Publications

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

Measuring Tax Expenditures in Developing Countries: What is the Role of the G20?

| 26 May 2017
Fiscal, Blog | Tags: Inequality, Tax Competition, Tax Expenditures
For many countries in the developing world, tax exemptions are considered a crucial instrument for stimulating private local investment and, mainly, attracting foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows. According to the point of view that promotes tax expenditures as a convenient tool for achieving these goals, ... continue reading

Why Monetary Policy Should Go Green

| 19 May 2017
Monetary, Blog | Tags: Climate Change, Collateral Frameworks, Green Finance, QE
Guest Post, FT Alphaville. Monetary policy is rarely a topic in debates on green finance. It should. The €60bn that the European Central Bank is currently injecting into financial markets on a monthly basis are a case in point. Its intervention amounts to nearly three ... continue reading

Intellectual Property Boxes and the Paradox of Price Discrimination

| 15 May 2017
Fiscal, Research Papers | Tags: Corporate Taxes, Innovation, Patent Boxes, Tax Competition, Tax Expenditures
This paper considers the methods by which some existing laws and proposals offer different tax rates to different types of capital, a scheme variously known as a patent box, innovation box, or intellectual property box (IP box). It presents a model of international tax competition—what ... continue reading

Monetary Policy, Macroprudential Regulation and Inequality

| 12 April 2017
Monetary, Discussion Notes | Tags: Inequality, Interest Rates, Macroprudential Policy
The 2008 global financial crisis profoundly changed the role of central banks in the economy. First, central banks engaged in strong expansionary monetary policy, using new unconventional tools to boost economic activity. Second, they were key to containing financial instability, which led them to implement ... continue reading

The Effects of Exporting on Labour Productivity: Evidence from German Firms

| 24 March 2017
Trade, Research Papers | Tags: Employment, Productivity, Services Trade
We revisit the "self-selection vs. learning-by-exporting (LBE)" debate with new evidence on a large panel of German firms of all economic sectors up to the 3-digit NACE level, between 1993-2014, and shed new light on the channels that foster export-induced productivity gains. ... continue reading

Trade and Jobs in Europe: The Role of Mode 5 Services Exports

, and | 16 March 2017
Trade, Blog | Tags: Employment, Services Trade
From 1995 to 2011, the EU employment supported by exports of goods and services to the rest of the world grew by 67%, reaching a total of 31 million jobs. In a recent research piece we set out to bring to light some key insights ... continue reading