Fed Chair Jerome Powell said tariffs accounted for perhaps 30-40 basis points of the latest core inflation reading of 2.9% but the effect should be “relatively short-lived”. U.S. companies and consumers are bearing the brunt of the country’s new import tariffs, early indications show, contradicting assertions by President Donald Trump and complicating the Federal Reserve’s […]
Today’s global economy is more interconnected than ever, and trade — along with global value chains (GVCs) — plays a major role in shaping job opportunities. Previous research has shown that manufacturing firms in developing countries engaged in international trade tend to hire more women, boosting female participation in the workforce. But as the services sector grows […]
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 […]
Expectations a closely-watched crop tour in the United States this week will boost expectations of large U.S. corn harvest also weakened corn Chicago soybean and corn futures fell on Monday, pressured by favourable U.S. weather and concerns over low export demand as trade tensions between the U.S. and top buyer China continued. Expectations a closely-watched […]
It is well established that exporters tend to be some of the most productive firms. But in today’s world, exporters typically rely strongly on other firms in their supply network. This columns uses data on the domestic supply chains of Dutch exporters to investigate whether domestic suppliers to exporting firms are more productive than firms […]
When the Trump administration pledged to impose “reciprocal tariffs” on countries with “unfair” trade practices, trade economists scrambled to determine what such tariffs might look like. But modelling any tariff-based intervention requires reliable data on what countries actually impose, and this column argues that the tariff data we rely on are incomplete and often wrong. […]
