Multi-issuer stablecoins: A threat to financial stability
Stablecoins – digital tokens pegged to fiat currencies – have emerged as a major innovation in crypto finance, with broad implications for payments and international
Transforming schools for better learning outcomes
Education is the pathway to jobs and the surest way out of poverty, empowering generations to drive economic growth. Yet, for many students, this promise
What Germany’s medium-term fiscal plan means for Europe
EU leniency on Germany’s fiscal plan highlights rule rigidity and the need for reform to support investment. Germany’s July 2025 medium-term fiscal-structural plan exposes the
Sustained growth through creative destruction: Nobel laureates Philippe Aghion and Peter Howitt
Philippe Aghion and Peter Howitt have been jointly awarded the 2025 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences with Joel Mokyr ‘for having explained innovation-driven economic growth’.
The impact of fintech on lending
Fintech has improved efficiency and inclusion in banking, especially lending, but has also raised concerns about financial stability, privacy, discrimination, and overall wellbeing. This column
Communicating monetary policy by a committee: Echoes that move markets
Central banks rarely speak with one voice. At the Federal Reserve, for instance, each official brings a distinct perspective, and markets parse every speech for
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
Europe’s trade surplus, international relative prices, and the productivity growth gap
The euro area faces persistently weak productivity growth alongside a sustained trade surplus and a trendless real exchange rate. This column shows that persistent productivity
The financial sector and global dollar system
The current US administration’s approach to financial markets and institutions mixes familiar deregulatory policies with a range of other policies that are largely without precedent.
The new currency war: The US-China digital rivalry as a test of monetary discipline
Digital currencies pegged to fiat money face a built-in tension between credibility and competition, creating a ‘stablecoin paradox’. This column analyses the competing frameworks of
