Avoiding a Household Debt Crisis with a Targeted Policy Response
Gudrun Johnsen | 8 January 2021
Fiscal,
Blog | Tags:
Covid-19,
Debt,
Income Tax,
Unemployment
The economic effect of the Covid-19 pandemic varies highly across industrial sectors, education levels and income groups, adding further to inequality across the globe. This calls for highly targeted policy responses for the sake of fiscal prudence and to avoid further economic and financial hardship
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Climate Financial Risks: Assessing Convergence, Exploring Diversity
Julia Bingler,
Chiara Colesanti Senni and
Pierre Monnin | 9 December 2020
Monetary,
Discussion Notes | Tags:
Climate Risk,
Financial Supervision,
Monetary Policy Operations,
Risk Metrics
Climate risks are now fully recognized as financial risks by asset managers, investors, central banks, and financial supervisors. As a result, the integration of climate risk metrics into risk management processes is moving up agendas worldwide. In that context, a rapidly growing number of market
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COVID-19 and Inequality: The Urgent Need for Tax Expenditure Reform
Rita de la Feria and
Agustin Redonda | 24 November 2020
Fiscal,
Blog | Tags:
Covid-19,
Inequality,
Tax Expenditures,
Tax Reform
The economic impact of COVID-19 is both unprecedented and far-reaching. There is now little doubt that the pandemic will disproportionally hit the worse-off, hence exacerbating inequality. It is also clear that the pandemic is particularly affecting groups and sectors that were already under significant stress
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Central Banks Must Upgrade Their Risk Management
Pierre Monnin | 23 November 2020
Monetary,
Blog | Tags:
Central Banks,
Climate Change,
Climate Risk
The COVID-19 crisis is a stark reminder of how sharply asset values can shift. Amid a crashing demand for oil and gas, giant energy companies like BP, Chevron and Shell massively wrote down the value of their assets. And those that did not, like Exxon,
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Central Bank Market Neutrality is a Myth
Chiara Colesanti Senni and
Pierre Monnin | 16 October 2020
Monetary,
Blog | Tags:
Asset Purchases,
Central Banks,
Climate Change,
Foreign Exchange Reserves,
Market Neutrality
Christine Lagarde, the President of the European Central Bank (ECB), this week raised the critical question whether, in view of market failures, market neutrality should remain the guiding principle driving central banks’ policy portfolio management. Her spotlight on market neutrality underscores growing and overdue scrutiny
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Central Banks Must Heed Their Own Warnings on Climate Risks
Alexander Barkawi | 13 October 2020
Monetary,
Blog | Tags:
Asset Purchases,
Central Banks,
Climate Risk,
Collateral Frameworks
The Central Banks and Supervisors Network for Greening the Financial System (NGFS), a group of more than 70 central banks and financial supervisors across the globe, has repeatedly highlighted that climate risks are financial risks. Its members have also continuously put a spotlight on the
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Tackling Inequality Through Tax Expenditure Reform
Agustin Redonda and
Rita de la Feria | 24 September 2020
Fiscal,
Policy Briefs | Tags:
G20,
Inequality,
Tax Expenditures,
VAT
Inequality endangers social cohesion and hampers economic growth, and as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic, inequality is set to increase. Hence, the commitment of the Group of Twenty (G20) to address inequality in the context of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is arguably more
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Trade Implications of Tax Expenditures
Agustin Redonda,
Irma Mosquera Valderrama,
Gilles Carbonnier,
Robert Koopman,
Rahul Mehrotra and
Facundo Calvo | 15 September 2020
Fiscal,
Trade,
Policy Briefs | Tags:
Carbon Tax,
Digitalization,
Tax Competition,
Tax Expenditures
International trade and taxation are inextricably linked and have been high-priority issues within the Group of Twenty (G20) agenda. However, the interconnections between international trade and tax expenditures—that is, benefits granted through preferential tax treatment—have been overlooked. This brief calls for a better design of
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Worthy Goals, Flawed Policies – Why Increasing Tax Deductions for Parents Can be Wrong
Agustin Redonda | 4 September 2020
Fiscal,
Blog | Tags:
Inequality,
Tax Expenditures
Tax expenditures (TEs) – also called tax benefits, tax reliefs, or simply tax subsidies – are used widely to pursue different policy objectives, e.g. boosting innovation and R&D, attracting investment and reducing poverty. Governments worldwide forego significant amounts of revenues through the implementation of these
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COVID-19 and Seizing the Opportunity for Reforming Tax Expenditures in Africa
Agustin Redonda and
Sanjeev Gupta | 27 July 2020
Fiscal,
Blog | Tags:
Covid-19,
Domestic Revenue Mobilization,
Tax Expenditures
The resources needed for financing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are estimated at USD 2.5 – 3 trillion per year. According to the IMF, low-income countries (LIC) will need, on average, additional resources amounting to 15.4% of GDP to finance the SDGs in education, health,
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