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Development Climate Environment Featured World

How dirty air hurts economies in Europe and Central Asia and what can be done

Worldwide, air pollution is an “equal opportunity offender” impacting high-, middle-, and low-income countries. While low- and lower-middle-income countries bear the brunt of air pollution, middle- and upper-middle-income countries in Europe and Central Asia are also significantly affected. With growing urbanization, they face increasing public health impacts caused by dirty air. Across the region, in cities […]

Economy Featured Finance News World

A Three-Pronged Strategy Can Help Developing Economies Attract FDI and Unlock its Full Potential

Foreign direct investment (FDI) plays a critical role in the world economy. Global FDI flows averaged almost $2 trillion per year during the past decade, up to one-half of which have been directed to emerging market and developing economies (EMDEs) in recent years (figure 1.A). FDI inflows are an important source of private capital, especially for […]

Featured Climate Environment News World

How developing countries can measure exposure to the EU’s carbon border adjustment mechanism

In January 2026, the European Union will require importers of certain carbon-intensive goods to pay for their products’ embodied carbon emissions. The policy, known as the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), could raise the cost of exporting these goods to the EU market, potentially affecting the competitiveness of exporters.   To help developing countries assess the potential […]

Finance Banking Featured News World

Strong Japan GDP lifts yen, dollar steady as rate cut fervour cools slightly

Dollar on course to end week flat against EUR; lower against JPY, GBP. The dollar was largely steady against the euro and British pound on Friday as traders trimmed wagers on monetary policy easing by the U.S. Federal Reserve following hotter-than-expected wholesale inflation data. The Japanese yen, meanwhile, firmed broadly following surprising strong economic growth […]

Finance Banking Economy Featured News

US budget deficit forecast $1trln higher over next decade, watchdog says

The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget’s latest forecasts show a cumulative deficit of $22.7trln from fiscal 2026 to 2035. U.S. federal budget deficits will be nearly $1 trillion higher over the next decade than projected in January by the Congressional Budget Office as a result of tax and spending legislation and tariffs, a budget […]

Finance Banking Business Featured World

Strong Japan GDP lifts yen, dollar steady as rate cut fervour cools slightly

Dollar on course to end week flat against EUR; lower against JPY, GBP The dollar was largely steady against the euro and British pound on Friday as traders trimmed wagers on monetary policy easing by the U.S. Federal Reserve following hotter-than-expected wholesale inflation data. The Japanese yen, meanwhile, firmed broadly following surprising strong economic growth […]

Climate Environment Featured Innovation Productivity

Adjusting productivity for carbon emissions: A new perspective on the growth slowdown

Productivity growth has been lacklustre over the past 20 years in most advanced economies. But standard productivity measures ignore the progress that some economies have made in terms of lowering carbon dioxide emissions. This column proposes a method to embed those efficiency gains into existing productivity measures. For traditional (small) estimates of the cost of […]

Economy Featured Innovation Productivity World

Italy and the cost of unintelligible laws: 110 billion euros a year

Over the past 30 years, laws in Italy have become longer, more convoluted, and frequently unintelligible even to seasoned legal professionals. This column exploits variation in the ability of lower courts to interpret poorly drafted laws in alignment with Italy’s Supreme Court of Cassation to assess how legal uncertainty affects the local economy. The authors […]

Economy Banking Featured Finance

Global shocks, institutional development, and trade restrictions: Learning from crises and recoveries between 1990 and 2022

During the past 20 years, the world economy has suffered two major crises in the form of the Global Financial Crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic. This column identifies the turning points of recessions and expansions in 101 advanced and developing economies between 1990 and 2022 and analyses the drivers of economic recovery. Across the sample, […]