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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 […]

Development Energy Environment Featured

Winners and losers from the energy crisis: Policy lessons from the Iberian electricity market

Europe’s recent energy crisis generated large windfall rents for electricity producers. Yet, most EU governments responded with costly downstream measures that left wholesale prices – and producer profits – largely untouched. This column shows that Spain and Portugal charted a different course by intervening directly in the wholesale market, decoupling electricity prices from gas. This […]

Technology Energy Featured Finance World

Britain’s AI hopes face harsh reality of high electricity costs

 Britain’s ambition to rev up its economy and tap the AI revolution faces the harsh reality that the abundant, clean and reliable electricity supply this requires is unlikely to materialise any time soon. Prime Minister Keir Starmer has laid out several major industrial policies aimed at reviving Britain’s sluggish economy, including by pouring investment into the artificial […]

Economy Featured Finance Technology World

EU eases state aid rules to boost green projects, cut carbon footprint

Businesses will find it easier to get state aid for projects aimed at cutting their carbon emissions and to switch to green projects while heavy industries will benefit from temporary power price relief under looser rules announced by the European Commission on Wednesday. The new state aid rules, valid until December 2030, are part of […]

Energy Banking Featured Finance

Home charging and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles: A strategy for real-world emissions reductions

Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles can use either fossil fuels or electricity and offer potential emission reductions, depending on the driver’s usage. This column examines how access to charging at home influences the share of driving that employees with company cars in Germany do using electricity. Access to home charging reduces the users’ fossil fuel consumption […]