The tide is turning: the economic recovery in the Asia-Pacific region is picking up steam. Last week’s forecasts from the IMF suggest that economic growth in the region’s developing and emerging countries will rise from 4.4 percent in 2022 to 5.3 and 5.1 percent in the current and following year. Th...

To what extent are the high returns on capital of "star firms" due to unmeasured differences in intangible invested capital? Once these differences are corrected, how do star firms differ in their output and investment strategies from other firms? Our evidence points not to exploitation of market po...

Regulatory arbitrage—the practice whereby banks try to escape jurisdictions with more stringent regulations in favor of less stringent ones—has been a topic of active research interest. Previous research has shown that banks do indeed direct financial flows to countries with less strict regulations,...

The COVID-19 pandemic led to a deep global recession as the virus rapidly spread and governments restricted movements. The economic shock was compounded by widespread uncertainty among businesses and concerns about the risks of increasing financial sector distress limiting access to credit.

Sri Lanka's default on its debt in 2022 caused alarm among investors and development economists alike, and raised questions about the factors underlying the country's economic downfall. In this blog, we examine the reasons for Sri Lanka's default and the challenges that lie ahead.

A central objective of climate policy is the reduction of carbon emissions, either by promoting renewable energies and increasing energy efficiency across sectors, or by imposing restrictions on activities contributing to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The financial sector is expected to play a maj...

Kenya has become a poster child for digitally driven development. Known as “Silicon Savannah,” the country has a multi-billion-dollar tech industry that routinely produces startups. Among its most prominent successes is M-Pesa. Launched in 2007, the mobile wallet service revolutionized how Kenyans t...