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 –...
Opinion Pieces
SUERF Policy Brief – The way forward for EU-wide stress tests
EU-wide stress tests have constituted a very useful supervisory tool for increasing the resilience of the EU banking sector. This policy brief claims...
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...
As COVID rages, bankruptcy cases fall
Bankruptcies have fallen sharply in OECD economies because of the array of COVID-related support available to businesses, as well as imposed moratoria...
Moral hazard, the fear of the markets, and how central banks responded to Covid-19
While the direct economic consequences of Covid-19 have been significant, the impact on the financial markets has been more nuanced. This column uses...
Vaccine challenges
Last week brought welcome news about the apparent effectiveness of a potential Covid-19 vaccine. While the challenges of manufacturing and...
Financial policymaking after crises: Public versus private interest
Financial crises invariably lead governments to intervene in one way or another, whether to ease the damage to middle-class voters, to respond to the...
Making furlough portable would encourage people to move into new jobs
Furlough is here to stay – in the UK, at least until March. The author argues that making part of furlough income portable would encourage people to...
How we learned to stop counting cases and worry about network effects instead
The commuter hub was key to the spread of COVID-19 in London. The authors of the article estimate it contributed to over 42% of all London cases. When...
Reform bankruptcy laws to save businesses from going under
Faced with the prospect of hundreds of thousands of businesses going under, the UK changed its bankruptcy laws in June. Other G7 countries that put...
COVID-19 hurt women’s employment the hardest
Changes to maternity leave and pension regulation, among other policy tools, can lessen the burden on women.
The great demographic reversal and what it means for the economy
The ageing of the population has implications for inequality, productivity and monetary and fiscal policy, write Charles Goodhart and Manoj Pradhan
Reviving tourism in the COVID era: bungs, tax cuts and no more tour buses
Tourism has taken an enormous hit during the pandemic. Simeon Djankov (LSE) looks at some of the ways governments are trying to revive the sector –...
Moving property sales online could give developing economies a boost
In some countries, COVID-19 has prompted property transactions to move online, and in these places the market has picked up as a result. It represents...
Measuring property rights institutions
In a world of limited public capacity, which rules and institutions that protect property rights have the largest impact on economic activity? This...
Five things the French and German recovery plans have in common (and what’s missing)
France and Germany have announced big recovery plans. Simeon Djankov looks at what they have in common – and what’s missing from both.
