Publications

Central Banking and Inequality – Taking Off the Blinders

, and | 16 June 2016
Monetary, Blog | Tags: Central Banks, Ethics, Inequality
Since the financial crisis, the relative importance of monetary policy in the toolbox of macroeconomic policies has increased. In parallel, we have seen a renewed social and political concern with rising inequalities in income and wealth. However, the two trends are rarely connected.[1] Despite studies ... continue reading

Measuring and Understanding Trade in Service Tasks

, and | 24 May 2016
Trade, Discussion Notes | Tags: Employment, Services Trade
Improvements in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) have had differential impacts on the costs of offshoring service tasks. As a result, services with stronger tradability characteristics are at a higher risk of being offshored. This has increased the need for coming up with proper measures ... continue reading

Energy Subsidies – Widespread, Significant, and Largely Not Reaching the Poor

| 18 April 2016
Fiscal, Blog | Tags: Energy, Inequality, Subsidies
Energy subsidies are widespread and significant. In 2014, according to the IEA (2015), government support for global fossil fuel consumption amounted to 490 billion US$. An IMF working paper (Coady et al., 2015) reports even higher numbers. Distinguishing between subsidies before (pre) and after (post) ... continue reading

Multinational tax avoidance in developing countries

, and | 7 April 2016
Fiscal, Blog | Tags: Corporate Taxes, Development, Tax Avoidance
In recent years many global firms—including Starbucks, Google, and Amazon—have come under fire for avoiding paying taxes in one country by shifting their profits to a country with lower tax rates. ... continue reading

Finance, Growth and Inequality

and | 31 March 2016
Fiscal, Monetary, Blog | Tags: Financial Markets, Inequality
Finance is the lifeblood of modern economies, but too much of the wrong type of finance can hamper economic prosperity and social cohesion. We have taken a holistic approach to study the consequences of finance for the inclusiveness of growth, in the spirit of the ... continue reading