UK Independent Party from 2011 to 2019. The findings suggest that a decrease […]
Regulators increasingly rely on supervisory technologies to enhance bank supervision, yet their potential to discipline risky bank behaviour remains unclear. Using unique data from the Central Bank of Brazil, this column shows that after a ‘SupTech’ event, banks disclose inconsistencies in their risk reporting and tighten credit to less creditworthy firms, effectively reducing risk-taking. This […]
Government subsidies are an increasingly central issue for global trade, yet their nature and implications for international trade are still insufficiently understood. Using novel data from the OECD MAnufacturing Groups and Industrial Corporations (MAGIC) database, this column reveals that subsidies are common among major global firms across 14 key industrial sectors but typically modest relative […]
Oil prices rose 2% on Wednesday, as U.S. government data showed tighter-than-expected oil and fuel inventories, though investors kept an eye on mounting fears of a U.S. economic slowdown and the impact of tariffs on global economic growth. Brent futures settled $1.39, or 2%, higher at $70.95 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures gained $1.43, […]
European shares slipped on Wednesday after a selloff on Wall Street overnight, while the dollar ticked up from a five-month low ahead of the Federal Reserve rates decision later in the day. Turkish stocks, bonds and the lira all slid, meanwhile, after Turkish authorities detained President Tayyip Erdogan’s main political rival on Wednesday. The pan-European STOXX 600 […]
Cyberattacks have become a growing threat to the global economy but are still treated by many companies as merely technical issues. This column uses a novel and direct approach to measure a firm’s cyber risk based on the network vulnerability scans. It shows that companies with greater cybersecurity exposure consistently underperform their peers in the […]
Economic disparities have long been suspected to be a root cause of environmental inequality. But is this really the case? This column links data on income and wealth with data on air pollution exposure over 40 years to provide new evidence on the relationship between economic wellbeing and environmental quality in the US. The authors […]
The diffusion of AI-enabled technologies is transforming labour markets. This column examines the link between the diffusion of these technologies and changes in the female employment share in 16 European countries from 2011 to 2019. Average female employment shares increased over the period in occupations more exposed to AI. Countries with high initial female labour […]
The South Korean government has expanded parental leave benefits in recent years to address two key challenges: persistently low fertility rates and large gender gaps in labour supply. This column explores how parental leave policies help tackle both issues. Drawing on economic models of parental leave, the authors highlight its long-term benefits – particularly through […]
In recent years, governments have relied heavily on fiscal stimulus to navigate economic crises, such as the Covid-19 pandemic. This column uses historical US aggregate data and state-dependent local projections to analyse whether government spending multipliers are different for positive versus negative shocks. It shows that the GDP response to a spending increase is roughly […]
