Measuring Ukraine’s private consumption during the war
As Russia’s invasion continues to ravage many parts of Ukraine, the flow of official statistical data has been erratic. This column outlines an...
Doing Business 2.0: A Better Guide for Policy Makers
In its two decades of existence, the annual Doing Business report became a flagship publication of the World Bank and one of the primary data...
Restarting Ukraine’s agricultural exports
Russia has imposed a naval blockade on Ukraine, suffocating the country’s agricultural exports. The last time that Ukraine experienced an export...
Ukraine’s recovery challenge
The economic damage in Ukraine in the wake of Russia’s invasion is on a scale not seen in Europe since WWII. This column compares Ukraine’s economic...
Some Evidence of Regulatory Convergence
We find some evidence of regulatory convergence in four distinct areas of business activity over the 2005-2019 period. This convergence is most...
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...
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...
