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Global Business and Finance Magazine > Blog > employment
trade Featured News World

How to manage the economic trade-offs of public procurement policies in developing economies

Government procurement—the process in which public entities buy goods and services from private companies—represents between 5% and 20% of a country’s GDP, depending on the country. Public procurement policies allow governments to strategically support certain firms and sectors, for example, small businesses or eco-friendly products. In using public procurement systems, policymakers must navigate a trade-off: […]

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Economy Featured News World

Agreed and disagreed uncertainty: Rethinking the macroeconomic impact of uncertainty

The conventional wisdom is that uncertainty leads to economic contractions, but recent evidence challenges this assumption. This column introduces two novel concepts of uncertainty – agreed and disagreed uncertainty. It shows that when uncertainty is accompanied by widespread consumer disagreement about economic conditions (disagreed uncertainty), the economy remains stable despite the elevated uncertainty. In contrast, […]

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Covid-19 Business Featured World

Working from home boosted growth by expanding disability employment

Individuals with a disability have remarkably low employment rates compared to the rest of the population. This column examines whether the rapid rise in the ability to work from home post-pandemic has improved disability employment. The authors estimate that in the US working from home has already increased full-time disability employment levels by over a […]

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Finance Featured Politics trade

The impact of international economic sanctions on informal employment

Economic sanctions have become an increasingly common instrument of foreign policy, promoted as a non-violent alternative to military intervention. However, their effects on labour markets remain underexplored. This column examines the case of Iran following the unprecedented international sanctions imposed in 2012 to investigate how sudden and extreme shocks to market access affect the allocation […]

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World Environment Featured News

Agrifood powers economies and jobs across Europe and Central Asia

As economies develop, it is often assumed that agriculture becomes less relevant—a small slice of GDP and a shrinking share of employment. But evidence from Europe and Central Asia tells a different story. Across countries stretching from Portugal to Uzbekistan, agriculture and the broader agrifood sector remain essential pillars of economic development, employment, trade, and […]

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Business Economy Featured World

Effects of monetary policy on labour income: The role of the employer

How do monetary policy shocks affect workers’ wages and employment? This column looks at the role that firms play in determining the wage and employment responses to such shocks. The authors show that, when it comes to employment, young firms are especially sensitive to monetary policy shocks, and that the wages of workers at large […]

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Economy Featured World

Resolving non-performing loans and zombie firms: A path to sustainable growth in Greece

During the Greek debt crisis, zombie firms and non-performing business loans peaked at 20% and 50%, respectively. This column examines the negative effects of ‘zombie’ firms on investment, employment, and productivity during the crisis. The findings suggest that zombie firms have a negative impact on the economy through multiple channels, but highlight heterogeneities across sectors. […]

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World Featured News Technology

Tracking pay: Lessons from the ‘video’ revolution

In many of the world’s most advanced economies, hyper-globalisation and technological shocks such as AI have made many people’s lives seem less secure. But the traditional way of monitoring pay via repeated one-off surveys has limited our understanding of the volatility of earnings, and thus insecurity. This column uses newly available data from Britain’s tax […]

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