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’. Aghion and Howitt were cited by the Nobel committee ‘for the theory of sustained growth through creative destruction’. As this column explains, their work transformed creative destruction from an evocative […]
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 introduces a framework that outlines the differences between fintech firms and traditional banks and how fintech affects frictions in lending. New technologies influence the differentiation between banks and fintechs and […]
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 […]
A race is raging among global powers to secure access to critical minerals to power the simultaneous energy and digital transitions the world is experiencing. The extraordinary growth in demand for critical minerals is putting upward pressure on prices and stimulating new critical mineral discoveries all around the world. However, in developing countries, this new […]
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) has a rich cultural heritage, and a wealth of natural assets like the colorful Red Sea and stunning desert landscapes. Visitors can scuba dive with sea turtles today and traverse 2,000 year-old Nabatean tombs tomorrow. Until recently, tourism in the Kingdom mainly concentrated on Islam’s iconic religious sites. That […]
Around the world, governments are racing to digitize services and tackle climate change. Yet too often, these efforts happen in silos—or even pull in opposite directions. While digital tools can eliminate paper-based processes, reduce travel, and streamline services, they also depend on energy-intensive data centers, growing processing needs, and generate growing volumes of e-waste if not […]
Quantitative analysis of how AI impacts our professional lives, the integrity of organisations, and even our cognitive skills is essential to harness the power of these new technologies. This column summarises evidence on some of the benefits AI can bring and also the complex challenges it presents, and highlights the need to create a system […]
Technological innovation, including disruptive innovation, is a driving force for economic growth and social change, but early identification of such technologies and assessments of their impact are challenging. This column introduces recent approaches to identifying innovative and disruptive technologies from academic literature, with an application to Japanese research. The methods can help allow policymakers to […]
Citizens need clear, accessible information to make informed decisions, but today’s digital landscape can be overwhelming. This column tests whether an AI chatbot can ease election information overload for 1,500 Californian voters. The chatbot reduces the voters’ perception of the effort needed to get more information, increases voter engagement, and improves the accuracy of their […]
The World Bank has long recognized the critical importance of agricultural extension services – ranging from training and data to technology transfer – which make up the second-largest share of its agriculture portfolio. Yet farmers have often been slow to adopt the very methods and tools these services are designed to deliver—limiting their own productivity and […]
