Green public procurement supports EU climate goals but may conflict with other objectives, creating trade-offs that challenge its effectiveness. Public procurement, or the purchasing of goods and services by governments, is among the most powerful policy tools available to the public sector. Accounting for nearly 14 percent of European Union GDP, it shapes markets, signals priorities and […]
Hotter-than-usual years can slow or derail advances in women’s legal rights. A new analysis spanning five decades finds that temperature anomalies—years significantly hotter than a country’s historical norm—are associated with slower gains in legal equality for women, especially in low-income settings. The logic is simple but consequential: extreme-weather events tend to strain budgets and institutions, prompting governments […]
Organizers highlighted that Hong Kongآ’s external trade with Belt and Road countries reached $276bln in 2024. The 10th Belt and Road Summit in Hong Kong concluded on Thursday with the signing of nine memoranda of understanding (MoUs) and the conclusion of 36 business-to-business (B2B) deals worth close to USD one billion. The two-day summit, co-organized […]
The rapid adoption of AI in the workplace has raised concerns about job loss. This column uses data covering all AI-related commercial software registered with Brazil’s National Institute of Industrial Property to show how AI is affecting the labour market in two distinct ways. In the factory, AI increases employment of low-skilled workers by making […]
Workers often remain in their jobs even when they know they may get higher wages elsewhere, raising questions about the effectiveness of pay transparency laws. This column draws on a large German survey to examine how information frictions shape labour market outcomes. The findings suggest that workers are better informed than many policymakers assume, but […]
The negative correlation between inequality and unionisation rates in the US has been extensively documented, but while the other direction of causality – the impact of inequality on the labour movement – has also been theorised, it has not been empirically tested. This column uses three distinct research settings to show how rising occupational wage […]
The global development landscape is undergoing seismic shifts. Foreign aid, a critical lifeline for billions, is shrinking, after becoming fragmented at an alarming rate over the last two decades. At the same time, more than half of low-income countries are deep into or teetering on the brink of debt distress, with median public debt soaring from 20 […]
Adult skills play a crucial role in shaping productivity. This column uses data from the 2023 OECD Survey of Adult Skills to analyse the relationship between productivity and the level and allocation of skills across industries. Differences in skill levels account for one-quarter of productivity gaps between the OECD average and the top three performers. […]
Traditional insurance for smallholder farmers in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) is prohibitively expensive. Serving rural and remote areas requires costly on-site visits to assess risks and verify losses. In addition, the information available to insurers about farmers’ practices, and what they are exposed to, is limited, which drives the insurance cost up due to […]
France has narrowed its gender lifetime earnings gap, but has not managed closed it. Despite legal guarantees, French women still earn 30% less than men over a career. This column tracks lifetime income for cohorts born 1942–1964 and finds that convergence has stalled since the 1980s, mostly due to rising part-time work among women. Working […]
