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trade Featured News World

How to manage the economic trade-offs of public procurement policies in developing economies

Government procurement—the process in which public entities buy goods and services from private companies—represents between 5% and 20% of a country’s GDP, depending on the country. Public procurement policies allow governments to strategically support certain firms and sectors, for example, small businesses or eco-friendly products. In using public procurement systems, policymakers must navigate a trade-off: […]

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Economy Featured Finance World

Beverage prices soften but risks are brewing

Coffee prices remain high despite April dip. Coffee softened slightly in April after hitting record nominal highs. Arabica reached $9/kg in February-March, while Robusta approached $6/kg. In 2025Q1 (q/q), Arabica surged 26 percent (q/q)—almost doubling year-on-year—while Robusta rose 12 percent, marking a two-thirds increase over 2024 levels. Global production rose to 170 million bags in 2023-24 […]

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Banking Economy Featured Technology

Finding the sweet spot between bank rivalry and safety

Imagine your favorite open-air market. Stalls hustle for customers, prices fall, and shoppers win—until one fragile roof gives way and everyone scrambles. Banking is similar. Lean rivalry makes credit cheaper; cut-throat rivalry slashes margins so deeply that lenders may gamble to survive. Finding the sweet spot is not guess-work. A new World Bank working paper – Navigating […]

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World Development Economy Featured Finance

Living la vida loca? Remote investing in Latin America, 1869-1929

Foreign stock exchange listings have become increasingly popular during the last 80 years. This column examines companies that were governed and listed in London during 1869-1929 but operated in Latin America and asks how this separation affected the firm value. The findings suggest that the location of governance for the firm has a more material […]

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Healthcare Economy Featured News

Expanding private insurance for long-term care to reduce public spending

As populations age, the demand for long-term care will increase dramatically. This column argues that markets for long-term care insurance in the US have failed to expand, despite nearly five decades of development in part because individuals too often rely on self-insurance or Medicaid – a means-tested programme that requires they spend down their assets […]

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Finance Business Economy Featured

EU likely to propose to G7 lowering price cap on Russian oil to $50 per barrel

 The EU will propose to G7 finance ministers this week to lower the current $60 per barrel price cap on Russian seaborne oil as part of the new sanctions package against Moscow, European Economic Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis said on Monday. Dombrovskis did not mention the level to which the European Union would want the price […]

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Featured News Technology World

Nvidia plans to sell tech to speed AI chip communication

 Nvidia plans to sell a technology that will tie chips together to speed up the chip-to-chip communication needed to build and deploy artificial intelligence tools, it said on Monday. Nvidia launched a new version of its NVLink tech called NVLink Fusion on Monday that it will sell to other chip designers to help build powerful custom […]

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Climate Economy Environment Featured

Sovereigns on thinning ice: debt sustainability, climate impacts and adaptation

A fundamental problem for sovereigns enacting climate policies is whether they can manage increasing debts as their economies suffer from adverse climate impacts. We develop stochastic debt sustainability analysis integrating a coupled climate-economy model with debt financing scenario optimisation, and stress test sovereign debt for representative countries globally under the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change […]

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Business Economy Featured Finance

New eBook: Trump’s Great Trade Hack

President Trump’s 2025 tariffs mark the onset of the post-American leadership era. This column introduces The Great Trade Hack, a new CEPR Rapid Response book arguing that Trump’s trade policy, driven by a ‘Grievance Doctrine’, is emotionally coherent but economically incoherent. Despite their failure to deliver real solutions, tariffs persist as ‘policy placebos’ that deflect […]

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trade Featured Finance News World

The trade imbalance network and currency fluctuations

In recent years, concerns over global financial fragmentation have grown amid rising geopolitical tensions. This column integrates a network structure in a multi-country model with imperfect financial markets to study how currency risk premia are connected to financiers’ risk bearing capacity. Guided by the theory, it constructs a centrality-based characteristic that gives a direct role […]

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