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6 facts to know about EU alternative investment funds
Monday 12th of August 2019
Have you ever wondered what financial market regulators were doing with all the market data they started to collect in the wake of the financial crisis? Here’s a great example of something that has been done: statistics on the EU’s alternative investment fund market available for the first time.
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6 of the world’s ten fastest-growing economies are in Africa
Tuesday 6th of August 2019
At a time when the United States, once a standard bearer of multilateralism, is embracing protectionism, Africa has taken a bold step in the opposite direction, creating the world’s largest free-trade area since the establishment of the World Trade Organization in 1995. The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), which came into force on May 30, includes nearly every country on the continent. And it proves, yet again, that Africa is on the move.
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5 things weighing on the world economy, according to the IMF
Wednesday 31st of July 2019
“Sluggish and precarious. But it doesn’t have to be this way because some of this is self-inflicted.”
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Why has growth stalled in Latin America and the Caribbean?
Wednesday 31st of July 2019
Economic activity in Latin America and the Caribbean remains sluggish. Real GDP is expected to grow by 0.6 percent in 2019—the slowest rate since 2016—before rising to 2.3 percent in 2020.
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Chart of the Day: These are the world’s most innovative economies
Tuesday 30th of July 2019
Switzerland has clinched first position yet again in the latest Global Innovation Index – a title it has held since 2011.
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Here’s how we reboot digital trade for the 21st century
Thursday 25th of July 2019
When it comes to the headlines on global trade, the talk is all about geopolitics and tariff, but away from all that noise, technology is driving a seismic shift in what, where and how the world trades.
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In 2020, Asian economies will become larger than the rest of the world combined – here’s how
Thursday 25th of July 2019
The re-emergence of Asia is among the most important shifts that will occur in our lifetimes.
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Algorithms could give the world its first ‘born digital’ free trade agreement in Africa
Tuesday 23rd of July 2019
The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement, presently signed by 52 African Union (AU) member states, is remarkable in its geographic coverage and ambition to create a single market for the continent. The agreement’s extensive protocols will cover trade in goods, trade in services, investment, competition and intellectual property rights.
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Does the G20 still matter?
Sunday 21st of July 2019
This article is part of the World Economic Forum’s Geostrategy platform
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European businesses feel less optimistic about growth in China as trade war bites
Wednesday 17th of July 2019
European firms are increasingly hesitant about their ability to grow in China, citing the country’s economic slowdown and ongoing trade war with the US, according to recent research from the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China.
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Why tariffs play a smaller role in influencing trade than macroeconomics
Tuesday 16th of July 2019
Over the past two decades, most of the changes in bilateral trade balances—the difference in the value of exports and imports between two countries—were explained by macroeconomic factors, according to IMF research.
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How to protect central-bank independence
Tuesday 16th of July 2019
Some observers say central banks can best mitigate risks to their independence by returning to the narrow price-stability mandate that served them so well prior to the global financial crisis. But this advice is misguided: central banks must revive their original role as guardians of financial stability.
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Amazon is 25 – here’s a look back at how it changed the world
Tuesday 9th of July 2019
A quarter of a century ago, on July 5, 1994, a company, which shared a name with the world’s largest river, was incorporated. It sold books to customers who got to its website through a dial-up modem.
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How Africa’s free-trade zone will provide an economic boom
Monday 8th of July 2019
African leaders launched a continental free-trade zone on Sunday that if successful would unite 1.3 billion people, create a $3.4 trillion economic bloc and usher in a new era of development.
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Investors have a role in securing our shared digital future
Monday 8th of July 2019
Cyberattacks have almost doubled in the past five years with no sign of slowing down. Due to the increasing number of cyber breaches, there is a market shift towards demanding more secure technological innovation. After major cyberattacks such as NotPetya and WannaCry paralysed some businesses around the globe for weeks, cyber-risk rapidly became one of the most important factors to consider when taking an executive decision on company strategy.
