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poverty Education Featured World

Behind the numbers: How we measure global poverty

Did you know? According to the latest estimates from the World Bank’s Poverty and Inequality Platform (PIP), 831 million people worldwide live in extreme poverty, surviving on less than $3.00 per day. But how is this number derived? Where does the data come from? In this blog, we take you behind the scenes. To understand how the World […]

Finance Banking Featured Global

Geopolitical tensions and international financial fragmentation: The 28th Geneva Report on the World Economy

Rising geopolitical tensions now threaten the rules-based world order that has governed the functioning of the international monetary system since WWII with risks of geoeconomic fragmentation. The latest Geneva Report on the World Economy examines how these risks, which include a reversal in decades of financial integration, reduced international allocative efficiency, and an erosion of […]

trade Featured Innovation Productivity World

Why export controls accelerate innovation: Evidence from the 2007 US ‘China Rule’

A key debate surrounding export controls is whether they accelerate innovation in targeted rivals. This column studies this question using a set of US export controls, the 2007 ‘China Rule’, by comparing sanctioned goods with goods just excluded from the policy. It finds that the policy reduced Chinese imports of restricted goods. It also finds […]

Banking Featured Finance World

Exclusive: Micron to exit server chips business in China after ban, sources say

 Micron plans to stop supplying server chips to data centres in China after the business failed to recover from a 2023 government ban on its products in critical Chinese infrastructure, two people briefed on the decision said. Micron was the first U.S. chipmaker to be targeted by Beijing – a move that was seen as retaliatory […]

Global Banking Featured Finance

Global bank stocks slide as US credit risks spark reality check

Global financial stocks slid on Friday as a rout in U.S. regional banking shares heightened concerns about credit quality and mounting risks in the sector. The banking sector’s exposure in two recent U.S. auto bankruptcies has rekindled concerns about lending standards more than two years after Silicon Valley Bank’s failure, when high interest rates drove paper losses on […]

Energy Environment Featured News World

Oil recoups some losses after US-China trade tensions

Oil prices rose on Monday after hitting five-month lows in the previous session, as investors focused on potential talks between the presidents of the United States and China that could ease trade tensions between the world’s two largest economies. Brent crude futures rose 65 cents, or 1%, to $63.38 a barrel by 1313 GMT. U.S. […]

trade Featured News Technology World

Europe’s dependence on US foreign military sales and what to do about it

Europe’s reliance on US arms raises autonomy concerns, as security worsens and leaders aim to cut strategic and technological dependence. Worries about Europe’s dependence on the United States military industrial base have increased with the worsening security situation in Europe and the deterioration of the transatlantic relationship. With a new dataset covering all US foreign […]

Climate Environment Featured World

Integrating pollution registers for corporate climate-risk assessment

Corporate climate risk disclosures are costly and often a mere box-ticking exercise. In November 2024, the Omnibus Environmental, Social and Governance Regulation was announced in Europe to consolidate and simplify the phasing-in of corporate sustainability reporting requirements while maintaining strong ESG commitments. This column discusses how leveraging pollution registers can provide an actionable picture of […]

Education Featured News Technology World

Empowering adult learners: Navigating digital skills in the AI era

According to the World Bank, one-third of the global population, roughly 2.6 billion people, live in “digital darkness,” meaning they lack access to the internet.  Even European Union countries are facing a stark reality, as nearly half of all adults struggle to navigate the digital landscape. At the same time, job markets are evolving at breakneck speed—demanding advanced skills in […]

Development Economy Featured World

Mobile phone ownership is widespread. Why is digital inclusion still lagging?

The increasing use of mobile phones is making a range of digital resources more widely available to people across the income spectrum. Eighty-four percent of adults in developing countries now have their own phone—a promising finding from the inaugural Global Findex Digital Connectivity Tracker. Yet, about one-in-four of these adults have a more affordable basic phone, […]