Coronavirus panic fuels a surge in cash demand
Despite regular reports in the media over the past decade on the imminent death of cash amid rapid innovation in payment technologies, cash in...
Finance and politics: New insights
A rapidly expanding literature has shown the importance of political economy factors for legislative and regulatory actions in the financial sector...
The neighbourhood effect of reforms after crises
Countries reform when their neighbours have reformed too, especially in the aftermath of economic crises. This column examines business regulatory...
Financial Volatility and Economic Growth, 1870–2016
We investigate the causal impact of financial risk on economic growth, using a panel spanning 150 years and 74 countries. Persistent low risk...
Wisdom of Crowds Detects COVID-19 Severity Ahead of Officially Available Data
During the unfolding of a crisis, it is crucial to determine its severity, yet access to reliable data is challenging. We investigate the relation...
Higher-Order Uncertainty in Financial Markets: Evidence from a Consensus Pricing Service
We assess the ability of an information aggregation mechanism that operates in the over-the-counter market for financial derivatives to reduce...
The political scar of epidemics
What will be the political legacy of the COVID-19 pandemic? This column uses data from the 2006-2018 Gallup World Polls to show that epidemic exposure...
The Political Scar of Epidemics
What will be the political legacy of the Coronavirus pandemic? We find that epidemic exposure in an individual’s “impressionable years” (ages 18 to 25...
Inflation after the pandemic: Theory and practice
The correlation between monetary growth and inflation has an historic pedigree as long as your arm. This column argues that rejecting the likelihood...
Revenge of the experts: Will COVID-19 renew or diminish trust in science?
It is argued that COVID-19 will reverse the ongoing trend of challenging the value of science and the integrity of scientists. This column shows that...
COVID-19: A Double Whammy of Financial and Economic Sudden Stops for Emerging Economies
While it is too early to say how the disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic will ultimately affect emerging market economies (EMs), experience...
Revenge of the Experts: Will COVID-19 Renew or Diminish Public Trust in Science?
An effect of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is sometimes suggested, will be to reverse the secular trend toward questioning the value of scientific...
Survival of Firms during Economic Crisis
We estimate the survival time of nearly 7,000 firms in a dozen of high-income and middle-income countries in a scenario of extreme economic distress...
The need to issue long-dated gilts
The COVID-19 crisis presents a multi-faceted challenge to policymakers. A combination of declining commodity prices, the rise in unemployment, and...
Survival of firms in developing economies during economic crisis
With lockdown measures in place worldwide, cash-flow represents a significant concern for firms across multiple sectors. This chapter estimates the...
Volatility, dark trading and market quality: evidence from the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic-driven market volatility
We exploit the exogenous shock of the COVID-19 pandemic on financial markets and regulatory restrictions on dark trading to investigate how volatility...
