Some of Europe’s ageing coal and gas fired power plants can look forward to a more high-tech future as big tech players, such as Microsoft and Amazon, seek to repurpose them as data centres, with ready-made access to power and water. Companies such as France’s Engie , Germany’s RWE, and Italy’s Enel are looking to benefit from […]
When it comes to improving economic outcomes for women and women’s empowerment, effective action requires reliable data. Yet, data capturing the full scope of women’s lives is often scarce, making it hard to identify what holds women—and entire economies and societies—back. Without solid evidence, the path to women enjoying the same opportunities as men is […]
Fuel and carbon prices are typically assessed based on their effectiveness in reducing emissions, while their broader societal benefits often go overlooked. This column evaluates one of the world’s largest environmental tax experiments – Germany’s eco-tax reform – and finds that it led to sizable reductions not only in carbon emissions but also in harmful […]
The most economically prosperous and gender-equal societies often display stronger gender segregation in educational choices – a pattern known as the ‘gender equality paradox’. This column explores this paradox using data on half a million children in 37 Western countries and 10,000 British families over two decades. The findings suggest that gender segregation in education […]
International trade plays a complex role in shaping environmental outcomes. A new World Bank paper, “Trade’s Emissions Paradox: Cutting Greenhouse Gases, Raising Air Pollution,” prepared for the forthcoming flagship report “Reboot Development: The Economics of a Livable Planet,” brings a new perspective to the debate by revealing an important insight: while global trade has contributed […]
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 […]
As the world continues to emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermath, countries face new and unexpected challenges. Elevated debt levels, persistent inflation, and weakened growth prospects have created a perfect storm of financial pressure. For many nations, this has meant shrinking the budgets in vital sectors like health, education, and the environment. In […]
There is growing recognition that the specific characteristics of services sectors and services trade have important environmental implications. For example, services trade can foster technological advancements and solutions that reduce the environmental footprint of economic activities. This column presents empirical evidence that reducing policy restrictions on imported services inputs lowers the emissions intensity of downstream […]
HSBC plans to cut 348 jobs in France through a voluntary redundancy scheme, amounting to about 10% of its workforce in the country, the bank said on Wednesday. The job losses are part of a cost-cutting drive led by CEO Georges Elhedery, who aims to reduce expenses by $1.8 billion by the end of 2026. The Reuters Daily […]
The policies of the Trump administration have put the research environment in the United States under pressure. Public research funding cuts, hostility towards academic freedom, climate science denial and the detaining or exclusion of foreign researchers have unsettled the scientific community in the US. Researchers question the US’s traditional role as a safe haven for […]