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Chinese Premier Li Keqiang’s address to the World Economic Forum in China
Friday 5th of July 2019
Professor Klaus Schwab, Your Excellencies Heads of State and Government, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen.
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Trade uncertainty could hurt economic development worldwide
Friday 5th of July 2019
Policymakers around the world are fretting about trade uncertainty and its impact on the global economy. For instance, Christine Lagarde – the managing director of the International Monetary Fund:
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5 ways to boost sustainable trade in the world’s poorest countries
Thursday 4th of July 2019
The World Trade Organization’s (WTO) Aid for Trade initiative is designed to connect developing countries to the global trade system in a sustainable manner. For the world’s poorest countries – where trade plays an essential role in their economic development – it can be a powerful tool to help achieve the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
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Trade war and the future of globalization – top quotes from the World Economic Forum in China
Wednesday 3rd of July 2019
For anyone fearing a relentless trade war between the world’s two biggest economies, there was a glimmer of optimism on the eve of this year’s Summer Davos: the leaders of China and the United States pulled back from the brink and agreed to restart trade talks.
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The reason behind the global surge in protectionism
Tuesday 2nd of July 2019
In 2019, US President Donald Trump made good on his campaign promises, putting up tariffs on billions of dollars’ worth of imports from the rest of the world. China was the main target: by May of that year, he announced a 25% tariff on $325bn of Chinese products.1 Critics pointed out the costs of such trade wars. While they emphasised the many advantages of mutually beneficial exchange, they also conceded that trade with China had generated labour market dislocations. Indeed, economists, such as Autor et al. (2013), had previously documented the ‘China Shock’ – how rising imports from that country had caused higher unemployment, lower labour force participation, and reduced wages across many local labour markets. But economists explained that the less costly solution to those problems involved financial transfers to those affected, such as unemployment insurance, and access to retraining programmes. In economic models, trade protection is a highly distortionary way of compensating the losers: it (over-)taxes a narrow range of commodities (imports) and encourages inefficient domestic production.
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How to make trade single windows more efficient with blockchain
Monday 1st of July 2019
International trade is critical for economic and social development worldwide. A major cost to facilitating global trade stems from regulatory requirements, which involves submitting enormous volumes of information to governmental authorities to comply with import, export and transit-related documents and certificates.
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How will the US-China trade war affect corporate America?
Friday 28th of June 2019
American multinationals may like the idea of forcing China to alter the policies and practices – from subsidies for state-owned enterprises to the requirement that foreign firms share proprietary technology in exchange for access to the Chinese market – that place them at a competitive disadvantage. But, as US President Donald Trump’s trade war continues to escalate, it is worth asking: What price are these companies really willing to pay?
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Trust links up supply chains. How do you establish it in the digital era?
Thursday 27th of June 2019
Several enterprises in global supply chains have moved their digitalization focus outwards towards the business networks of which they are part. Supply-chain actors need to work digitally with others across national borders to optimize the flow of physical goods, as well as the complex flow of information and financial transactions.
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EU competition policy should not be sacrificed but trade policy should be strengthened
Wednesday 19th of June 2019
In February 2019, Margrethe Vestager, the EU Competition Commissioner, blocked the proposed rail merger between Siemens and Alstom (European Commission 2019). But, trapped between heavily subsidised Chinese firms and unregulated US giants, should the EU relax its competition policy in the hope of creating its own giants? This line of reasoning has gained traction among EU policymakers. Many fear that the region’s rigid competition policy is too rigid, and a disadvantage in a world where others don’t play by the same rules. Some even argue that the Union’s competition policy could get in the way of its strategic objectives.
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How group psychology is driving global political turmoil
Thursday 13th of June 2019
In the last few decades, the political systems of advanced democracies have witnessed momentous changes. Nationalism and populism have gained support almost everywhere, often at the expense of mainstream parties. New dimensions of conflict have emerged – over immigration, globalisation, and civil rights – in place of the classical divide over redistribution (see Figure 1).