Informality as an Anti-Measure of Prosperity
In developing economies, the informal sector can account for upwards of 60% of GDP and over 90% of employment. The data show wide disparity in...
ASC Insight: Bank capital regulation and climate change
Climate change has become a major topic of discussion at central banks and financial regulators. Key aspects of this debate include whether and how...
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...
CBDCs: Potential Impact on Bank Profitability, Asset and Risk Management and Financial Stability
In this paper we discuss whether or not the introduction of CBDCs may impact the profitability of banks and their ability to accumulate capital...
Central bank digital currencies, reserve currencies and geopolitics
When it comes to central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), the focus of market participants and regulators – especially in the banking industry – 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...
Digital Currency and Economic Crises: Helping States Respond
The current crisis, at the time of writing, has had a profound impact on the financial world, introducing the need for creative approaches to...
Firms in Financial Distress
We use simple accounting measures to estimate the share of private manufacturing firms in financial distress under a hypothetical scenario of losing...
Firms in Financial Distress
We use simple accounting measures to estimate the share of private manufacturing firms in financial distress under a hypothetical scenario of losing...
Regulatory Reforms after Covid
Fiscal crises, particularly following a pandemic of the magnitude of Covid-19, spur regulatory reform, for example in registering property, trading...
COVID-19: A Double Whammy of Financial and Economic Sudden Stops for Emerging Economies
While it is too early to say how the disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic will ultimately affect emerging market economies (EMs), experience...
The Economic Risk of COVID-19 in Developing Countries: Where is it Highest?
We measure the economic risk of COVID-19 in developing countries using pre- pandemic data sources. Following the standard conceptual model of...
Coping with a Dual Shock: Perspective from the Middle East and North Africa
Countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) face a dual shock from the Covid-19 pandemic and a collapse in oil prices. The dual shock has...
A Restart Procedure to Deal with Covid-19
Governments around the world are assisting firms to deal with the adverse effects of Covid-19. Most forms of government assistance provided so far...
Survival of firms in developing economies during economic crisis
With lockdown measures in place worldwide, cash-flow represents a significant concern for firms across multiple sectors. This chapter estimates the...
Synthetic Forecasting Method for COVID-19: Applications to UK and Turkey
Synthetic control method (SCM) is generally used for producing counterfactual scenarios in policy evaluations. In the light and urgency of the recent...
