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The Behavioral Economics Manifesto Gets Revised
“The basics of behavioral economics are really sound because they’re kind of obvious,” Thaler says. It’s obvious, he says, that people aren’t perfectly rational. It’s obvious that they suffer from self-control problems and…
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Cryptoassets as National Currency? A Step Too Far
New digital forms of money have the potential to provide cheaper and faster payments, enhance financial inclusion, improve resilience and competition among payment providers, and facilitate cross-border transfers. But doing so is not…
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Taming Market Power Could (also) help Monetary Policy
Some central banks are currently debating whether to tighten monetary policy to fight inflationary pressures, after having eased decisively in response to the COVID-19 shock. In making such decisions, central bankers have to…
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Sub-Saharan Africa: We need to act now
The growth of infections in sub-Saharan Africa is now the fastest in the world, with an explosive trajectory that is outpacing the record set in the second wave. At this pace, this new…
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Four Facts about Soaring Consumer Food Prices
Rising world food prices for producers are making headlines and causing concerns among the public. The most recent data show a moderation in consumer food price inflation globally, but as we explain below,…
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A Proposal to End the COVID-19 Pandemic
Many countries have stepped up in the global fight against the pandemic, as have institutions such as the World Health Organization, the World Bank, Gavi (the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization), the…
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US Dollar Share of Global Foreign Exchange Reserves Drops to 25-Year Low
The share of US dollar reserves held by central banks fell to 59 percent—its lowest level in 25 years—during the fourth quarter of 2020, according to the IMF’s Currency Composition of Official Foreign Exchange…
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The Great Divergence: A Fork in the Road for the Global Economy
As our note to the G20 meeting points out, there is a major risk that as advanced economies and a few emerging markets recover faster, most developing countries will languish for years to…
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Structural Factors and Central Bank Credibility Limit Inflation Risks
After ending last year with unexpectedly strong vaccine success and hope that the pandemic and economic distress it caused would recede, we woke up to the reality of new virus variants and the…
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When it Comes to Services vs. Manufacturing, Words Matter
Efforts to revive national manufacturing sectors get a lot of airtime. After all, the sector propelled many East and South-East Asian economies—the so-called “East Asia Miracle”—and was a gateway to the middle class…
