Central banks engaged in large-scale asset purchase programmes during and after the global financial crisis as well as during the COVID-18 pandemic, significantly increasing the size of their balance sheets. This column develops a framework for understanding the medium- and long-run implications of the losses arising from these large-scale asset purchases, and argues that they […]
In the wake of recent political shifts, democratic institutions are being eroded, giving way to a consolidation of governmental power through autocratic means. This column highlights the effects of the up-and-down transformations in the liberal characteristics of a regime on foreign direct investors, comparing the experiences of Poland and Israel. Liberalisation significantly enhanced both countries’ […]
Philippe Martin, who passed away in December 2023, was an outstanding economist who will be sorely missed, not only by the profession itself – in France, Europe and internationally – but also, personally, by the many colleagues whom he inspired and supported. This column, written by two of his friends and co-authors, outlines his research […]
Union membership across the developed world has been falling for decades. This column uses data on wages and hours worked in the US over the last 50 years to examine whether this has led to a fall in the ‘union wage premium’. The authors find that while the hourly wage premium for union members has […]
In their fight against inflation, central banks have raised interest rates dramatically by raising the rates of remuneration of bank reserves. When central banks pay interest on these reserves, they create money which they transfer to banks, at the expense of the Treasury. Proponents of this system argue that reducing the interest payments to banks […]
The US fiscal system is far from inflation neutral. Many provisions, such as the taxation of nominal asset incomes and Social Security benefits, are simply not indexed for inflation. Others are indexed with substantial lags. This column shows that after neutralising fixed non-fiscal effects, a permanent rise in inflation from 0% to 10% reduces median […]
Business services like advertising, legal support and market research are key inputs for all manufacturing companies in an international business environment, since they are essential for accessing markets abroad. This column argues that exporters with the option to outsource such services to external providers – as opposed to employing workers directly – can reduce the […]
By introducing a 15% minimum effective tax rate, the Global Minimum Tax aims to curtail base erosion and profit shifting practices and places a multilaterally agreed limit on tax competition. This column examines some of the expected impacts of this fundamental reform of the international tax architecture. The analysis suggests that the Global Minimum Tax […]
Recent workforce surveys reveal alarmingly high levels of work-related stress worldwide. Consequently, a significant share of workers experience stress-related occupational illnesses – they burn out. This column discusses recent evidence on the risk factors of burnout, its economic implications, and the optimal design of prevention programmes, with a particular focus on the role of firms […]
The debate over the effective taxation of corporate profit is often focused on the large amounts of profit reported by multinational enterprises in jurisdictions with low average tax rates. This column examines the distribution of low-taxed profit across and within countries. The findings suggest that an assessment of global low-taxed profit that focuses only on […]
