We examine effects of government-imposed employment targets on firm behavior. Theoretically, such policies create “polarization,“ causing low-productivity firms to exit the market while others temporarily distort their employment upward. Dynamically, firms are incentivized to improve...

On 30th May 2024, the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) celebrated its fifth anniversary, which legally implied that the agreement is up for review for possible amendments. To kickstart this review, the Thirty-Seventh Ordinary Session of the African Union Summit (held in February...

Globally, unhealthy diets have a significant impact on people's risk of disease and mortality, so the German Ministry of Nutrition and Agriculture also focuses on healthier and balanced diets in its reduction and innovation strategy. By means of the NutriScore, the nudging principle is used to...

US President Donald Trump has recently announced that tariffs on US imports from Canada and Mexico will take effect on March 4, 2025. This policy brief shows that the US tariffs would have a large impact on the North American neighbors. In the event of retaliation, all sectors of the economy...

Since 2015, the UK government has worked with the food industry to reformulate a wide range of food products to reduce sugar, fat and calorie content. The industry has been given the target of lowering the number of calories in certain products by 20% by 2025. The reformulation scheme was...