A structural growth slowdown is under way across the world: at current trends, the global rate of potential growth is expected to fall to a three-decade low over the remainder of the 2020s. Nearly all the forces that have powered growth and prosperity since the early 1990s have weakened. In addition, a series of shocks has affected the global economy over the past three years. A persistent and broad-based decline in long-term growth prospects imperils the ability of emerging market and dev...

This is on a highly topical issue and addresses a key policy issue for Europe—namely, reinforcing EMU institutional architecture along with the Banking Union. Some proposals have emerged in Europe, and it will be important to put out staff views on this issue. In that context, publication as an SDN is appropriate, given the high profile nature and relevance of the topic—much like the Banking Union paper done a few months ago.

A large percentage of workers and firms operate in the informal economy, outside the line of sight of governments in emerging market and developing economies. This may hold back the recovery in these economies from the deep recessions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic--unless governments adopt a broad set of policies to address the challenges of widespread informality. This study is the first comprehensive analysis of the extent of informality and its implications for a durable economic reco...

This study is the first comprehensive analysis of the extent of informality and its implications for a durable economic recovery and for long-term development.

This year marks the tenth anniversary of the 2009 global recession. Most emerging market and developing economies weathered the global recession relatively well, in part by using the sizable fiscal and monetary policy ammunition accumulated during prior years of strong growth. However, their growth prospects have weakened since then, and many now have less policy space. This study provides the first comprehensive stocktaking of the past decade from the perspective of emerging market and de...

This is the first comprehensive study in the context of EMDEs that covers, in one consistent framework, the evolution and global and domestic drivers of inflation, the role of expectations, exchange rate pass-through and policy implications.

This is the first comprehensive study in the context of EMDEs that covers, in one consistent framework, the evolution and global and domestic drivers of inflation, the role of expectations, exchange rate pass-through and policy implications. In addition, the report analyzes inflation and monetary policy related challenges in LICs. The report documents three major findings: In First, EMDE disinflation over the past four decades was to a significant degree a result of favorable external deve...

The global economy has experienced four waves of rapid debt accumulation over the past 50 years. The first three debt waves ended with financial crises in many emerging market and developing economies. During the current wave, which started in 2010, the increase in debt in these economies has already been larger, faster, and broader-based than in the previous three waves. Current low interest rates mitigate some of the risks associated with high debt. However, emerging market and developin...

“If you’re interested in the revolutionary transformation of the meaning and use of money, this is the book to read!”—Charles R. SchwabCultural anthropologist Jack Weatherford traces our relationship with money, from primitive man’s cowrie shells to the electronic cash card, from the markets of Timbuktu to the New York Stock Exchange. The History of Money explores how money and the myriad forms of exchange have affected humanity, and how they will...

For the fifty years following the Second World War, Canada enjoyed a period of spectacular economic growth — the economy quadruple in size and the living standard of most Canadians steadily improved.However, in the years since, Canada has suffered from economic stagnation. Businesses keep closing, and Canadians find it harder to get and keep a good job. Increasingly, Canadians have relied on consumer debt to help mask the underlying problems, but for many even that temporary form o...

THE RESERVE BANK = A License to Steal Money from Citizens?Very few people know how the money system is manipulated by the RESERVE BANK to make most citizens "debt-slaves" without them even being aware of it. This book exposes how the Reserve Bank uses the Fractional Reserve System to create "money out of nothing" for the benefit of the few private owners of the Bank but to the great detriment of the majority of the country's citizens. This book explains in simple layman's terms "ho...

A comprehensive analysis of the politics surrounding exchange rate policies in the global economy—with in-depth case studies.The exchange rate is the most important price in any nation's economy, and a central factor in the global economy. Despite the critical role of exchange rate policy, there are few definitive explanations of why governments choose the currency policies they do. In Currency Politics, Jeffrey Frieden combines narrative and statistical in...