During the 2008 Great Recession, the adoption of counter-cyclical economic policies made the Brazilian economy more resilient. However, a noteworthy shift occurred in 2014, marked by a deterioration in Brazil's macroeconomic landscape, primarily driven by a worsening debt situation....

Geographic disparities in mortality rates in the US are pronounced and growing. The Black-White mortality gap is volatile but persistent, while the Rich-Poor mortality gap is increasing dramatically. While the causes of these inequalities are not understood, recent attention has focused on the...

Forward-looking metrics of uncertainty based on options-implied information should be highly predictive of equity market returns in accordance with asset pricing theory. Empirically, however, the ability of the VIX, for example, to predict returns is statistically weak. In contrast to other...

This paper investigates the cyclicality of international reserves and their role in macroeconomic stabilization. We challenge two widely held assumptions: (1) central banks typically manage IR counter-cyclically—accumulating reserves during booms and drawing them down during downturns; and (2)...

Objective To estimate the effect of economic recessions on health inequality, with a focus on identifying recessions that have a health component. Methods This retrospective observational study uses the interannual rate of change in gross domestic product (GDP) as an indicator of economic...

Malawi's economic recovery remains fragile due to the slow implementation of macroeconomic adjustment reforms and a series of recent shocks. Food insecurity remains a major concern due to weak harvests from 2022 to 2024 and the likelihood of a challenging 2024-25 season. Inflation is gradually...

The economy is estimated to have grown by 2.6 percent in 2024, surpassing expectations due to an unexpected surge in activity but the recovery continued to lag behind peers. The latest gross domestic product (GDP) release showed that growth picked up at 3.0 percent year-on-year in 2024 Q3. In Q3...

November economic activity data suggests gradual growth, driven by strong external demand, particularly for goods exports and tourism, as well as a slight recovery in private consumption supported by fiscal stimulus. While tourism remained a key growth driver, with a notable increase in...

Thailand's economy grew by 3.2 percent year-on-year in Q4 2024, driven by a rebound in public investment and strong electronics exports, while private consumption saw a modest boost from fiscal stimulus. High-frequency indicators in January suggest continued expansion, supported by strong goods...

South Sudan's socio-economic outcomes have worsened over the past decade due to recurrent conflicts, fragility, and macroeconomic mismanagement compounded by global economic and climate shocks. Even before the oil shock of early 2024, per capita gross domestic product had dropped by 18 percent...

The employment structure in emerging markets and developing economies (EMDEs) differs markedly from that in advanced economies, which has implications for adjustment to cyclical conditions. This paper examines the cyclicality of employment in advanced economies and EMDEs. Although EMDEs exhibit...

Purpose This study aims to analyse the effects of Economic Policy Uncertainty (EPU) on the return of growth/value and small/large-cap stocks during expansionary and recessionary periods across a conditional distribution. Design/methodology/approach The authors selected a sample covering the...

We investigate the diffusion of frontier technologies across German firms before and during the Covid-19 crisis. Our analysis tracks the nature, timing, and pandemic-related motivations behind technology investments, using tailor-made longitudinal survey data linked to administrative worker-firm...

In this paper, we assess listed companies in China to empirically examine the relationship between economic cycles and corporate digital transformation. We find that enterprises undergo a higher level of digital transformation during business contraction, and digital transformation exerts a...

Despite a strong start to 2025, the German economy will experience middling growth for the time being before beginning a long-awaited upturn at the end of the year. DIW Berlin's forecast indicates growth of 0.3 percent for 2025 and of 1.7 percent for 2026; thus, DIW Berlin is increasing its forecast...

Using a new database on global multinational production (MP), I document that world multinational enterprise (MNE) sales declined as sharply as trade during the Great Recession. This collapse was driven by MNEs from a few key headquarters countries, associated with steeper GDP declines in...

We introduce a summary indicator based on the Canadian Survey of Consumer Expectations (CSCE). This indicator provides a summary measure of consumer opinions that we can track over time. We construct three underlying indexes-financial health, labour market and consumer spending-that capture...

Thailand's economic performance remained mixed in March with stable private consumption and robust exports offset by weak private investment amid rising uncertainty. While fiscal stimulus supported consumption, softening consumer confidence and weak manufacturing production pose risks to the...

In 2024, Libya's economic performance reflects the persistent challenges of hydrocarbon dependency compared against nascent signs of broader recovery. The economy recorded a contraction of 0.6 percent for the year, driven primarily by a decline in oil GDP of 6 percent amid political and...

Lebanon's economic outlook for 2025 is shaped by a fragile stabilization in the political and security environment. This follows the end of the conflict and the resolution of a two year political paralysis with the election of a president and the formation of a reform-oriented government. While...

The Yemen Economic Monitor provides an update on key economic developments and policies over the past six months. It also presents findings from recent World Bank work on Yemen. While domestic tensions persist, with the Houthi movement continuing to blockade the Internationally Recognized...

Le niveau élevé d'exposition aux chocs, en particulier aux chocs liés au climat et aux conflits, dans la région du Sahel exacerbe la vulnérabilité de la population. Cela augmente également le risque que les non-pauvres tombent dans la pauvreté. En 2018-2019, une nouvelle série...

L'économie tunisienne a progressé de 1.4 % en 2024 après une croissance nulle en 2023 et elle s'écarte de celle de ses voisins d'Afrique du Nord, avec un produit intérieur brut (PIB) inférieur à son niveau d'avant la pandémie en 2024. L'économie continue de fonctionner dans un...

This paper investigates the role of banking networks in the transmission of shocks across borders. Combining banking deregulation in the US with state-level idiosyncratic demand shocks, we show that geographically diversified banks reallocate funds from economies experiencing negative shocks to...

The special topic examines the impact of selected factors on consumers' views of their country's economic situation, based on a supplementary ad hoc question added to the February/March 2025 waves of the consumer survey. The analysis assesses the responses at the EU level, as well as by country...

This Spring Forecast projects real GDP growth in 2025 at 1.1% in the EU and 0.9% in the euro area- broadly the same rates attained in 2024. This represents a considerable downgrade compared to the Autumn 2024 Forecast (AF24), largely due to the impact of increased tariffs and the heightened...

We present new empirical evidence on the role of granularity in the current account (CA), using a unique and comprehensive firm-level dataset for Switzerland. We show that idiosyncratic shocks to large firms account for almost two thirds of the fluctuations in the headline CA and are the primary...