There is clear consensus on the importance of teachers for student outcomes. This column focuses on a less studied factor: management quality. Exploting a quasi-natural experiment setting in Italy, where high schools underwent changes in leadership between 2011 and 2015, the authors show that better management practices significantly improved academic performance and increased students’ aspirations […]
Elevated corporate debt and high interest rates amid heightened uncertainty will test global economic resilience. Moreover, the increasing role of nonbank financial institutions in credit intermediation raises concerns about the potential amplification of financial risks. This column explores emerging corporate vulnerabilities and financial stability risks in an environment of elevated debt and persistently high-interest rates. […]
Understanding the varied impact of work from home across society is important for businesses, workers, and policymakers alike. This column examines patterns in the US before the COVID-19 pandemic and since. Before the pandemic, the relationship between potential work from home rates and actual rates was weak. During the pandemic, many industries reached their full […]
Global disruptions have highlighted the euro area’s reliance on foreign input sourcing. Using firm-level data for five EU member states, this column studies how disruptions to the supply of foreign critical inputs might affect value added. The findings suggest a 50% reduction in imports of such inputs from China and China-aligned countries would lead to […]
Chinese monetary policy significantly affects global economic activity and inflation through a real transmission channel that crucially propagates via commodity prices. This column shows that the intensive use of commodities in Chinese infrastructure investment explains the strong yet delayed response of industrial metals and energy prices. A sizeable portion of inflationary spillovers to foreign countries […]
Between 2007 and 2019, inequality within many EU countries increased, while inequality between countries declined. This column examines these seemingly contradictory trends, as well as the role played by market inequality and redistribution. Most of the progress has been driven by rising labour incomes in lower-income countries. Changes in employment, education, and demographics had a […]
Creating stable and well-paid jobs is central to eliviating poverty in low-and-medium income countries. International trade is sometimes seen as an instrument to achieve this goal. This column looks at the impact of trade liberalization between China and Indonesia, in the form of the ASEAN-China Free Trade Agreement, and finds that it had no effect […]
Steadily increasing rents and historically high house prices in many euro area countries are forcing many households to devote ever more of their income to housing. This column examines the impact of tighter credit conditions adopted in the aftermath of the global financial crisis on inequality in the housing market. The authors find that shocks […]
Credit market conditions have been identified as a key driver of the prevalence of zombie firms. This column studies the relationship between credit conditions and zombie firms using a new theoretical framework. It highlights that credit market tightness creates opposing incentives for banks and firms. Increases in credit market tightness first lead to a higher […]
The rise of e-money in low-income and emerging economies has transformed financial inclusion and monetary policy transmission. Case studies from sub-Saharan Africa show that e-money and banking sectors complement each other, strengthening monetary policy effectiveness. This column uses data from 47 countries over 20 years to show that e-money leads to stronger policy passthrough, increased […]
