Publications

Get My Tax Base if You Can

| 25 June 2021
Fiscal, Blog | Tags: Developing Countries, Minimum Tax Rate, Tax Competition
The headlines from the G7 summit in Cornwall might suggest that the groundwork has just been laid for the most fundamental overhaul of the international tax regime in decades. The twin proposal accords additional taxing rights to states with large consumer markets and introduces a ... continue reading

ECB and Climate Change: The Direction is Clear – But Ambition and Speed are Lacking

| 7 June 2021
Monetary, Blog | Tags: Central Banks, Monetary Policy Operations, Sustainability
All public institutions urgently need to address the colossal challenges posed by climate change. Central banks are no exception, and their representatives are well aware of this. Jens Weidmann, President of the Deutsche Bundesbank, for example, is convinced "that we can all do more to mitigate ... continue reading

Systemic Risk Buffers – The Missing Piece in the Prudential Response to Climate Risks

| 1 June 2021
Monetary, Policy Briefs | Tags: Climate Risk, European Systemic Risk Board, Macroprudential Regulation, Systemic Risks
Climate-related financial risks can potentially destabilize the financial sector. This fact is acknowledged by the major international financial bodies – the Financial Stability Board (FSB), the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), the International Monetary Fund (IMF) – as well as by the Central Banks and ... continue reading

Services Trade and the Gender Wage Gap: The Case of India

and | 31 May 2021
Trade, Blog | Tags: India, Inequality, Services Trade, Wage Gap
India’s female labour force participation rate is less than half of the global average and the gender wage gap is substantial. With higher tertiary graduation rates and excelling in frontier skills for the future, women constitute a talent pool that India can ill afford to ... continue reading

Governing Finance – The Case for a New Playbook

and | 7 April 2021
Monetary, Blog | Tags: Central Banks, Climate Change, Digital Finance, Employment, Financial Supervision, Governing Finance, Inequality, Sustainability
Finance impacts all aspects of our lives, from our economies to social cohesion to the ecological systems we depend on for our very survival. As a result, the implications of how we govern finance are fundamental, and ultimately existential. Yet, alarmingly, we are not talking ... continue reading

Governing Finance for Sustainable Prosperity

and | 7 April 2021
Monetary, Discussion Notes | Tags: Central Banks, Climate Change, Digital Finance, Employment, Financial Supervision, Governing Finance, Inequality, Sustainability
Finance impacts all aspects of our lives, from our economies to social cohesion to the ecological systems we depend on for our very survival. As a result, the implications of how we choose to govern finance are fundamental, and ultimately existential. Whether we succeed in improving ... continue reading

Assessing Pension-Related Tax Expenditures in South Africa

and | 6 April 2021
Fiscal, Research Papers | Tags: Inequality, Pensions, South Africa, Tax Expenditures
In 2016, the South African government introduced a comprehensive reform to simplify and harmonize the pension system in order to incentivize pension savings and increase the fairness of the retirement system. Using administrative tax micro-data, we assess the impact of the 2016 reform and find that it triggered ... continue reading

“If Something Cannot Go on Forever, It Will Stop“

| 1 April 2021
Fiscal, Monetary, Policy Briefs | Tags: Covid-19, Debt, Democracy, Environment, Financial Stability, Health Systems, Inequality, International Cooperation, Resilience
“If something cannot go on forever, it will stop.” This famous observation was made by Herb Stein, Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. It became famous largely because it was just that, obvious. Yet, what is no less obvious is that public policy is ... continue reading

Trade in Environmental Services: The Quiet Revolution

and | 29 March 2021
Trade, Blog | Tags: Environment, Services Trade, Sustainable Development
A significant number of WTO members have taken steps to revive the discussions on the role that traded environmental goods and services could play in a green recovery. This is encouraging. While technology offers significant opportunities for a green recovery, more needs to be done ... continue reading

Services Trade Governance in the Digital Economy

| 26 March 2021
Trade, Policy Briefs | Tags: Digitalization, Services Trade, Trade Policy
Services are at the frontier of the transformation to a digital economy. R&D as well as information and communication technology drive the transformation and make services more tradable across borders. The General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) governing global services trade was designed in ... continue reading