During the pandemic, annual CPI inflation in the US rose sharply to a peak of 9% in June 2022. This column argues that the rise of inflation can be explained with a framework in which inflation depends on three factors: long-term expectations, the tightness of the labour market as measured by the vacancy-to-unemployment ratio, and […]
Despite a succession of shocks since 2020, the global economy has held up remarkably well—so far. But the margin for error is dwindling. Total global debt is now nearly 25 percent higher than it was on the eve of the COVID-19 pandemic, when it already was at an all-time high. This overhang could undercut all economies’ ability to shield […]
The World Bank has revised its estimates of global poverty to reflect new data on prices and national poverty lines from more than 160 countries in the world. The revisions to the global poverty estimates suggest that more people have escaped extreme poverty over the last decades, yet the world is poorer than we thought. […]
Only six months ago, a “soft landing” appeared to be in sight: the global economy was stabilizing after an extraordinary string of calamities both natural and man-made over the past few years. That moment has passed. The world economy today is once more running into turbulence. Without a swift course correction, the harm to living standards […]
Advanced economies are still experiencing labour shortages in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. This column examines the high labour shortages across OECD countries, focusing on wage and non-wage job quality. Real wages have generally increased, but with differences between countries and industries. Beyond pay, job insecurity, poor working conditions, and exposure to health risks […]
