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Global Business and Finance Magazine > Blog > Economic
Economy Employment Featured News World

The macroeconomic impact of ageing, EU immigration policy and pension expenditures

The EU faces ageing-driven fiscal strain, slower growth and rising pension costs, making employment-focused migration increasingly vital. The European Union population is ageing increasingly rapidly, with dependency ratios and shares of the elderly in the total population rising across the continent. While aggregate projected increases in age-related public spending in the EU are manageable, there are substantial differences […]

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Development Economy Featured World

Mobile phone ownership is widespread. Why is digital inclusion still lagging?

The increasing use of mobile phones is making a range of digital resources more widely available to people across the income spectrum. Eighty-four percent of adults in developing countries now have their own phone—a promising finding from the inaugural Global Findex Digital Connectivity Tracker. Yet, about one-in-four of these adults have a more affordable basic phone, […]

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Productivity Featured Innovation News World

How the US South caught up: A century of manufacturing productivity convergence

Economic historians have long debated whether lagging regions can catch up in productivity with industrial leaders. This column shows that, under the right conditions, such catch-up can be remarkably rapid. Using newly digitised US Census of Manufactures data covering 48 states and over 120 industries from 1880 to 2007, it finds strong unconditional convergence in […]

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Agriculture Environment Featured World

Addressing food insecurity in the Middle East and North Africa: innovations in data monitoring

Food insecurity remains a critical issue affecting millions of people across the Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan, and Pakistan (MENAAP). The region faces a wide range of food security challenges—from acute conflict-related humanitarian crises in some areas to affordability concerns in others, and from high levels of economic prosperity to accompanying nutritional deficits. The food […]

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Economy Business Featured World

When the heat rises, progress on women’s economic empowerment cools

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 […]

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Economy Featured News World

Geopolitical shifts and their economic impacts on Europe: Short-term risks, medium-term scenarios and policy choices

Over the last decade, Europe has suffered from the decay of the post-war international order, economic coercion from both China and the United States, and aggression from Russia. This contribution puts these changes into a historical context, examines their short-term consequences, develops scenarios for 2030-2035 and uses these to draw out the policy implications for […]

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Economy Featured Social Security World

Migration flows from the Western Balkans to Germany: implications and recommendations

Migration to Germany is shaping the Western Balkans for better and worse, highlighting the need for reforms to harness benefits and mitigate drawbacks. Migration has long shaped the demographic and economic realities of the Western Balkans, with Germany emerging as the primary destination for emigration. Since the 1990s, persistent emigration, combined with negative natural population […]

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Healthcare Economy Featured News World

The long life spans of royals reveal the secret of ‘healthy stress’

Social status can have a long-lasting influence on people’s health and longevity. This column explores the lifespan of royals – whose status is determined by hereditary rules – between 1669 and 2022. While royals still live longer than their average subject, the gap has shrunk significantly since the 19th century. Even today, monarchs consistently outlive […]

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