Southern European and emerging market firms are under severe distress
With lockdown measures in place almost worldwide now, cash-flow represents a significant concern for firms across multiple sectors. It remains to be...
Europe's pandemic price tag to keep firms afloat
Simeon Djankov's testimony before the members of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) of the European Parliament.
The effects of recessionary stimulus programmes: New evidence from the UK’s Enterprise Finance Guarantee scheme
Loan guarantees to small businesses are emerging as a main policy response during the COVID-19 crisis. Using evidence from the UK’s Enterprise Finance...
How long can firms survive in the Covid-19 crisis?
Median survival time ranges from 8 to 19 weeks across 12 countries. Worryingly, this is not correlated with firm size, age or productivity, which...
It’s time for a recovery plan
With businesses fast running out of cash, governments need to roll out a loan program that builds on the recently-created job retention scheme, write...
How to restart the economy after Covid-19
Governments can do two things to keep businesses afloat: temporarily suspend bankruptcy procedures, and design a post-crisis restart process, write...
Future imperfect after coronavirus
The authorities, like most of the rest of us, have been caught short by the sudden advent of the coronavirus pandemic, and are rightly rushing to...
The coronavirus crisis is no 2008
Many comparisons have been made between the coronavirus crisis and the global systemic crisis in 2008. This column argues that seen through the lens...
Artificial intelligence as a central banker
Artificial intelligence, such as the Bank of England Bot, is set to take over an increasing number of central bank functions. This column argues that...
Banks and government bonds: A love story
European banks have been criticised for holding too much domestic government debt during the recent euro area crisis, intensifying the doom loop...
Dollars or Pence? Choosing a framework for US-China trade
Given that China is a strategic and economic rival to the US, the Trump administration’s framework for US-China trade makes far more sense than one...
Systemic consequences of outsourcing to the cloud
Financial institutions are increasingly outsourcing information technology to the cloud, motivated by efficiency, security, and cost. This column...
The dissonance of the short and long term
The type of risk we most care about is long-term, what happens over years or decades, but we tend to manage that risk over short periods. This column...
Central banks and reputation risk
As central banks accumulate ever more job functions, their reputation risk increases. This column offers a cautionary tale from Iceland where, after...
Financial crises and the dynamics of financial de-liberalisation
Financial crises play a key role in changing existing policies concerning financial markets and institutions. This column provides new evidence for...
The wealth effect: The middle class and the changing politics of banking crises
The accumulation of mass financialised wealth has transformed the politics of banking crises. This column shows that the rising wealth of the middle...
