Support for right-wing populist parties in many advanced democracies is characterised by considerable regional heterogeneity. This column uses data on high-street vacancies in the UK to show that visible signs of local decline play a crucial role in driving support for right-wing populists. One important policy implication is that countering populism requires not only regional […]
Monetary policy is said to impact the economy with long and variable lags. This column studies how monetary policy affects subcomponents of the Personal Consumption Expenditures Price Index of the US. Following a monetary policy contraction, the response of the aggregate index turns significantly negative after over three years. There are stark differences in the […]
Traditional views on monetary-fiscal interactions suggest that fiscal deficits can be stabilised through changes in taxes, government spending, or inflation. This column examines how economic growth driven by technological innovation affects price stability and the sustainability of public debt. It argues that there is another stabilisation channel for public debt: economic growth. Increased demand boosts […]
In the ongoing debate on climate change, one of the most pressing challenges is fostering effective international cooperation. This column examines the success of the 1987 ‘Montreal Protocol’ in phasing out harmful chlorofluorocarbons to offer new insights into how international agreements can be made more effective in solving global public goods problems. The Protocol’s realistic, […]
Economic equality and growth are important policy objectives, but the relationship between the two aims is complex. This column examines how the distribution of land ownership shaped Italy’s structural transformation after WWII. A relatively egalitarian agrarian economy corresponded with higher levels of economic growth, fostering a successful entrepreneurial model with flexible networks of small and […]
In the last decade, many publications have appeared on degrowth as a strategy to confront environmental and social problems. This column reviews their content, data, and methods. The authors conclude that a large majority of the studies are opinions rather than analysis, few studies use quantitative or qualitative data, and even fewer use formal modelling; […]
The events of March 2023 in the US and Switzerland showed, once again, that banking systems remain fragile. The latest Geneva Report on the World Economy assesses whether reforms to date suffice to deal with a changing environment and ongoing structural changes, and what additional reforms may be necessary. While the specific causes of bank […]
Developed countries are ageing fast. Although longer and healthier lives imply huge welfare gains for individuals, the effects on economic growth have been elusive. This column uses a structural model to estimate the contributions of demographic change to the historical and projected future economic growth in the four largest European economies. The model projects that […]
Many of today’s global problems, such as sustainability, technology, skills, and diversity can only be solved by organisations. This column argues that more work is needed to understand strategic management by firms, how firms behave, and how they respond to economic incentives. Future research should study strategic decisions by firms as well as their internal […]
Though social scientists have long questioned how religion affects economic growth, a lack of accessible data hindered their efforts. Recently, advances in computing, novel econometric techniques, and the availability of new data have enabled researchers to test how religion has influenced growth in rich and poor countries, both historically and in the present. This column […]
