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 […]
The introduction of crypto technology and tokenisation is spurring changes in the financial system. Meanwhile, the Trump administration is taking steps to integrate crypto into traditional finance, most notably the GENIUS Act’s establishment of a regulatory regime for payment stablecoins. This column explores the US’ policy goals concerning digital assets and argues that tokenisation – […]
The world is moving into a period of entrenched manufacturing overcapacity, threatening deflation and stagnant growth. Over the past two decades, China has emerged as the world’s manufacturing powerhouse. By offering goods at significantly lower prices than its competitors, China has captured a huge share of the global market. However, this flood of inexpensive goods […]
How does generative AI affect real workplace productivity? This column reports results from an experiment at the National Bank of Slovakia, where staff were randomly assigned GPT-4o access while completing routine and non-routine tasks. The model improved output quality by up to 44% and cut completion time by 21%, with the largest gains on non-routine, […]
The competition being fought between the US and China in cutting-edge technology fields friction is also affecting basic research activities at universities and other public institutions. This column examines how innovation processes in Japan compare with those in the US and China, and argues that Japan must improve the incorporation of cutting-edge international research results […]
Population ageing makes it harder for governments to finance programmes like public pensions and long-term care. But policy responses, such as tightening programme eligibility and benefit levels or raising taxes on current workers, often prove unpopular. This column presents findings from the latest wave of the OECD’s Risks that Matter survey, which takes stock of […]
Developing countries invest about $1 billion annually to train millions of aspiring and existing entrepreneurs. While significant, this investment doesn’t fully address the shortage of expertise needed to better support micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) or to design programs to improve their access to finance, markets, and technology. So, what is limiting MSMEs from […]
Three forces have always shaped globalisation – technology, policies, and geopolitics. What distinguishes the current moment is that all three are accelerating simultaneously but in different directions. This column introduces a new eBook showing how this divergent acceleration creates transformation rather than retreat from globalisation. But it also generates acute tension between rapidly changing economic […]
Amid geopolitical shocks, the EU is revisiting its industrial strategy. However, traditional metrics often paint a misleading picture of Europe’s underlying strength. This column uses a new approach to measure the EU’s relative state of technology in different sectors. It shows that although EU manufacturing broadly outperforms the rest of the world in productivity terms, […]
In 2018 and 2019, the US administration hiked tariffs on imports from China. This column shows that imports from Mexico partly filled the gap, leading to an export and employment surge in Mexico. Using highly disaggregated firm-level data on Mexican exports, combined with detailed employer-employee data, the authors find that US tariffs against China resulted […]
