The loss of human capital in Ukraine
School disruptions due to war, pandemics, or natural disasters can have persistent negative effects on learning outcomes. This column estimates the...
Research highlight
Public Procurement in Law and Practice
American Economic Review, 112 (4), 1091-1117
Facing the refugee challenge: a view from Moldova
The European Union and the International Monetary Fund have been deploying resources to help Moldova cope with an influx of refugees that represents...
Technology as Deregulation
We present suggestive evidence that new technology has reduced business regulation globally over the 2005-2019 period, in the areas of paying...
Why some nations’ labour markets did better during the pandemic
Leaving human capital out of policy discussions might lead to incorrect inferences about which measures were most successful during the pandemic...
The new global tax deal arrives (but expect bumps ahead)
Nearly 140 countries have agreed to a new global tax deal, which was years in the making. Estonia, Hungary and Ireland, the last holdouts, joined the...
Simpler approaches to a global tax plan
More than 130 countries have lined up in favour of a global redesign of corporate taxes. The redesign calls for multinational giants to pay their...
Changing bankruptcy law has given firms time to adapt and recover
Bankruptcies are costly, but economists worry about keeping doomed firms alive. Simeon Djankov (LSE) argues that restructuring bankruptcy laws has...
Gendered laws curb Olympic success
Legal gender equality is key for female participation in the labour market. The association between women’s legal empowerment and success in sports is...
When Zombie Firms Become a Worry, Revise Bankruptcy Laws
Bankruptcies have fallen sharply in OECD economies during 2020 and the first half of 2021 because of an array of COVID-related support available to...
Reducing the compliance costs of regulation
In much of the world, property sales are highly regulated and expensive. Using World Bank data, this column shows that while regulators and...
Measuring human capital: Learning matters more than schooling
Human capital is a critical component of economic development. But the links between growth and human capital – when measured by years of schooling –...
Property Rights and Urban Form
How do the different elements in the standard bundle of property rights, including those of possession and transfer, influence the shape of cities...
US business dynamism rises
Steep falls in entrepreneurial activity were recorded in early 2020 across G7 economies. In the US, however, the creation of US startups shot up by 24...
