Publications

In France, Evaluating Tax Expenditure Effectiveness Remains a Challenge

| 16 November 2017
Fiscal, Blog | Tags: Tax Expenditures
The inability of the French government to ensure that a particular tax benefit reaches its primary goal – i.e. the assessment of public expenditure effectiveness – lies at the heart of the expansion of public subsidies. ... continue reading

Tax Expenditures and the Environment: Strengthening the Spotlight

| 8 November 2017
Fiscal, Blog | Tags: Energy, Environment, Fossil Fuel Subsidies, Tax Expenditures
Tax expenditures – government spending through deductions, exemptions, and other benefits granted through the tax code – are significant and have wide ranging environmental implications. A stronger green fiscal policy spotlight on them is critical. ... continue reading

Services Policy Reform and Manufacturing Employment: Evidence from Transition Economies

, and | 13 September 2017
Trade, Research Papers | Tags: Employment, Services Trade
Policy reforms targeting the services sectors are a neglected dimension of the process of structural transformation and economic development. The effects of such reforms on employment across industries as a function of their use of services as intermediate inputs are theoretically ambiguous and remain largely ... continue reading

Is It Time To Take Away The Carbon Punch Bowl?

| 5 September 2017
Monetary, Blog | Tags: Climate Change, Financial Stability, Macroprudential Policy
Climate change poses serious financial risks. Perhaps the biggest systemic risk is a disorderly transition to a low carbon economy. As noted in the Bank of England’s ‘response to Climate Change’, current forecasts suggest that to keep global average temperatures below 2 degrees, around two-thirds of ... continue reading

Fiscal Policy and Informality

| 1 September 2017
Fiscal, Blog | Tags: Inequality, Pensions, Tax Expenditures
Countries differ from each other in several aspects that need to be considered when designing fiscal policy. The size of the informal sector is a case in point. ... continue reading

Unpacking Patent Boxes

| 26 July 2017
Fiscal, Blog | Tags: Patent Boxes, Tax Competition, Tax Expenditures
An intellectual property box is a special lower tax rate for profits associated with intellectual property (IP). There are over twenty around the world, and over the last few years bills have been introduced to the U.S. Congress for a U.S. IP box. IP boxes always ... continue reading

Tax Expenditures. The Big Black Box

| 20 July 2017
Fiscal, Blog | Tags: Tax Expenditures
According to the federal financial statements 2016, tax expenditures in Switzerland reduced government revenues by 21 to 25 billion Swiss francs. This amounts to 31 to 37 percent of the country’s federal income. ... continue reading

Monetary Policy and the Redistribution Channel

| 28 June 2017
Monetary, Research Papers | Tags: Income Inequality, Inflation, Interest Rates
This paper evaluates the role of redistribution in the transmission mechanism of monetary policy to consumption. Three channels affect aggregate spending when winners and losers have different marginal propensities to consume: an earnings heterogeneity channel from unequal income gains, a Fisher channel from unexpected inflation, ... continue reading

Foreign Trade Barriers and Jobs in Global Supply Chains

and | 27 June 2017
Trade, Research Papers | Tags: Employment, Services Trade
This paper studies the impact of foreign barriers to goods and services trade on domestic jobs that are directly or indirectly related to affected trade flows. ... continue reading

The Impact of Service and Goods Offshoring on Employment: Firm-Level Evidence

, and | 29 May 2017
Trade, Research Papers | Tags: Employment, Services Trade
Advances in communication technology have led to a remarkable increase in the tradability of services, resulting in a substantial increase in offshoring of services over the last two decades. Research investigating how this surge in service offshoring affects employment, has been largely hampered by the ... continue reading